Today I will feature three amazing climbers who also happen to be mamas to be. They have shared their training plans and a picture with me to share with all of you.
Darrah: 33 weeks, 27 years old, 1st baby. Due Jan 3
Darrah has 2 workouts that she does each week:
Workout 1 – start with laps on auto belay: 3-4 sets of 5 climbs on 10’s and 11’s
– mini circuit: 1 min of alternating one arm shoulder presses with kettle bell, 1 min kettle bell deadlift, 5 push ups (on knees trying to focus on body position), 30 seconds plank, leg/butt exercises down on all fours (lifting leg to side, in between side and straight back, and then straight back – five leg lifts for each angle), then last is a 45 second wall sit with a medicine ball between my knees
One minute break, and then repeat the circuit. She does the circuit 2-3 times
Workout 2 – bike or do the elliptical for 30-45 minutes low intensity
– then weights for shoulders and arms: 7 reps of bicep curls into shoulder press, then 10 reps of a behind the head tricep extension, then 5 reps of side arm raise with very low weight and hold it for a count of 10 seconds each time – repeat this mini circuit (NOT the biking, just the weights) 3 times
Workout 1 twice a week Workout 2 once a week
About Darrah: She is currently a student and she also works. Darrah is primarily a sport climber, and she climbed 5.11s pre-baby. She is planning a natural birth at a birth center. She is still getting up 10s, and is looking strong! (I just climbed with her on Saturday)
Maggie: 36 weeks, 31 years old, 1st baby. Due Dec 12
Throughout her pregnancy, She has seen huge changes in what her mind and body wants to do to stay in shape. At the beginning, not much of her climbing and HIIT workouts changed, it was more mental to fight the fatigue and find the motivation to get going.
About halfway through the 2nd trimester, she started noticing that her body couldn’t do everything she used to do.
She followed the HIIT timing, 50 seconds high-intensity, 10 seconds rest/transition with 4 sets and repeat 3 to 5 times with a total of 12 to 20 minutes. Her high-intensity workouts still include weights but don’t include jumping, quick rotations, crunches, or anything on the stomach. But other than that she can still include lunges, squats, presses, curls, leg lifts, rows, flys, etc.
Maggie is also still tope-roping 5.10 max. Pre baby she bouldered V5 and 5.11+. A big issue Maggie faces is that she is the manager of the gym which means she works a lot AND everyone at the gym knows her, so it’s hard for her to workout uninterrupted. She plans a natural birth at a birth center.
Natasha: 22 weeks, 27 years old, First baby. Due March 18
Natasha is still rocking her regular harness, although she said she might not be for too much longer. Pre-baby Natasha climbed 5.11+ and she seems to still be climbing in that range. Natasha doesn’t have access to a good climbing gym, so she does a lot of lifting and high intensity intervals. She also is running. Fortunately, Natasha does live near some great outdoor climbing, so that has helped.
Natasha doesn’t have any super specific workouts she does, but she seems to stay pretty active. She gets outside and climbs 1x per week, and hits weights and running in between. She is still leading climbs she has done before in the 5.9 or 5.10 range. As the pregnancy has progressed, Natasha has stopped doing so much core (no planks) and she does more asymmetrical loading such as farmer walks with weights, squats etc. I can still see her abs in the pictures!! Damn girl!
Natasha is interested in the nutrition aspect of pregnancy and has focused on natural remedies such as elderberry syrup, apple cider vinegar etc. She is planning to have a natural birth at the hospital in which she works.
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These ladies are all badasses! I will try and keep you posted on each of them as they progress. It would also be cool to see an after the baby post about each of them.
My next blog will be a little update about me and what I am doing as I am entering the 3rd trimester!!! But just in case you are wondering, see my pict below:
Molly: 33 (as of Nov 17), 27 weeks, 2nd baby. Due February 17