Project Fit Pregnancy: Week 24

I attended a bridal shower yesterday in which Many of the ladies took turns encouraging and admonishing the bride-to-be in her future role. Not surprisingly, a few of the ladies brought up the subject of femininity and what it truly is versus the common perception of frills and lace.

I was particularly blessed by these admonishments, and firmly believe what they were saying to be true. Even so, I still catch myself sometimes thinking “oh, I can’t do that, it’s not feminine”. How silly!

Biblical femininity is defined as being a helper who is adequate for her husband – which means that it may look a little different for each of us.

Lifting weights during pregnancy

My husband is a farmer/rancher, which means he often needs the help of a strong person. Well, there’s really only one way to get strong, and that’s by doing hard work. When Gabriel first suggested that I start lifting weights, I resisted the idea – lifting weights is not feminine. Eventually, I came around, though, for a while, I struggled every time I picked up the barbell with feeling like I was doing something wrong. That, of course, stemmed from my upbringing and being surrounded by people with false ideas of what’s appropriate for women, not from the fact that I was actually doing something out of line.

I’m happy to say that I’ve gotten over that, though I probably still won’t bench press in front of anybody outside of my family. And I’m happy to say that I have gotten stronger, and I hope that will enable me to be a better help to Gabriel on this farm. I also hope it will help me have a better birth and be a better mother.

The reason I explain all this is because I know that a lot of women struggle with the idea of doing something (like lifting) because of the perceived lack of femininity in the activity. Even women who don’t think of themselves as feminine. We need to let go of the image that nail salons and shopping are feminine things and hard work is masculine. The end.

This week’s workouts

So, on to working out this past week. Despite how much I like to preach that everybody should squat, I’m a very inexperienced squatter myself, which means I’m still working with low weights. I’ve been working on adding weights consistently, and, as a result, every workout last week was a PR (which stands for personal record). My hope is that I’ll be squatting 100 pounds by the end of this week.

Cardio went out the door with the weather last week, and this week isn’t looking any better, so I’m glad I’m doing weights – it makes me feel like I’m at least doing something ya know? Speaking of which, I need to get cracking on today’s workout, so here’s the breakdown of last week. Sorry, it’s not more interesting.

Monday:
Barbell Squat –      87 lbs. 5×5
Overhead press – 35 lbs. 5×5
Barbell deadlift –  100 lbs. 1×5

Wednesday:
Barbell Squat –    90 lbs. 5×5
Bench press –      40 lbs. 5×5
Bent Over Row – 40 lbs. 5×5

Friday:
Barbell Squat –      90 lbs. 5×5
Overhead press – 40 lbs. 5×5
Deadlift –               105 lbs. 1×5

With that, I’ll leave you with a funny pic of Garrett “working out”

Ab wheel; You’re doing it wrong!

TTFN!