Weightlifting people, here! Ongoing chat thread...

Hi everyone, just come across this thread and you are all very impressive with your lifting!

Hoping for a bit of advice. I've just found out I'm pregnant, no more than 4 or 5 weeks gone (first and probably only, reply not planned!!). Kind of messed up my plan to hit the gym hard this next few months as husband and I were planning on a two week holiday of being mildly drunk in the sun, but oh well! Anyway, on to my question .... I work out as much as I can, weight lifting at least 3 times a week if not more. My max on squats etc it 28kg for 6 reps/3 sets(so rubbish compared to the weights on here!!). Plus half hour of cardio til I'm absolutely sweating and 20 mins on leg press/adductor/abductor/leg curls/extensions.

So wondering where I should go from here - keep up that weight until I find it difficult or should I decrease weight and up reps? Also with cardio, should I be maxing out my HR or keeping it slow and steady? Still got a few weeks until midwife but also would like advice from lifting mums! I know a lot of advice says do what you feel comfortable with, but I don't want to risk anything.
Thanks!

Squatted 90 kg (in my socks) tonight. Very chuffed. Two sets of three, first set bit shallow. I thought i had peaked at 80 (I weigh 70ish and am 51 and new to this game) so am very pleased and determined to keep going on the things I find really hard (inverted rows, chin-ups).

Closet, that sounds so frustrating.

Johnny I think my shoulder mobility is fine. I actually have no idea what's going on with it. Months of physio (and a v. good physio at that) and she's flummoxed as to why it's not getting better. It responds to treatment, but then regresses almost straight away. We've been working on strengthening my lats, etc, and that's made no difference. I'm seeing an osteo on Tuesday to see if it's an alignment thing...
In any case, I haven't done any upper body work since before Xmas, other than some bicep and tricep isolation stuff. It sucks.

At the moment, yes, although previously I've used lifters and found those to be good. I've actually just ordered some Vivo barefoot shoes as my physio thinks it will really help my rehab.

Nothing crazy over the weekend. Did some DB bench press (because some faffy man was in the rack), some abductor/adductor work, KB swings, hanging knee raises, lat pull downs and pull ups on Saturday. Today I did seated shoulder press, ham string and quads on the machines, more pull ups, planks and some cable work for my shoulders. Messed around trying to do some toes to bar as well.

Wooo both of you! Amazing. Do you take your shoes off for DLs and squats?

Gosh, Johnny that's amazing! I wimped out at 85kg a fortnight ago, but managed 75kg (just under my own body weight).

In this week's PT session, I did pyramids (just another way of dying basically). So it was alternating deadlifts (I think about 30kg) and squat shoulder presses with handweights (6kg each). Starting with 5 reps each set, then 10, then 15, then 20, then 15, then 10, then 5 reps. Alternating deadlifts & squat presses. With no break other than to swap kit. The deadlift was my resting period really.

And that was just the first 15 minutes of the hour. It got much harder, pushing the sled of around 120kg, and running intervals etc etc.

But my back's a bit sore now, and I'm trying to work out if that's just soreness through using it, because my quads are a bit sore as well, from doing literally hundreds of squats in an hour, with few rest breaks. Or whether it's bad form - my PT watches me very intently in the deadlifts, as I have a tendency to engage my back too much. I have very good flexibility & mobility from a lot of ballet (still do it 3 times a week) so I can get the butt out & hips back, but the lifting stance - especially weight in the heels - goes against 40 years of dance training & proprioception!

But I'm quite evangelical about the training and my PT - he is fantastic. My body shape is changing as my weight is (slowly) dropping. I suspect I have a little crush on him. That's OK, right? I think it's really that for the two hours a day that I allot to gym (getting there, working out, sauna, shower, getting home) I don't have to think about bluddy work.

PT session today, working on deadlift. Managed 4 x 6@90kg, with wrist straps as I hate hook grip and I can't sustain that weight for 4 sets with a clean grip. My forearms were pumped as it was. Did some 1 leg Romanian work just to make sure I totally lost use of my arms.

Then PT decided its time to return to conditioning so 3 sets of 10 sec asault bike 100% effort plus 50 secs max burpees. 2 min rest. Nearly died.

Closet How is your shoulder mobility? I had a lot of problems due to having poor overhead mobility and then doing heavy push presses.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/rhesus-disease/prevention/

Closet, do you know what you did to your shoulder?

Just checking back in as it's been so long since I posted on this thread that it's fallen off my 'I'm on' list.

I scaled things back massively a few months ago due to ongoing niggles. Beginning to build it back up again, but super slowly this time concentrating on form a lot.

Still got a dodgy shoulder, so still not doing any chest or shoulder work. I've been seeing a physio for ages for the shoulder but it's not getting any better (or it does only briefly), so I've booked to see an osteopath next week and I'm hoping that she'll spot something the physio hasn't seen. Very tedious...

Thank you for the quick responses. I am Rh negative - does it make a difference? I’m a couple of weeks off my mw appt so I’ll just take it easy with the cardio until then I think and keep the weights low when lifting.

I would check with GP/midwife. Are you Rh negative? I have spotted after lifting but not when pg.

I too have had only encouraging comments from both men and women. And useful tips. The blokes at my gym seem if anything pleased to see a woman in the free weights.

I dont think anyone can give you a definitive answer (because apart from anything else the evidence base just isn't there to support an objective conclusion) but my personal perspective would be that the conditioning piece is more problematic than the lifting because the conditioning piece of a Crossfit class is close to HIIT and gets your HR quite high. I haven't Crossfitted whilst pregnant but I train at a box with a couple of women who are regional competitors and both of them continued to train throughout, but dialled it back a lot, especially with regard to the stuff that really gets your HR up.

Just st found this thread and was hoping to get some advice. I do Crossfit so do a bit of Oly lifting - not massive numbers but OK. I found out I was pregnant last week and went to my first class since finding out on Monday. We were doing sets of back squats, supposedly at about 75% of our 1rm but I couldn’t get anywhere near that. Up until I found out I was pregnant, I was also doing a bit of calorie counting, trying to lose a few pounds, which I’ve obviously knocked on the head now, but I think the two things contributed to me not being that strong.
After finishing the class (which included some horrible cardio later on) I was spotting (only mildly) but it worried me a bit. I didn’t do WL or Crossfit during my previous pregnancies and I’m not far enough along to want to talk to anyone at the gym for a few weeks yet so I was wondering if anyone else had any experience of doing it while pregnant and if you can offer me any advice?

RagingGirl - in my experience, the blokes in the free weights section are nothing but helpful (and the women, but there aren't as many). I'm short and fat, but the only comments I get are encouraging

Johnny - I know, still in awe of your ambition! Keep us posted.

Hate collars - putting them on makes me feel small and weak before I start, not the right spirit

Yeah I hate the wire ones. They're usually really tight on the bar and you have to shuffle them on. The plastic cuffs are way better- my gym has those.

I CONSTANTLY get the height wrong too. I now take photos on my iPhone as a reminder.

msmartini I want to make it clear that I didn't get a MU. I'm just working towards it. I feel it's going to be a journey.

Regarding collars: I really struggle with the bent wire clips. The ones that are plastic and snap on are so much easier! I found some on Amazon. Some gyms already have them.

Wow, Johnny a muscle up! That would be amazing. I am still working n my chin-ups - can do several in a session now but not consecutively and think will start trying negative pull ups.

RagingGirl - I have found the men at my gym helpful. There are some awesome women lifters but they tend to be so focussed on what they are doing they don't notice anyone else (which is completely fine). I think after the first couple of times of setting up on your own (which in my case included loading the bar, collars on, then realising bar at wrong height completely and having to unrack and start over), you get more confident. I don't go heavy when on my own - focus on form but think even setting up by myself has helped my confidence.

raging girl You can bet your life most of the other lifters have form flaws too. Don't worry about them. Dead lift is a good one to get started with on your own as there's not much that can go wrong with set up. Just put the bar on the floor and add the weights with the heaviest ones furthest in (just remember to put the collars on ). I also take photos/ videos of the set up when I'm with my PT so I can remember what height to have stuff at etc.

Good PT session today. Still working on my body weight (67kg) 1 rep bench which is my target for end of june. Managed 4x6 @50kg today. Might have been able to go a tiny bit heavier but not much.

Also started work on muscle up which is my dream basically (yeah I know- never let it be said I overfocus on trivial shit, hey?)I can do the pull but need to pull higher and also stablise my ring dips a LOT.

Then did some progressions for toes to bar but I'm a way off being able to do those- need stronger hip flexors and better hip mobility.

Meant to say - been working on this with a weekly PT since mid-January, & I'm 59. So I'm happy to go slowly as I don't like being injured. I'm what the physio calls hypermobile but somehow I manage to pull my hamstrings too often - I have a whole lot of glute strengthening exercises to do before I hop on the treadmill. (But I have my splits back!)

What I'm really noticing is the change to the shape of my body - I need to lose about 10kg, but I know I've dropped a good dress size, and it's as if the outlines of my body have tightened up.

For example, my inner thighs are still a bit flabby, but the outline of my quads on the outer sides of my thighs is really strong & neat. Ditto the line of my shoulders, and my abs are starting to appear: I have that deep line from the sternum to navel.

OK, so I'm popping in here to post my verrrry slooooow progress. I deadlifted 75kg last week with my PT, but failed at 85kg to get the bar ore than a couple of cm up. My previous best was 70kg.

My PT keeps encouraging me to do at least one session mirroring the torture session he does with me (last week was tough - sometimes I felt nauseous!)

So I'm going to have to get up my courage to do weights without my PT - I realise I'm going to have to pretend I know how to set stuff up & so on. It's when I wish there were a women-only hour in the free weights area of the gym. I'd feel less of an idiot, although I KNOW that no-one's looking at me!

But I see all the cool proper lifters (including some amazing women) and I just go back to running - I can do treadmills.

Have any of you bought a hip thruster pad? If so where did you get it? Am in the uk, thanks!

Thanks . Think I haven't been using my back enough.

It does get easier!

I have started doing more upper body work (with a gym buddy). Inverted rows, shrugs, negative chin ups, dips.....am very achey in my arms, shoulders, armpits, elbows....tell me it gets easier .