I have been a relatively active individual throughout different parts of my life, participating in high school sports, exercising at my college's gym, getting into a brief stint of powerlifting in grad school, and then in my profession I have to maintain a certain fitness level. However, I was struggling after my first pregnancy which had a less than ideal birth process which left my body and mental health in a very poor state. I had a lot of difficulty getting back into a consistent fitness routine to get back my strength and endurance and healthy mindset.
I began my post-partum journey with long walks with my baby and very light body weight resistance training with minimal equipment at home but I was not consistent with my program. I was yo-yo dieting all over the place and cranky from caloric restrictions. I thought back to when I was the most successful and consistent-- high school sports. I really thrived when I had no choice-- exercise 5-6 days a week, under unrelenting orders of our coaches, a variety of cardiovascular and resistance training exercises, and a relatively guilt-free diet as I was constantly working out. Part of me cringed thinking about it as I definitely had a love-hate relationship with my high school coaches.
I decided to give in and try a structured program and found Fit Body which also had an added bonus of being close to my home. Similar to high school sports, the classes are available 6 days a week and with a variety of exercises that address all parts of the body and also address cardiovascular endurance and strength training. I started off very lightly going only 2-3 times a week and then over time have made it a priority to go 6 days a week and sometimes doing two-a-days, somewhat forcing myself to those "Hell Weeks" we had in high school.
I've been going relatively consistently since the start of this year and cannot say enough good things about this place. There enough classes around the clock starting at 5AM and going all the way up to 7:45PM that it can be convenient and workouts are about 40-45 mins which include warm-up, 10-12 exercises performed 3 sets x30-45 sec, 2-3 min after burner drill, and 2-3 min stretch cool down. The coaches are great and make an effort to push you harder and keep you going even when you feel gassed out. There are also periodic 6-week long challenges tracked by inBody measurements for body fat and lean mass measurements (yes, I know it's not perfect but we compare apples to apples). They also are knowledgeable about diet and supplements and can provide some general advice on what macros to focus on.
Since the beginning of the year when I started, I've lost 10lbs and felt much stronger and have much more endurance to take care of my baby. I can also run my mile loop around my hilly neighborhood without feeling winded or stopping! I'm learning to focus less on losing weight as a number as now I'm more interested in building lean mass and having a good balance of fitness and getting to eat the foods that I enjoy consistently rather than trying to force myself to be in a very restrictive diet. I feel much better mentally as well and have always felt the benefits of physical exercise releasing the good feeling endorphins.
I have to say thank you very much to the coaches that have been so helpful-- Marissa, Justin, Michelle, Carolina, Victoria, and Sebastien!! read more