Fitness: Favourite Pregnancy Workouts

Hellooo! Yep, I still have that Seattle post in my drafts, but we are getting towards the end of my pregnancy and I really wanted to document some of my workouts for future reference. My friend introduced me to a YouTube channel called Pregnancy & Postpartum TV and I have really appreciated her channel as a pregnancy workout & education resource.

I was basically a sick potato for the duration of my first trimester and absolutely could not move. However, I started feeling much better in my second trimester. It took time for me to adjust back to West Coast time and get over jet lag after my trip to Asia, but after I finally had enough rest and energy, I started doing her workouts as well as taking regular walks.

I set myself a daily step goal of 7,500 steps with the understanding that my realistic goal was no fewer than 4,500 steps/day. Even if I don’t go out for a walk, I tried to do one of her indoor walking workouts. Starting late February, I was consistently exercising 3-4x/week, which has since increased to 4-5x/week. I’m still working out but it’s definitely getting harder in my third trimester and baby is growing rapidly!

I started on this New 14 Day Pregnancy Workout Challenge, which was very helpful for getting to know some of the basics of how best to exercise during pregnancy. But to be honest, I didn’t end up finishing the entire 14 days (I finished day 11) as I started wanting to her other videos instead.

I’ve since tried a decent number of her videos and here are some of my absolute favourites that I always return to:

The walking workouts include a lot of full body cardio and totally help with my daily step goal. The other two also end up with me working up a sweat (but still able to maintain a conversation!) and were extra enjoyable because I could feel myself getting stronger as I repeated them on later days.

I am pretty certain I have built up a bit of extra muscle from working out during pregnancy, especially with all the squats I’ve been doing haha. I swear pregnancy is literally the best time to build muscle: you have built in progressive overload with the increased weight of your belly, you’re already eating in a surplus and your literal goal is to see the number on the scale increase at a healthy rate.

Plus you get the added benefit of exercising helping to manage your weight so that you’re not gaining toooo much. That said, I think I’m currently trending a little high on my weight gain, BUT my weight fluctuates a lot like it always does depending on my diet, my bowel movements, my workouts etc.

The photo above was taken just a couple of days ago. I’ve definitely gained some fat and am a similar size to when I first started my fitness journey in 2020 albeit with a much larger belly, but that’s to be expected! I could do a bit better with my weight management now, but to be honest, I’d rather just listen to my body and give my body whatever it needs to keep baby growing well.

We can’t wait to meet her <3

Muchos love,

Bobbie

Fitness: Grow A Booty Challenge Week 1

Image screenshot: Chloe Ting 2022 Grow A Booty Challenge

I interrupt my Seattle posts to bring you… a new workout challenge. Haha. The last time I did a home workout was in August. Goodness, has it been a month and a half already? Per my final thoughts for the Get Abs Challenge, my body needed a break from doing both wushu and home workouts.

The HIIT was too much for me to handle, and I am very glad that I took time off from home workouts to allow my body to rest in between intense wushu classes. I was working towards my yellow belt (which I’ve now obtained) but it was just getting harder to keep up my stamina when my body wasn’t getting sufficient recovery time.

However, I must be recovered by now because all of last week I felt like I wanted to do more workouts than I was doing. Now that I’m on my yellow belt I am learning staff, which is nearly impossible to practice at home so my exercise has less than halved.

This morning I found a bit of time and just really wanted to do a workout… so I went for it.

I’m still going to be doing my wushu classes 2-3x/week and I’ll listen to my body to see if I have the energy to do these workouts the rest of the time. This challenge is complementary to my wushu since my form requires so much leg strength so, while I’m not sure how quickly I’ll be able to progress through it, I’ll aim to complete it before December!

(That’s my code for: don’t expect this post to be updated frequently lolol sorryyy.) Anyways, on with the post!

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Fitness: Get Abs Challenge Days 15-18

Image screenshot: Chloe Ting 2022 Get Abs Challenge

Click here to read my update for days 1-3 of this challenge.
Click here to read my update for days 4-6 of this challenge.
Click here to read my update for days 7-9 of this challenge.
Click here to read my update for days 10-14 of this challenge.

Alrighty, this post comes later than expected, but better late than never. I ended up so busy and exhausted over the weekend I took a 3hr nap yesterday afternoon and was groggy more or less all day. It was overall a great weekend spent with church friends but my social quota going from 0 to 100 is taking a lot out of me.

This will be the final post for this challenge with my final thoughts at the end. This challenge has taken me far longer than 18 days, but that was to be expected since I was doing it on the days I wasn’t doing wushu. I needed more rest days than I thought I would, but sometimes wushu takes more out of me than expected, and sometimes the workout itself is more intense so I just needed more rest.

I’ve actually really enjoyed doing this challenge alongside my wushu classes. It ensures I get a workout in 4-5x/week, which is ideal for me, and it’s great for helping motivate me to actually do some wushu practice on the days I don’t have class. Since I’m already warmed up, may as well get some practice in, amiright?

I also very much credit my teammate for me getting this far with this challenge. She completed it according to schedule, and even though I’m disqualified from the team, I’m still encouraged to complete the challenge so that it’ll still be added to my profile as a completed team challenge.

I don’t want to quit or stop the challenge and have all that prior hard work go to waste! We’re ranked B because of my teammate, I can’t let her down like this! Here we go for the final 4 days~

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Fitness: Get Abs Challenge Days 10-14

Image screenshot: Chloe Ting 2022 Get Abs Challenge

Click here to read my update for days 1-3 of this challenge.
Click here to read my update for days 4-6 of this challenge.
Click here to read my update for days 7-9 of this challenge.

Originally I was planning to have three more posts – days 10-12, 13-15, 16-18. However, day 13 is a rest day, so I’ve decided to split the remaining days into two posts instead, each with 4 days’ workouts in them. So this will be the penultimate post for this challenge!

I’m kind of amazed that I’m even 50% through. I’m already starting to feel unmotivated, but thanks to my teammate I do actually still want to get it all completed. I was even thinking of just taking an extra rest day today since I worked out yesterday (and my glutes are sore!!), but after discussing with my teammate, she encouraged me to get it done today.

We both know that I’m going to get disqualified this week, but she said why not do one final day before I get disqualified tomorrow for falling more than 5 days behind? Tomorrow is another wushu day so I won’t be doing the challenge, but at least we’ll have done 10 days together. Couldn’t really say no to that!

I hope I’ll still be able to finish up the challenge after I get disqualified. I want it on my profile page lol.

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Fitness: Get Abs Challenge Days 7-9

Image screenshot: Chloe Ting 2022 Get Abs Challenge

Click here to read my update for days 1-3 of this challenge.
Click here to read my update for days 4-6 of this challenge.

Ugh. It has been a week! My allergies have been flaring up quite badly and today is one of those days where I’m kind of exhausted, so this post is coming to you at the end of day 9. The past few days have been filled with junk food, sugar crashes and headaches lol. I wonder if there could be a connection there. Since I’m typing this at the end of Day 9, I’m essentially starting with my summary, and you can read my daily breakdowns below if you like.

These last few days were more workout days where having a team saved me from laziness because I next level did not feel like working out. You may notice from the late workout completion times… yep, that happened. If I were following my usual schedule, the workouts would have been completed before lunch.

My teammate was feeling unwell this week so she actually took a couple of extra rest days, gasp. This also meant that I had more time to get Day 9 completed without getting disqualified for being 5 days behind, which, I managed to do, woohoo!

If it hadn’t been for the extra day, I probably would have been disqualified without passing 50% with my team. I was feeling unwell yesterday so ended up resting as well. What can I say? It’s been a week. But the good thing is, thanks to us being on this team challenge, I still did the workouts even though I really didn’t feel like it, and I’m glad I did.

I’ve also officially signed up for wushu 2x/week, so I’ll still be able to do my Chloe Ting Challenge on Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat (one of which will be a rest day). I’ve calculated the days left on this challenge, and it looks like I’ll be able to complete the challenge by the end of next week or something.

My teammate will be completing the challenge by the end of this week. I’ll for sure be disqualified this week, but the goal for this team challenge was always just to pass 25% together though, so the fact that we managed to get 50% together is fantastic. I’m still glad to be having the motivation to continue.

Oooh, we’re half way there~!

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