The Expectant Yogi

Yoga has a lot of benefits for expectant mothers. But what if you have never done yoga before? Read my article "The Expectant Yogi" to find out the benefits that yoga has for both veteran and newbie yogis.

What's on TV?

Are you still having trouble finding time to workout? Here is a suggestion: do your exercise during the commercials of your favorite shows! While you are watching America's Next Top Model, Top Chef or Bridget's Sexiest Beaches (oh, don't act like you don't watch one of these shows...), you can do plank during one break, opposite arm/opposite leg during the next, jumping jacks during the following break, etc. This amount of exercise will add up and is good if you didn't get a chance to hit the gym that day.

Speaking of TV, many gyms now have tvs attached to their cardio machines now. So if you find doing 30 minutes on the elliptical mind-numbing,trying going to the gym during American Idol and see how fast 30 minutes goes by!

Go Low!

A few weeks ago, I talked about doing plank and how it is the single most important exercise to do. Plank is good for strengthening the transverse abdominal muscles. It is also very important to strengthen the muscles of the lower back, which oppose the abdominal muscles.

Expectant mothers often complain of lower back pain as a result of carrying a little extra weight and a shift in their center of gravity. New mothers will also often deal with lower back pain from having to lift heavy children, car seats, strollers, etc.

*Warning to new parents: make sure that the handles of your stroller are set to the right height for you. If the handles are too low, you will have to walk bent over to reach them, which causes lower back pain.

Most people don't realize this, but strengthening the lower back is often the best thing to do to prevent or get rid of lower back pain. When your lower back muscles are strong, they can handle weight gain, a shift in the center of gravity, and heavy lifting better.

Here is a simple exercise that you can do at home that will make the lower back stronger. It is called opposite arm/opposite leg:

1. Start on all fours with the wrists underneath the shoulders and the knees underneath the hips. The knees should not touch.

2. Engage the abdominal muscles.

3. Lift the right arm and the left leg and concentrate on squeezing the lower back muscles. Make sure your hips stay square to the ground.

4. Lower down (make sure the wrist is under the shoulder and the knee is under the hip).

5. Lift the left arm and the right leg and concentrate on squeezing the lower back muscles.

6. Repeat to do 12 on each side. Take a break and do 1 or 2 more sets.

You can do this exercise 3-4 times per week.

When you are done, stretch the lower back by doing cat and cow

Your children can even do this exercise with you!

Mom-Preneurs

This is a good article on Mom Entrepreneurs.

Marcia Cross Has No Time For Workouts

I wonder what moms think about Marcia Cross's comments.

I, of course, do not like this message....

Step by Step

In the last post, I talked about making healthier choices and gave some suggestions on how to do that. But, you still may need to find the motivation to make these changes.

Here is a suggestion: purchase and use a pedometer. Pedometers are sold almost every where now and are often times given away at health fairs and even in adult happy meals. (If you absolutely have to eat at McDonald's you might as well get a pedometer while you are there.) Some are pretty simple and just tell you how many steps you have taken. But you can also buy pedometers that tell you how many miles you have walked and how many calories you have burned.

It has been said that walking 10,000 steps per day helps to meet the Surgeon General's requirement of getting 30 minutes of moderate physical activity each day. This is a great goal to set for yourself. Put your pedometer on when you get up in the morning and wear it all day. At the end of the day, record how many steps you have taken. Expectant mamas can use this as a goal too.

Need more motivation? Promise yourself a trip to the spa after a week of walking 10,000 steps per day. Or you will buy yourself those wonderful red shoes you have been lusting after if you meet your goal at least 25 days out of the month. You will see that you will start to push yourself to meet the goal. It will motivate you to get up and take a walk during your lunch break, to walk to the store instead of driving and to take the stairs instead of the elevator.

Now, I will warn you: if you are not currently active, it is a good idea to work up to 10,000 steps per day. For example, start off with 4000 steps as a goal for the first week. Once you have reached that goal on a consistent basis, you can increase it. It is good to have short term goals on the way to your long-term goal.

Ok, let's get to steppin!

News and Events at The Hot Mama Fitness Studio

I just wanted to take a minute to let you know about the exciting events that we have planned at The Hot Mama Fitness Studio.

We will be offering the following workshops:
-Partner Yoga-March 14, 4:30-6:00 pm
-Child and Infant CPR-March 15, 1:00-5:00 pm
-Pre-Natal Partner Yoga by Candlelight-March 20, 7:00 pm
-Belly Dance for Birth Preparation Workshop-March 21, 12:00 pm
-Women's Wellness Workshop:Strong Bodies, Strong Minds. Where are you on your to do list?-April 4, 1:00 pm

You can find details on our website: http://www.hotmamafitnessstudio.com/workshops.php

We have started classes in Capitol Hill for moms that live and work on that side of town: http://www.hotmamafitnessstudio.com/capitol_hill.php

And last but definitely not least, please save the dates for our Mother's and Father's Day events:
Celebrate Mother's Day the Hot Mama Way! May 2, 2009
Celebrate Father's Day at The Hot Mama Fitness Studio June 19-21, 2009

Hope to see you there!