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Back in January, when I first started working out at Charles River CrossFit, my goal was to be able to walk into another CrossFit by January 2012 and be able to do the WOD Rx. While I certainly gained significant stamina and strength in the time I’ve been a CrossFitter, pregnancy has thrown quite a wrench in that goal. Still, at 19 weeks pregnant, I’ve managed my fair share of Rx WODs, and I’m glad that I’m still able to CrossFit about four times a week. But, I’m surprised at how much harder CrossFit has become. I assumed that I wouldn’t have to modify my WODs until I was very visibly showing, and I figured that would be to merely accommodate for my large belly. Even though I’m five months along, I’m not really showing. So, it’s come as a bit of a shock when I’ve had to drop down weights or had to slow down on a metcon. I’ve dropped my deadlift by about 40 pounds and my back squat nearly 50. There have been metcons where I’ve barely finished in the allotted time, and one metcon of kettlebell swings, double unders, and rowing where I was cut off with one round to go. Those moments have been hard. While I know that I need to listen to my body and I’m aware that I have more physical constraints now, I’ve been mentally and physically trained to push myself to the brink, and it’s hard to feel limitations now. And double unders are just brutal these days!

With that said, I am beginning to fall in love with oly lifts. I always preferred chipper WODs or low skill, high intensity metcons to bar work, but with the barbell, I’ve been able to maintain a lot more of my strength. I can still easily clean 95 pounds, and I have a lot more confidence in my lifts. Pregnancy has been a great time for me to become a more well-rounded CrossFitter.

My philosophy is to try and do a WOD Rx if I can, and if that means five less double unders or cutting a run short by 100 meters, I’d rather do that then switch to single unders or drop my weight. I’ve gone from being one of the fastest in a class to one of the slowest. But hopefully, come February, I’ll be able to bounce back quickly and regain my stamina. And there are days when I feel invincible at the box, and others where I can barely do the warm up. Each day, I just try and do the best I can.

While there are some people in my life who are supportive of my CrossFit ways, others have been quite critical of my desire to keep up intense exercise while pregnant. Perhaps the most jarring comment I received was that if I continued my level of exercise, my baby would be born with birth defects. When moments like that happen, I just remind myself what my midwife told me: “your great-grandmother farmed, washed clothes by hand, and prepared meals from scratch. Women always had to be physically active and had healthy babies. It’s just in modern day that we’ve become far too sedentary, and it’s not something to be proud of. Good for you for exercising.”