Going to Booty School

Is that not an awesome hiney?? Holy cow. Maria Kudla and the awesome roundness of her glutes.

So, the DH and I were working out the other day (our return to the gym together) having a pretty awesome upper body workout (can't remember which one) and he is giving me major props for how my arms look. He hasn't "witnessed" me working out for awhile and so wasn't expecting me to really look like I had been working out. :)

Anyway, we were talking about how I want to make sure my arms are still shapely and toned while preggers and he was like: "heck yeah, just keep blowing up on your upper body" and then I had an epiphany. Insert angels singing noise here.

My lower body has always been my challenge area. I cannot lose fat right now....I can lessen the amount of fat I put on by making healthy choices and eating good food but I cannot lose fat at the risk of harming the little baby I carry in my belly. When you get pregnant (for those of you who DON'T know) you gain fat stores so that your body can access them if you go too long without food or if the baby needs additional nourishment. I hope to provide a steady stream of food every 2.5 to 3 hours so that my body doesn't feel the starvation factor often and puts on minimal amounts of fat. Regardless, my focus right now is maintaining my muscle mass (if I put on a little bit of extra mass during 1st and 2nd trimester bonus but I am not counting on it) and staying healthy.

Anyway, back to the original story...my epiphany is that I need to use this time to really work on my lower body. Now, as I stated already, I can't lose any fat right now but I can keep the muscle in my legs, work on shaping the muscle that is there and keep my legs toned and tight. And yes, still keep focused on my upper but really focus on the lower. I came home from the gym and went immediately to my huge 3 ring binder of workouts I have pulled from years and years of collecting magazines and tabbed to the lower body section. It was there I found: Booty School with Carla Sanchez. For those of you who don't know Carla, she is with Performance Ready and she is pretty awesome. The article was in the Oxygen Glutes issue from Spring of 2007 and her permise is basically this: women carry fat in hips and thighs and therefore have to work extra hard to keep it tight and toned. She said that women should make sure that their cardio is very glute specific and work legs more often than upper body. Anyone else remember this article?

For contest prep she recommends 6-7 days of booty work. Here's how it works:

• Monday: Glute Focused Cardio
• Tuesday: Strength & Conditioning Circuit
• Wednesday: Glute Focused Cardio Thursday: Strength & Conditioning Circuit
• Friday: Glute Focused Cardio
• Saturday: Strength & Conditioning Circuit
• Sunday: Optional Cardio
  

She doesn't think women can truly get over trained doing these 30-45 minute workouts once you work up to them. Her recommendation is to start with three a week and then add one a week as long as you aren't overly sore.

Last night I did my first Booty School Workout....I am going to post it because it is search and reapply and it was publicly printed. :)

I warmed up with 3 sets of 25 reps on the smith machine - 80lbs racked

Three rounds of the following (I did the following straight through and then repeated twice):

• 50 reverse lunges each leg off of a step with one riser (with or w/out weights) - 15lb dumbbells
• Step Mill - 200 quick steps (I don't have a step mill at the house - YET :) - so I just walked on the treadmill at the highest incline
• Hamstring curls - stability ball - 20 reps
• Jump split squats - 20 reps each leg
• Sumo squat - 20 reps - 60lbs
• Straight leg dead lifts - 15 reps holding 20lb dumbbells
• Jumping jack squats - 20 reps

Then I ran Pablo for 30 minutes. Great workout!

I will post other booty school workouts as I do them. My plan is to do three this week. The cardio workout is basically a combination of jump rope, step mill, treadmill, etc.

Hope you all had a great weekend!! I have no baby updates other than I got nothin. Everything is totally normal and I feel great. Boobs are bigger, have gained about a pound, maybe a pound and a half and clothes fit fine. I am a little paranoid b/c I haven't made the official announcement at work and I DO feel like I have a little pooch.

Have a great week everyone! Keep your goals and your dreams in your sights!
Jess

P.S. I ran the lake today with Amber and Pabs - awesome!