The beauty of Olympic weightlifting
 

Does anyone here have an interest in Olympic lifting? I know a few of you do Crossfit so you are familiar with a lot of moves.

I love it.

In an average workout, I have been lifting 2000-3000lbs overall. My heartrate is higher than cardio. I have gained almost 4lbs - yet have gone down a dress size. I love it so much. The only sadness I have is that my DH and I would like to start our family so I will have to quit the heavy lifting for a year or two. It's hard to believe that 5 years ago my gut was spilling over my pants and I got winded walking up a flight of stairs.

I love Melanie Roach!

Why do you have to stop the heavy lifting? :?:

I LOVE the oly lifts. Not interested in competing or anything, just love the movements, especially snatches and jerks. Can't say I'm very good at them yet, but I am having a great time learning! I love the speed and the energy, I guess.

Next on my wishlist is some weightlifting shoes, but I think I will wait for tax refund, so I can afford to get a pair that will last a while. I also want to be at goal weight before I buy them, because my shoe size has dropped with the weight loss...weird! I have to buy new roller skates for that reason, since my feet are swimming in my old pair.

Well, I'm not 100% sure I have to stop during pregnancy. I was checking out crossfitmom.com and I think it rocks.

I totally 2nd you with the shoes. I am using running shoes right now and they aren't adequate. It's sort of like running in sandals - yes, it can be done, but it isn't meant for it!!! My DH and I actually just traced our feet last night to send them in for custom made weightlifting shoes (about $150CDN). I'll let you know how they turn out!! Very exciting.

I'm sure you will get great at the lifts - anyone can do a squat or deadlift, but to do them proper with excellent form takes a long time!!!

i really enjoy some olympic weight moves as well!! My trainer has me do alot of snatches and jerks and other variations...it IS a great full body workout......more interesting than just doing squats, or just shoulder presses, etc....i confess i am not very good at them yet either...it takes a lot of practice to get the form and muscle memory down for sure!!

I'm totally hooked. I love the changes that oly lifting have made to ny body, and that's after 8 years of doing body building splits.

There is a guy at my cross Fit who wears Vibram Five Fingers for lifting and sprinting. He swears they give him more stability. I'm thinking about them.

Mel

mkroyer: That's awesome, I love it that a runner supplements with those moves! They are truly full body!

Mel: That's interesting that you mentioned those! My DH (who has been a weightlifter for about 15-20 years now) just ordered the five fingers shoes! We are in Canada so it might be another week or two but I'll check in! If they rock (I have to admit they look freaky), I'm getting my own pair too.

The Vibrams are the hot thing at my CF gym, too, for deadlifts and a lot of other stuff, but the peeps still like the standard lifting shoes for the oly lifts, back squats, etc.

Sacha, the ladies at my crossfit gym seem to keep going during and after pregnancy. I'm sure there are some special considerations and precautions to take, but I don't think you have to stop altogether.

Do you know if they are following the rx'd WODs or crossfitmom.com (I think I'm going for crossfit mom!).

AFAIK, (and I've looked!) ACOG doesn't have much to say about pregnant women and heavy strength training. ACOG puts out the guidelines that most US OB practices follow and they offer general exercise guidance.

In general:
For most healthy women it is okay to continue the exercises you are used to doing.
Stay hydrated
Avoid closed glottis lifting (in other words, breathe, don't hold your breath!)
Avoid lying flat on your back after the middle of pregnancy
Don't get hurt (common sense, let's not fall of the pull-up bar)
Know that in late pregnancy, your center of gravity will shift and your joints will be lax and things that you could do in the first trimester might be too uncomfortable in the third. (A power clean at 34 weeks might be a little uncomfortable....one should always listen to one's body)
All of these guidelines assume normal pregnancy. Previa, preterm labor, hypertension, etc., will obviously interfere.

These are general and nonspecific guidelines and do not replace your discussions with your own personal midwife (or OB/GYN if you must) :D

Sacha, the women at my gym follow the WODs our trainers write, which would be different than the mainsite wods or crossfitmom. Most they just make up, since they've been doing this for a while, but we do run through the typical CF "girl" and other benchmark wods, just on a different schedule than the mainsite.