My 5MinuteBack Pregnancy Challenge

5MinuteBack Pregnancy did wonders for me throughout my first pregnancy. Not only did it help me ease the normal aches and pains of pregnancy, but it gave me the energy to get through my 36 hour labor and delivery, and sped up my recovery. Looking back though, my biggest regret is that I didn’t start until more than ½ way through my pregnancy.

Now pregnant with my second child, I am determined to complete my 5MBP program consistently throughout the entire pregnancy. So I’m giving myself a challenge. . .

 

My Challenge Goals

1. To complete the 5MinuteBack Pregnancy exercise routine EVERY day (either the full routine or the Quick 5Minute Routine)
2. Workout out every other day 
   • Remember, 5MinuteBack Pregnancy is a complete exercise routine for pregnant women. Don't feel like you need to do anymore than your trimester specific pregnancy routine. I'm just trying to be an overachiever :-)
3. Eat as healthy as possible (with all of that extra time I have when I’m not chasing my toddler around).

As I do this, I invite you to follow along with me and see what the pregnancy exercise program can really do. I will use the next 9+ months to document my workouts, diet and overall experience with this pregnancy.

 

My Story

My name is Véronique. I am a busy mom of a two year old, and one of the co-designers of the 5MinuteBack Pregnancy program. I’ve always been a very active person: I love hiking, running, skiing, and well, pretty much anything you can do outdoors. While I’d consider myself a very healthy person, I have struggled on and off with some back pain and headaches.

For years now, I have been a regular student of the 5MinuteBack program. So when I found out that I was pregnant with my first child, I continued doing some of my exercises. However, as I struggled with some discomfort and nausea in the first trimester, I forgot about my 5MinuteBack exercises. That was until I began suffering those wonderful aches and pains of pregnancy. So I turned to Dr. Jarrell (the developer of 5MBP and 5MB) to find out if he had designed a program, based on 5MinuteBack that I could use during my pregnancy. Together, we developed the 5MinuteBack Pregnancy exercise program. Unfortunately for me, I was already half way through my pregnancy at that point.

 

My 1st Pregnancy

I must say that I was one of the lucky few. I had a pretty easy pregnancy. During the first trimester, I had some morning sickness and fatigue, but it was only for a few hours in the afternoon. I was also able to continue running and hiking on a regular basis.

I coasted through my second trimester, until the headaches started. They were quickly followed by low back pain, neck stiffness and an uncomfortable amount of insomnia. Exhausted, I found it challenging to continue to work, exercise, and even struggled to be a nice person sometimes. Like I’d mentioned above, that’s when I started 5MinuteBack Pregnancy. It was a game changer for me. Within a couple of days I was already feeling better. My low back pain went away, I felt stronger and happier, I was actually able to bend my neck and I started to sleep better. Yay!

As for the rest of my pregnancy, it was great. I found a wonderful midwife, an amazing doula, and great care team. Aside from an unexpected diagnosis of gestational diabetes, I felt great. I walked everyday, did weights when I could, and took an amazing trip up to British Columbia with my husband, to top it all off.

I had been hoping for a natural child birth, but one and a half weeks after my due date, my doctor informed me that we would have to speed things along. After using 2 different induction methods and Pitocin I still hadn’t progressed enough. I was given the option between an epidural and a C section. Lucky for me, the epidural was enough, and after 36 hours of labor, we were blessed with the most wonderful little boy. After only 6 weeks, I got back to my 5MinuteBack Pregnancy exercises, was out hiking and jogging again, and feeling like myself (aside from being SUPER tired).

I’m telling you all of this to give you a baseline, a point of comparison for pregnancy number 2 as I begin this challenge.

 

And Off I Go!

As I make my way through this journey, I will use each blog post not only as an update about the Challenge, but also to provide each of you momma's (and your partners) with a wealth of tips and tools to help you have a happy, healthy and pain-free pregnancy.

Oh, and one last thing - I’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas and any words of encouragement that you have along the way.

And off we go, . . .  let the Challenge begin!

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