My wife gave birth to our second son at the end of August. We are very happy and proud to have two children as a part of our family. However, my wife has been feeling very self-conscious this time around as her body isn’t getting back to her pre-pregnancy shape as quickly as the first time. I asked her if she was interested in learning how to use a kettlebell and she said yes! I have started teaching her the swing, and the Turkish get up, and things are going pretty well.

However, the other day when we got the kids to sleep I wanted to have another training session with her. She told me she was worried that working out, especially with weights, might affect her milk supply negatively. I’ve Googled, and read and read, and there is so much conflicting information on the web that it is hard to know what to believe. Will exercise affect my wife’s milk supply?

Sincerely,

Concerned Husband

Dear Concerned Husband,

I think it’s awesome you are supporting your wife the way you are, both in terms of the training and in seeking out the facts about postpartum exercise. You are right – there is a lot of conflicting information out there and it’s hard sometimes to sort it all out! Let me tell you what I know about lactation and exercise, both from a factual perspective and my own experience.

The studies done on exercise and lactation seem to suggest that regular, moderate to high-intensity exercise does not affect milk supply. The misconception that exercise does decrease milk supply actually goes way back to a study from the 1970s, in which increases in physical activity were shown to decrease milk production in cows. When you think about a cow’s normal activity level compared to the average human being’s, you can see why this study isn’t exactly relevant. I can personally vouch that if your wife has two young children, she’s probably more active than the average cow grazing in the field.

A few decades later, another study showed that high-intensity workouts (i.e., exercise sessions that exceed the woman’s anaerobic threshold) can alter the taste of human milk, due to increases in lactic acid. It doesn’t sound to me like this is what your wife is doing, but even if it was, it’s important to note that even these conditions do not decrease supply or even affect milk quality. Very high-intensity exercise may alter the taste of human milk and some infants might not like that. Fast forward to 2012, and you will find a meta-analysis in Pediatrics journal confirming that exercise does not affect infant growth, which is the real issue at stake in decreased milk supply.

As an active mom myself, I can say that exercise has never seemed to affect my milk supply. The key is to allow plenty of time in those first weeks after birth to establish a good supply with frequent nursing, lots of skin-to-skin contact, and pumping if necessary. I can think of a few times after a long run or intense workout that my daughter didn’t want to nurse right when I came home. However, I don’t think that this had to do with the taste as much as it did my own elevated heart rate and sweaty workout clothes. Babies like to feel secure and calm when they nurse. My experience was always that if mom is stressed or excited, they know. For this reason, I would advise that your wife always breastfeed before her workout.

If your wife still feels like she is having problems maintaining her milk supply, discuss it with her doctor or a lactation consultant, since there may be other factors at work. However, most studies show that as long as mom is nursing frequently, eating a healthy and balanced diet, and drinking plenty of water, she’s probably making more than enough milk to support her baby’s growth.

Moms and dads have so many questions on their mind and it can be frustrating when the answers conflict with each other. I hope this information is helpful, and congratulations to you and your wife on your new addition!

Coach Nicole Crawford

(Click here for articles by Coach Nicole)

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Dear Coach: Does Exercise Affect Milk Supply? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I’m in my third trimester and I want to do lots of squats to prepare for childbirth but I think I have bad knees. It hurts my knees to squat. Is there a different way I can do lots of squatting to still get good results?

Thanks,

No Squats For Me

Dear No Squats For Me,

First of all, congratulations on your pregnancy – you’re in the home stretch now! Before you know it you’ll be holding that baby in your arms.

Until then, take it easy with the squatting. There’s no need to rush it at this point. Trust me, if your feel yourself wanting to squat during labor, it will happen. I’ve worked with several women who have similar knee issues, particularly later in pregnancy when you’re carrying the extra weight. If the pain is mild and only occurs during the squat, you can probably do modified squats. However, remember that you don’t have to do 100 air squats a day at rapid-fire speed to reap the benefits. In fact, I encourage you to start with gentle stretches that will lengthen the muscles in your legs and ease you into squats slowly. Here’s how to do that:

1. Get comfortable. Here are 4 exercises I do to loosen up clients who have a hard time squatting. They also happen to be excellent exercises for pregnancy in general.

• Tailor Sitting: Sit with your feet together and relax. Breathe deeply, close your eyes, and lose track of time. Don’t focus on lowering your knees to the ground; rather, breathe and let your muscles do what they do. Tune into what’s going on with your baby and your body. If you feel your lower back start to round, come out of the stretch and move on.

• Hamstring Stretch: This is different from the usual standing hamstring stretch where you round over to touch your toes. Biomechanist and squatting queen Katy Bowman details it on her blog. Stand with your feet a hip width apart and put your arms straight out in front of you, or extend them to the side if that is more comfortable. Keep your legs straight as you gently hinge forward from the hips. Stop when you feel a stretch in your hamstrings. You might not make it far; that’s fine. Hold for 5 seconds, then release for 10 seconds. Repeat 3 to 5 times.

• Calf Stretch: Stand facing a wall and move into a lunge, with your hands pressed against the wall for support. Straighten your back leg until you feel a gentle stretch in your calf muscle. Don’t stretch to pain. Hold for 5 to 10 seconds, then release and repeat on the other side.

• Side Lying Release: This is a great exercise from the Spinning Babies website. Lie at the edge of a massage table or bed, with your legs stacked on top of each other. Place a table next to the bed so you can support yourself. Flex your feet slightly and keep your legs straight. Keep your hips stacked and do not tip forward. Gently let your top leg hang without shifting your hips. Stay in this position for one minute, then repeat on the other side.

2. Get Support. Do you have a stability ball? I highly recommend you get one to use during these last weeks of your pregnancy. You can do a wall squat with the stability ball to ease you into squats and minimize knee pain. Place the ball between your lower back and a wall. Gently squat down without allowing your knees to bend beyond ninety degrees. Start with 3 – 5 of these each day, and see how your knees feel.

You can also ask your partner to sit in a chair with his knees apart. Stand between his knees, facing away from him, and lean back into a squat while resting your arms over his knees for support. Stay in a shallow squat with the knees less than ninety degrees. During labor, you may find it helpful to do this same exercise in a deeper squat.

3. Adjust Your Feet. If you haven’t been squatting up to this point, chances are you will find it difficult to squat with your feet facing forward. Modify the squat with a gentler version by opening your feet wider and slightly turning out your feet. Squat down without sticking out your butt, keeping your knees in line with your toes. After your pregnancy you can work on moving those feet.

4. Walk Every Day. I know this might not seem related, but walking does a world of good for mastering the squat. If you haven’t been walking throughout your pregnancy, start with 10 – 15 minutes of walking each day, and work up to 30 – 45 minutes.

5. Get Off the Couch/Chair. No wonder people have a hard time squatting with all the hours of desk work we do! If possible, replace your office chair with a stability ball, or make a standing work desk where you can stretch your legs frequently. If that’s not possible, try to take a break every hour to do the stretches above. At home, get off the couch and sit on the floor instead. I like to sit on a rolled up towel and stretch out my legs, or do a mini-stretch routine on my yoga mat during a long movie.

For now, I would avoid deep squatting. This is particularly important if your baby is not positioned in the most favorable position (head down, occiput anterior). Lots of natural movement, gentle stretching, and modified squats will be most beneficial and least risky at this point in your pregnancy.

Most of all, soak in these last weeks! I hope this advice is helpful.

Coach Nicole Crawford

(Click here for articles by Coach Nicole)

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Dear Coach: I’m Pregnant and Squatting Hurts My Knees! appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

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I workout with kettlebells regularly and am considering adding a body pump class to my training schedule. How can I do both since both involve lifting weights, and I thought it best to take a day off between weight workouts. I also like to incorporate HIIT workouts on the treadmill and yoga and am tying to figure out the best way to get it all in!! Was thinking 1 week yoga/walking/KB followed by 1 week yoga/body pump/ walking. Thoughts?

Best,

Jane

Baltimore, MD

Dear Jane,

While I recognize that training should be fun, at some point you need to focus on results rather than entertainment. Pump is a great class – it’s always fun, invigorating, and the instructors are very motivating. (And while it may cause me to hand in my man card, I taught Pump in Australia for a while and even dated a girl who was a Master Trainer here, so I am very familiar with it). But what I notice in Pump classes is that the majority of people are still in the same shape in six months as they are now – something is wrong there.

As you’ve noticed, both Pump and kettlebells are both resistance based. The similarities don’t stop there either. Because of the way Pump classes are structured they tend more towards the strength endurance side of things and so do a lot of kettlebell workouts. In short, anything that you can do for more than 10 reps is heading towards strength endurance. And because of this similarity (and not taking into account the extra plane of movement that kettlebells allow) they are quite interchangeable.

But, the benefit of training is in gaining skill at the movements. Think about your first yoga class – you were stiff, ungainly, and struggled to get into the right postures. Now, with practice, you fluidly move from one position to the next. And weight training is no different. You need to be just as mindful of your body, posture, and movement with resistance training of any kind as you do during yoga. And what I think you’ll find is kettlebells have far greater similarities to yoga and fluid movement than Pump does. In fact, some of my best friends in the RKC community are both passionate about yoga and kettlebells and have a fantastic blend of suppleness and strength – in my eyes a near perfect blend of form and function.

So here’s my suggestion – save Pump for when you’re tired and just going to gym because you think you should. The instructor and the music will lift you up and you can switch off mentally because of the simple movements and get a good workout in. The rest of the time use kettlebells for your strength work as they blend perfectly with yoga. Always keep walking in there as I think we all need some low level activity at all times. Simply alternating between yoga one day and kettlebells the next will keep your body fresh, mobile and strong.

Coach Andrew Read

(Click here for articles by Coach Andrew)

The post Dear Coach: Can I Do Kettlebells, Body Pump, HIIT, AND Yoga? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.