Anyone who does regular physical activity learns, to some extent, to communicate with their body. The more you exercise, and the more serious you are about it, the better the communication. In order to get past a certain skill level, you have to be aware of your body on a fine-tuned level, and the more you work out, the better care you need to take in order to avoid health problems. People who are careless find themselves with permanent joint problems, out of training for weeks or months to heal injuries, or with life-threatening problems like dehydration. So although I am currently talking about trying to keep physical while pregnant, this particular maxim should be applied by everyone.
In martial arts, listening to your body helps you to develop higher levels of fitness and skill. You learn to realize when you're raising your shoulders up, when you're not in the proper stance, when you aren't controlling your techniques or aren't hitting your target area. You learn that many techniques, if performed improperly, can cause injury. Not keeping your knee over your toes when in a deep stance will lead to knee and ankle problems; letting your elbow fly out when you punch can lead to elbow and shoulder problems; bending your wrist when you punch can lead to a jammed wrist; etc.
I've had years of practice listening to my body's wants, needs and complaints, and I've had to pretty much throw it all out the window starting last September. The only thing that has remained constant is the need to listen to my body, more important than ever now because all the rules have changed.
I want to emphasize that I am no doctor, and in no way does anything I say constitute medical advice. The next thing I need to say is that compared to so many women I know or have heard of, I've had it easy, for which I am very grateful. So, I'm only discussing my personal situation, but I do feel much of it applies to many pregnant women. Here's what my body has had to say to me the past several months:
1) I'm tired! I've never been so tired in my entire life. I slept 9 or 10 hours a night, and needed naps most afternoons. I spent 3 months feeling dizzy and exhausted. If I didn't get enough rest, I had serious meltdowns.
In terms of karate, it meant I missed a lot of training because I was too tired to get off the couch, or knew I couldn't get through class if I did. The one time I tried to rebel and "push through it", I ended up shaking and in tears, and it took me 2 days to recover. Lesson learned.
In terms of the non-pregnant martial artist? Still true! If you're too run down, there are times when you are better off resting than trying to push it.
2) I don't want to eat that! I did not spend the first 3 months of my pregnancy in the bathroom, and I can't begin to express my gratitude for that. However, I did go "off" almost all food. I ate bread, crackers, and baked potatoes, with water and ginger ale to wash it down. Despite concerns for my nutritional needs, and those of the baby, I never tried to force myself to eat something I didn't want, and if I had, I would have gotten sick. I did what I could with prenatal vitamins to make up the difference.
In terms of karate, this meant more missed trainings and much weaker trainings, because I didn't have the fuel required to train at my accustomed level.
In terms of the non-pregnant martial artist? Many things might affect your eating habits, including illness, stress, or just plain busy scheduling. Be aware that it can and will affect your strength and endurance, and give yourself a break until you're at full strength again.
3) Like it or not, your hormones are affecting you. I've always been a tomboy and never had much patience with women who use hormones as an excuse to weep, throw fits, or stay in bed whining. I ignored the little suckers to the best of my ability, and never saw why other women couldn't do the same. I now feel I owe an apology for every time I saw a pregnant woman dissolve into tears and thought to myself, "what an idiot!" My emotional state was extremely shaky for several months, and some things were really hard to deal with and my inability to control my emotions made it that much worse.
In karate terms? More missed training. When I knew that I was too tired and shaky to have a good training, I didn't go, because emotionally, it was devastating. The only thing worse than missing training and getting out of shape is training and really sucking, and spending the next two hours in tears wondering if you'll ever be able to do karate properly again. Again, it only took once for me to learn this lesson.
In terms of the non-pregnant martial artist? There are many things in life that are beyond our control, hormonal or otherwise. Outside stressors can do just as bad a number on your mental strength and confidence, and everyone has bad days sometimes. Sometimes the outside influences are so strong that they will overwhelm your dedication to the martial arts. Forgive yourself; life has a way of sometimes rearranging your priorities.
4) Be patient. Which was the most important lesson my body had to teach me. I wanted to try to push through all of this, and you just can't do it. Your body is pumping 50% more blood, and your internal organs are rearranging themselves to accommodate a growing baby. This is physically exhausting, and it does no good to pretend otherwise.
In karate terms, this meant stifling my infamous impatience level and hanging onto hope (sometimes by a thread!). I had to keep my fingers crossed that what everyone told me was right, that things would get better during the second trimester. And they have.
In terms of the non-pregnant martial artist? Oh, how many times have I felt that I was on a plateau. I trained and trained, for weeks or months on end, and felt no improvement. I heard the same advice and corrections over and over again. I got tired and frustrated. For whatever the reasons, I always stuck it out, and comes a day when you have that amazing breakthrough, and your karate makes a "leap", and the feeling is indescribable. When things seem hard, or seem to be going nowhere, have a little patience. They can, and will, turn around.
Yeah! Congratulations! I continued with karate while pregnant with my second baby up until 36 weeks. I just couldn't kick anymore. You'll find that your body moves much differently once you start to really get a belly on you and that after having the baby, it takes a while to sort of relearn those moves again. Your joints get so much more flexible and loose when pregnant that you sort of have to reign things in again once the baby is born. Oh, and you'll also need a bigger obi eventually. ;-)
I'm looking forward to the pregnant karate posts and am glad you're feeling better. The first three months are rough. Just prepare yourself for the last three because they are exhausting too.
Posted by: Black Belt Mama | January 26, 2007 at 09:07 AM