Sis-Tember: Pregnancy & Postpartum Edition
Hey everyone!
It’s us again! I know, I know we said monthly-“ish” newsletters, and here we are with two in one month! Who are we?!! 😂
We wanted to make sure to send out a “special edition” if you will for our upcoming focus month, “SIS-TEMBER.” By now, you should have seen reference to our collaboration with Between the Ears, an amazing organization owned and operated by Bill and Karianne Anthes.
How It Works
The Sisyphus Gauntlet and BTE workouts invite us to challenge our fears, beliefs, and habits in a way that is both intimidating and fun, and ultimately transformative.
There will be ONE Sisyphus Gauntlet workout programmed each SATURDAY in the month of September, with options for anyone to participate — solo or as a TEAM, on your own or at one of the local SP meetups taking place. (If you are local to Greeley, CO or Brevard, NC come see Terri or me, Kate!)
Street Parking members will also find one SP + Between the Ears Daily Workout programmed each WEDNESDAY to continue to reinforce and explore the physiology of psychology in our daily fitness.
👉 You can read more on the Sisyphus Gauntlet as well as SIS-TEMBER HERE. Also, check out Friday’s newsletter that went out to all Street Parking members.
SIS-TEMBER:
Pregnancy & Postpartum Lens
If you have looked at the workouts as someone who is pregnant and/or postpartum, you may have wondered, How should I approach this? Should I even do the monthly focus? Can I benefit from this? What are customizations/modifications that would meet me where I am?
In short, yes there is a benefit to completing SIS-TEMBER in almost any season of life that you’re in.
However, it will be important to truly have an honest conversation with yourself, meaning having self-awareness in regards to your own individual considerations, what your intentions/goals are, and any limitations (are you 9 months pregnant, newly postpartum, still in pain/bleeding, etc.) you may have before beginning each of the Sisyphus Gauntlet sessions. Honestly meeting yourself where you are right now and being ok with that in regards to how you approach the physical piece to these experiences will be crucial.
If you are navigating pregnancy or postpartum (generally speaking the first year) right now, we would encourage you to dial back the duration of the workouts. Check out the additional options that will be available for each of the sessions, which will generally have a much shorter duration or distance and a TEAM version. From there, we encourage you to be honest with yourself and continue to adjust or adapt as needed.
We would also suggest you to potentially dial back intensity based on your own unique considerations. As far as dialing back intensity, this could look like walking the hill instead of running (hills can be great for postpartum but keeping to a pace you have conditioned to); a farmer carry variation rather than a bear hug carry; a sled/sandbag drag/pull rather than a push (try both though to see what feels best for you); and a ruck, plate step overs, small box step ups, or a steady state cardio like the bike for burpees. All of the sessions will come with additional customizations when they are programmed or you can also check out this handy sheet here!
Some of the workouts you may need to adjust a lot and others maybe not at all. 👉 Check out our RESOURCES CORNER below for ideas on customizing movements within the Sisyphus Gauntlet as well as strategies to help support you as you decide on how to approach each of these workouts.
Pregnancy can be such a hard season to navigate not only physically but also very much so mentally and emotionally. So many variables begin changing over a relatively short period of time which may cause a shift in our relationship with our body, our fitness and even our identity. During these sessions, you might experience a sense of acceptance and surrender, as the nature of physical movement, duration, and intensity will more than likely need to adapt based on your stage of pregnancy, any individual symptoms, or other contraindications you may have.
I like to think of training during pregnancy as a sports analogy: consider pregnancy as an "off-season" in our training. Just like training during the off-season differs from in-season training, your training variables will need to be adjusted. It's okay if things look and feel different now. The goal is to support yourself effectively and prepare as best as you can for what lies ahead. How can we best support ourselves now and best prepare ourselves within our control for what’s to come?
Navigating fitness as a postpartum athlete has many nuances — there are so many considerations to take into account. We can often be eager to feel like ourselves again, perhaps rushing through the postpartum process of rebuilding a foundation that supports us not only physically, but in other aspects as well. Utilize these sessions and the journaling prompts to slow down, sit with and help lead you to (re)building confidence and sense of self not only as an athlete and mother, but who you still are as your own person.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Karianne Anthes, one of the co-founders of Between the Ears, suggests the following:
Take some time to be honest and self aware about what your current physical needs/ limitations are as they relate to your and your baby's overall health and wellbeing.
Explore and understand the mindset to establish your intention of the movement practice.
Determine what movement scales align with where you are at: decrease the intensity, load, change the movement, etc.
Consider the duration and where you are at in your pre/postpartum journey to not deplete yourself.
Working through the Sisyphus Gauntlet will no doubt leave a lasting impact for many of us, hopefully providing some mental framework and self-discovery in our own journeys of pregnancy, postpartum and beyond.
OUR RECOMMENDATION: If you are LATER IN PREGNANCY (this will depend individually on how you feel and/or if you have pelvic pain or other contraindications) or NEWLY POSTPARTUM (meaning you haven’t yet done a recovery postpartum program, are still having pain, bleeding, etc, or still need to be cleared by your medical care team), consider holding off for right now so that you can get the most out of this experience. Of course, you should weigh your own individual risk vs. reward in approaching this which goes back to the honest conversation with oneself and adjusting/adapting as needed.
BUT I ALSO THINK THAT’S THE BEAUTY IN THIS EXPERIENCE. It’s providing us opportunity to pause, reflect, and ask ourselves to dive a bit deeper into our mindset not only surrounding the physical component but in our lives outside of the gym. This can be especially uncomfortable postpartum when many of us try to push, to “get back,” to a place of before, continually comparing our current selves to our past selves. Use this as an oportunity to continue self-discovery and as part of finding your way forward. Bring a journal with you, read the prompts, approach the sessions adjusting and adapting as you need to meet yourself where you are right now.
We are looking forward to hearing the stories and experiences from our community this month! Know that we are with you and are here to support you as you need.
Resource Corner
Videos on possible customizations to utilize for each of the sessions. Note that any of these customizations can be used across any and all of the sessions.
THE HILL:
THE CARRY:
THE EFFORT:
THE PUSH:
General Core/Pelvic Health Strategies
We hope this provides some more insight as you decide on your path this Sis-tember. As always, if you need help or want to talk through any of these sessions, we are always available via mamas@streetparking.com. We hope you enjoy the opportunity in leaning into something a bit different this month- a perspective we believe would have been helpful in navigating our own pregnancy/postpartum seasons of life as well!
We love seeing your customizations, progress and the fun you’re (hopefully) having with all the fun going ons this Summer- so keep on sharing your stories in our Facebook group or on Instagram, tagging #spmoms, #sppregnancyandpostpartum or either of us so we can support you!
With love,
Kate & Terri
FOR QUESTIONS, FEEDBACK, OR COMMENTS:
📧 mamas@streeparking.com
📲 @coach_katejohnson
📲 @terri.elder.dpt