Strong Like A Mom
We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!
Today’s newsletter will delve into our 2025 Street Parking “Built to Endure” focus on STRENGTH. We're also excited to announce the release of new videos in our Resource Corner that can support you throughout your fitness journey, no matter the season of life you’re in. 💃
📍 Before you dive in, save the date for a LIVE conversation with Kate and Terri THIS Thursday, January 23rd at 9am PST. Use the link below to subscribe for notifications for the live!
Built to Endure — Strength
The first part of "Built to Endure" — our Street Parking 2025 Road Map — focuses on STRENGTH. This is a GREAT topic for us to explore since there are so many benefits for those navigating pregnancy or postpartum, experiencing pelvic health challenges (such as leaking), or if you’re returning from injury.
During these next weeks we’ll dive deeper into the benefits and how to safely incorporate strength training into your routine. Today we’ve got a few of our favorite tips on how to approach strength training, as this is one of the most frequent topics we see in and out of the SP community.
Stay tuned for more resources and content coming soon as we continue our Strength focus for the next couple of months!
Facebook Q&As
TOPIC: Pregnancy + Strength Training
“I'm 21 weeks pregnant. Just curious what other pregnant mamas or coaches would advise as far as the strength workouts. I've typically only used dumbbells for strength and feel a little uneasy with adding something like the barbell while I'm pregnant. Always excited for the goals and roadmaps SP puts together and want to be a part of it as best I can.”
— SP Member Heather, SPM Facebook group
ANSWER — Coach Terri
“…We are getting more and more data on high intensity exercise and heavy lifting during pregnancy, and unless you are at high risk, the benefits greatly outweigh the risks. The main restrictions for exercise have probably already been shared - avoid full contact sports, scuba diving, sky diving, etc, and getting really overheated. There are some other precautions and considerations that are listed in the resources I’ll mention below.
It’s a good idea to meet yourself where you are in terms of training - so if you are comfortable with dumbbells and you don’t have a lot of experience with barbell work, it might not be the time to add it.
🔑 We have fantastic resources for navigating exercise during pregnancy, they can be found on the SP “Members Only” website under Tools > Mamas > Resources. Start with the blog “What to Expect: First Trimester” — there’s a lot of great info for general training during pregnancy. Then, I’d check out the blogs for trimesters.”
ANSWER — Coach Alex
“I’m 22 weeks pregnant, so just ahead of you! Definitely go with what you are most familiar with during this season. Consider your focus being maintaining strength and muscle mass for as long as possible through your pregnancy. The way I look at it, I will only become more limited as time passes so I’m just doing what I can each week. I also have chosen NOT to do any tests, as I would not be re-testing at the end of March, and my scores would not be applicable for reference in the future (as I would use them).”
TOPIC: Pelvic Health + Leaking
“Strength programming… I’m going to start the conversation for us pelvic floor therapy needing peeps: I tried to hit my max at a globo gym today. I hit 115# on my squat before stopping, because I was going to pee all over the gym if I didn’t stop. I was probably 50# or more from my max, but natural childbirth… For those of us who need PFT (I’m going to reach out to a therapist after the holidays), can we reach a max without really reaching a max? I love deadlifts and back squats. Those are my favorite 2 movements. And they are the 2 that make me realize how much I need PFT the most….”
— SP Member Crystal, SPM Facebook group
ANSWER — Coach Terri
“This question, ‘Can we reach a max without really reaching a max?’
You might have met a PF threshold but there are SO MANY things to explore before you determine if that’s the current ‘max’ for your PF before you leak. You might try different breathing and bracing strategies, bladder irritants might contribute to symptoms, your position might affect things, as well as fatigue. (Were you trying to hit PRs at the end of day or after a metcon?)
Then there’s the question: If you go beyond your PF threshold to max a lift and leak, is that potentially harmful for your PF? It might contribute to worsening your continence mechanism, if done frequently over a long period. However! We have to weigh the risk/benefit of resistance training in the setting of pelvic symptoms, and we KNOW there are amazing benefits to strength training, so they probably (for many people, it’s your decision) outweigh the risks.
That being said, there are probably lots of things you can do to improve your symptoms and improve your PF threshold. I also want to acknowledge that some people can do all the things right and they will still leak. We have physiologic differences and sometimes changes to our anatomy after childbirth. There is a lot we can compensate for though, but everyone is different with their experience.
So, other than exploring the things I already mentioned above (which is a great place to start), what can we do to improve our pelvic floor (and whole system) threshold?
If you are already set to go to a pelvic PT, then I would see what they say in terms of individualized programming. Some have more mobility in their tissues and benefit from an internal device called a pessary. Search up Impressa and Revive, both disposable options. There are also reusable ones you can get fit for that can be game changers. You don’t have to wear them all the time, just when you think you might be symptomatic like on heavy lift days.
Pelvic floor muscle training has level 1 evidence (highest quality evidence) for helping with SUI or stress urinary incontinence (leaking with heavy lifts or cough/sneeze). But it’s not the only thing to do in isolation- still, it can be effective if done consistently and with good instruction/form.
We also have loads of SP resources to help!
Check out the blog ‘Urinary Leakage with Exercise Troubleshooting’ which can serve as a checklist of strategies to test/retest.
This presentation I offered during an SP focus group.
Here’s a video with some options for breathing/bracing.
There is no “one perfect” form or strategy, way to breathe, etc that will work for everyone. Explore different things and see what’s helpful for YOU!
Resource Corner
📺 NEW! Strategy Videos
Bracing and Breath Hold Strategy for Lifting
🔖 Pelvic Girdle Pain Blog Series
Be sure to check out the PDF in the blog for a list of example sessions that can be used for prehab/rehab.
🔖 SP Pregnancy & Postpartum Movement Library
This will be getting updates through the year, but already has so many great examples!
Community Highlight: We See you Mama!
Amanda Pierce
This month we are shouting out member Amanda Pierce! Check out her recent post about staying consistent with a toddler and being pregnant. Thanks for sharing with us and way to stay consistent, meeting yourself where you are!
We know there are A LOT of questions out there about when and how to navigate movements in all seasons of life. Please reach out to us in our Facebook group or contact us at mamas@streetparking.com to provide more guidance!
We love seeing your customizations, progress and the fun you’re (hopefully) having with all the activations going on - 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