Parenting

FIRST TRIMESTER

First Trimester Woes & Remedies with Baby #4

Live LOUD Life Podcast
Lafayette Colorado

Episode 82

First Trimester Woes & Remedies with Baby #4

With Dr. Antonio Gurule

In this Episode of the Live Loud Life Podcast, Dr. Nichelle shares her experience the early stages of her fourth pregnancy, throughout her first trimester. In addition to book recommendations and other resources, Dr. Michelle discusses the shared experience many people have in first processing their pregnancies and the mental and emotional dynamics that play into each choice that is made. Then Dr. Michelle shares personal remedies she has used to alleviate pregnancy related symptoms and pain points as her pregnancy progresses and body continues to transform while accommodating the needs of her growing baby while managing her toddlers tandem nursing routine.

 

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

  • [01:36] Understanding the Whole Reproductive Cycle
  • [02:48] The Fifth Vital Sign
  • [03:54] Fertility and Cycle Expert – Dr. Deb Merin
  • [05:13] Processing the Big New of Baby Number 4
  • [09:20] How We Announce Baby 4 to our Friend and Family
  • [10:17] First Trimester Symptoms
  • [11:24] My Tandem Nursing Experience
  • [12:46] Remedies for my First Trimester Woes
  • [16:33] Chiropractic Adjustments for Pregnancy Symptoms
  • [23:02] Leaning into the Pregnancy

About Dr. Nichelle Gurule

Background:

  • Mother
  • Doctor of Chiropractic
  • Owner of Live LOUD
  • Personal Trainer & Health Coach

Baby #4 First Trimester Woes & Remedies

[00:00:00] Dr. Michelle Gurule: Hey, Michelle here, and I decided that with my fourth pregnancy, I am going to do my best since I am busy with three other children in homeschooling and. Being a chiropractor and online course creator and all these things, and being tired in pregnancy, that I would like to document a little bit of my own journey, which I am now outta the first trimester and I have more energy, um, that I’m hoping that I can do this more consistently.

[00:00:38] So, um, this is a little bit of a blog slash I’m on Instagram live right now. We’re all posted as well underneath my page. And so this intention is just to give you an idea and. To what pregnancy can look like during the different stages and what it’s looking like for me, cuz everyone’s journey’s gonna look so, so, so different.

[00:00:56] So, um, I’m gonna start going into second trimester in my next blog, but I’m going to be focusing on what just happened in first trimester because this is my fourth time and. My goodness. Like it still comes as a shock as to how exhausted I am and I feel like most people feel at least that exhaustion symptom.

[00:01:19] So a lot of people may not feel nausea. Yay, lucky them. Um, they may not feel some of the other symptoms that I’m gonna go through, but most people do feel that just extreme fatigue, just like what? I just got hit by a bus. I’m so tired. So, Let’s start off with first trimester in that the first two weeks of quotes, pregnancy, you’re not actually pregnant, right?

[00:01:40] That is your first part of your cycle before ovulation when you get pregnant, but it counts on tax onto your, uh, Overall time, if you will. Um, so first trimester, some people find out right away cuz they’re tracking and they just have this beautiful body intuition of, I’m pretty sure I just got pregnant on the ovulation cycle.

[00:02:00] Or they know exactly when they ovulate, they know exactly what side they ovulate on. And they’ll just know they’re pregnant. And then some wait for their period to come cuz they’ve been trying. Then period doesn’t come when it should. And then they wait a few more days and then they check with the pregnancy test.

[00:02:15] Um, and then some people it’s a complete shock. They find out weeks and weeks later when they’re like, My period should have come a while ago. So for me, this um, is our fourth kiddo and I had a pretty big suspicion that I was pregnant. I did have an intuition cause I was tracking my cycles as to. Which side I ovulated on and the sensation that I felt along with, if you track your cycle, which I highly encourage at some point doing because it’s really, uh, empowering to know, um, when you ovulate and you can check that in a lot of different ways.

[00:02:48] So there’s a book called, um, The Fifth Vital Sign. I’m spacing on the author’s name. I think it’s Lisa somebody. Um, I can put it in the comments later, which is a phenomenal book. I think every female and even male should read it cuz it goes through. All of the things about your cycle. And the fifth vital sign is essentially that your cycle, your period, your whole like 28 to 35 days tells you a lot.

[00:03:09] If it’s too long, too short, you’re bleeding heavy. Bleeding light tells you a lot about it, but it also goes into uh, how to track your cycle and know where you’re at. And there’s also another book called Taking Charge Your Fertility. That’s also really. Same kind of page with that information. So you can check your cervical fluid, you can check your cervix position, you can check your cervix.

[00:03:32] Um, how soft it is, how hard it is, um, open or closed. There’s all these things you can check. Of course you’ll have heard about checking temperature temperatures. Interesting because it gives you an idea if you’re tracking multiple cycles as to when you ovulate it, but it’s information after, so it’s not really the only thing you should rely on until you’re getting consistent cycles and there’s so many fertility.

[00:03:53] Like classes out there that you could take and do and learn? Um, my, one of my best friends, um, she’s in Chi, she was in chiropractic school with me. Um, her name’s, uh, Dr. Deb Merin. She has a course that teaches like patients or even, you know, anybody layman who wanna learn about their cycle, um, to learn more about this.

[00:04:12] So she’s a great. Uh, her Instagram handle is Coronado chiropractor, where you can learn, uh, more about that fertility information. There’s a great Instagram handle called, uh, I think it’s Fertility Friday. Um, and so there’s just a lot of resources where you can be empowered to know your own body, and so if it grosses anybody out to hear cervical fluid, You should really question yourself, Like, why does that gross you out?

[00:04:34] Because it tells you quite a bit about what’s going on. And I truly believe that if more women were aware of this, then they would be able to not get pregnant, or it would really help them be able to get pregnant. And, um, taking charge of your fertility and the fifth vital sign really helps with that. So first off, like I said, people are gonna find out different points in time when they’re pregnant.

[00:04:52] So I had some, some suspicions. A couple days after I missed my period and kind of sat on it, sat on it, and just really, um, before I talked to my partner, was like, Okay, how do I feel about this? Because I need to process this before I ask somebody else to process this, Right? So, found. Pretty sure that I was pregnant.

[00:05:13] So I mentioned to my husband Antonio, like, Hey, I think this is what’s going on. I think that I’m pregnant again. Um, to which I did one a fourth kiddo. So this is not a bad thing in any way, shape or form. I did want four kids. Um, but it was like, whoa, okay, this like might actually be happening. And wow, this is a lot cuz we had just moved into our new house and just a lot going on with the property.

[00:05:36] And so that can be a lot of shock to some people is like finding out. It can be a shock in a oh crap way and it can be a shock and like a yay way. But either way it’s a lot to process. So some people will process it first, tell their partner maybe they’ve taken a test. I processed it, then said I think we need to take a test.

[00:05:54] Then took a test and we looked at it together and was like, okay, guess we’re doing this. Um, and then there comes the next thing of like, okay, so maybe you find out in, you’re four weeks pregnant, so you are. Right around the time of your period is missed and you’re about four weeks at that point, cuz you have the two weeks prior to ovulation and then you have your, um, two weeks that you’re pregnant before you’re missed, period.

[00:06:18] So people are finding out between four and six weeks commonly. And that’s usually a zone where most people aren’t feeling sick yet. They’re not having a lot of the symptoms. Some people will, but there’s not a ton of breast tenderness quite yet. There’s not the nausea quite yet. They’re in this like in between spot.

[00:06:34] So, You’re thinking now, Okay, find out in four weeks. When do I announce? And so a lot of people hear the, I’m gonna announce at 12 weeks or 13 weeks when I am into my second trimester. Placenta is well formed. A lot of the chso issues and, um, common issues with miscarriage will have happened before then.

[00:06:54] Not always, but will happen before then. And so then it’s a safe time to tell people, well, for some like. The 13 weeks is a long time to sit on a secret if you feel like it’s a secret and it’s not anybody’s news but yours. Um, but for me, I don’t like sitting on that. I’m like, I have patience on cha on chat with every day.

[00:07:12] I am a chatty Cathy. I’ve got close friends. I got family. Like, it just seems weird for me to wait that long. So as soon as we found out, we knew, we wanted to make sure both of our families knew. And we wanted our kids to know before them, but the kids see the families all the time. So we had a kind. Tell them and then know we’re gonna tell both families right after that.

[00:07:35] And then once we did that, we were happy with anybody knowing. So the reason why I let people wait is because if you happen to have a miscarriage, everyone you just announced it to on Instagram or all the friends you told, They might still be checking out on you, How’s pregnancy, how’s this and that? And then it’s a lot to then tell them like, Oh, you know, we actually had a miscarriage.

[00:07:54] And you know, there’s a lot of people now who are being really open about their miscarriages because it’s really common. I think it’s something like one in four might even be more common. So, um, it, it’s just, it’s, it’s a topic that should be discussed, but it may be not be something that you wanna discuss with everybody.

[00:08:09] So it’s really a matter of you tell the people who you feel okay telling. If you were to have a loss, that’s the really one of the bigger things about it. So finding out shock in a great or bad way depending on what thing going on in your life. And then when do you announce is gonna be a big thing, and that’s gonna be totally family and person dependent on what things look like.

[00:08:30] And then who do you announce to? Do you wanna do a big. Seen on Instagram or you know, a big party or do you just wanna tell your close friends? And there’s nothing wrong with either way, right? It’s just what goes on for you and then how do you announce it, right? So, um, first kid, you know, sometimes you’re like, come do something really cute and like let them know in a cute way.

[00:08:49] Um, and then, you know, it changes each kid. So for us, um, for our families, we didn’t do anything like super grandiose this time. We basically just had the kids say, Guess what? We have a surprise for you. And then t is our third kiddo and we. Tage is gonna be a big brother. And they’re like, Wait, wait. Oh, oh.

[00:09:06] Um, so there’s so many different ways you can take pictures. You can have them wear a shirt that says, I’m a big brother. You can have so many things you can just, you know, have a card that has an ultrasound in it, but there’s so many different ways you can do it. And then we had a fun post because of our new farm property that we just said.

[00:09:20] We made a sign that said One more set of farm hands. We had our barn in the background and all the animals and things like that. To announce to like the Instagram world and just a cute picture. Um, so let’s talk about first trimester because it is a whirlwind, which is honestly why I have not come on here and do done this vlog and live yet because I’ve wanted to.

[00:09:38] And then it’s just like, it’s just like too much to handle. It’s like way too much so, Uh, because you’re just too tired. So, like I mentioned, I have a chiropractic practice with Antonio. I have an online course, I’m building an online course, uh, like company with my friend, uh, Katie Braswell and. It’s just like one of those things that’s like, I, I’m too tired with that.

[00:10:02] And then having three other kids and homeschooling and doing all this work on our, our, our new property that’s an acre. It’s just, it’s been a lot. So, uh, but I do think it’s important to share what’s going on with each person because it helps people feel less alone, get ideas as to what you can do for certain symptoms.

[00:10:17] So I’m gonna tell you some of my symptoms and what I have done for. Um, and then also just like I’m coming from the perspective of this is my fourth time around, so everything, I feel like the first time was just so much more like, ugh, this and that. And I know like when things are gonna end for me and I know how things go, and so it’s, no, none of this is a shock for me.

[00:10:37] I don’t have the nuance of it being the first time I’m becoming a mom on top of all these other things. So, The first symptom, like I mentioned, is being tired, and so one thing that I was able to really let go of with subsequent PR pregnancies after my first is just being okay with taking naps and being okay with going to bed at 7:00 PM or 8:00 PM and just not feeling bad about it.

[00:10:59] Now I do just if anyone knows me, love being productive and efficient and just getting stuff done, and that is the part that I’ve had to like dig deep and be like, It is okay. It’s okay. Being tired, letting myself take those naps because I know it’ll go away. But each time I forget how stinking exhausting it is, how tired it is in first trimester.

[00:11:24] Um, another big symptom is starting to have breasts that are like getting fuller again. So I was breastfeeding the whole time. So, um, my two and a year old is still breastfeeding. Symptoms have been fine until actually the past two weeks, which is the start of my second trimester, which is showing me there’s a hormone shift.

[00:11:41] And then it’s been a little uncomfortable, but he, he’s still getting milk. I’m still nursing him because he wants it morning and night, sometimes around nap time. Um, I’m happy to answer any tandem nursing questions, pregnancy, nursing questions cuz there’s a lot that comes along and I’ve now nursed through this will.

[00:11:56] Third pregnancy I’ve nursed through, so I’m happy to share that. Um, I’ve had a two year old on one breast and a newborn on the other. I don’t know what it’ll look like this time. Each journey is different, but I’ve basically breast fed for seven years. So it’s interesting because breast size goes down over the course of time.

[00:12:11] Breasts start kind of sagging a little bit. They’re no longer full, and then suddenly they’re like full and lifted again, which is interesting to see again. And then they’re starting to be tender as well. So that’s a symptom. Nausea and vomiting. So luckily this time I’ve only thrown up a couple times and.

[00:12:27] It does actually end up making me feel a little bit better, but it sucks. Like no one wants stuff to throw up and the nausea is just a bummer because it’s just like, you wanna enjoy food? No food sounds good. Like, you know, you needed something. And this time I had like some really bad like stomach cramping, um, where I was like, I wanna eat, but it hurts and it’s like cramping.

[00:12:46] And it was not just nausea. So that was really uncomfortable, but different this time is that I had, um, nausea from. Six, seven weeks until 11 weeks with only intermittent days of nausea and I can’t figure out why. Cuz the other three pregnancies, I was sick until about 18 weeks. Um, Throwing up a lot, and I do have a suspicion that because I’ve gone a different route this time with my supplementation for pregnancy, I’ve actually chosen not to do a prenatal, which sometimes I’ll still recommend for patients because that’s easier for them.

[00:13:19] But I’ve gone more of like the whole foods route and done like beef liver. Cod liver oil, Um, an ionic magnesium. Really focused on making sure I’m eating eggs every day, really tuning in to those types of foods. Um, I think might have been what’s helped my nausea also, what been really conscious of making sure I’m eating consistent meals to keep my glucose balanced and eating, making sure I’m eating a good amount of protein.

[00:13:45] So I think that even though I knew some of this stuff before, I did some slightly different. Ways of doing it, and that’s the only thing I can figure that is making that different for me, or it’s just a different baby and it likes me more. I don’t know. Um, One thing that’s frustrating that I’ve found is that like food is all over the place.

[00:14:03] So, um, I eat really healthy in my everyday life and I’m eating things like salads for lunch and definitely eggs every morning and like amazing veggies at night. And it’s like, do not give me a salad during first trimester. I probably don’t want very many veggies. I’m gonna try to eat them, but like, ugh, like they’re not gonna digest and be great.

[00:14:22] I want carbs and I want. I don’t wanna say shitty foods. I don’t like to call food bad or good, but like I wanted french fries this time and in the past I’ve wanted like sub sandwiches or pizza. And I’m not saying those things are bad, but it’s like all I want type thing. Um, and it’s the only thing that’ll get my stomach to settle.

[00:14:37] Like why would like fast food french fries be the only thing that makes my stomach not feel nauseous, but like a beautiful meal would not, It’s just, it blows my mind every single time. For me, I have to let go of that and be like, It is fine. First trimester. Not trying to be a hero here. This is just when I need to accept that I ate really well prior to pregnancy.

[00:14:58] I was, I’ve been still able to take the, the way that I’ve chosen to, in quotes, like supplement, um, and. Make sure I have all those beautiful like foods added in and just be okay that I can’t get all the veggies I want, or exact levels of protein and carbs and just eat right. And just trying to be not nauseous, essentially.

[00:15:18] So it’d be like one day, it’d be like chicken noodle soup is all like all the, it seems like it can settle. And so then like Antonio makes a bunch of chicken noodle soup and then it’s kind of like, I don’t really want that anymore. And the next day I. I can’t even think right now, but like, you know, some other type of soup or I want some other type of food and it’s like, Ooh, I want this as a snack.

[00:15:34] And the next day different type of snack and it’s like just food is all over what sounds good. And so just leaning into that. So I lean into just whatever feels good. So for nausea, I’d suggest try to keep your blood sugar as balanced as you can. Making sure you’re getting protein, even if it means like maybe you just got a spoonful of like peanut butter or almond butter.

[00:15:53] Um, or you know, maybe you don’t need a ton of dairy normally, but adding in like a raw cheese might be helpful. Um, and trying not to have naked carbs. So if you’re like, I have to have crackers okay. At the crackers, but see if your body’s okay with adding cheese to them. Or some other protein, or if you can do avocado, like does that work for you?

[00:16:11] Um, and just plain with different ideas. Um, one, something that really has bothered me during this pregnancy has been constipation. Got really bad actually. I feel like the worst it’s been. And I, I was doing so many different suggestions with teas that people had. Of course, the magnesium increasing my water, you know, I knew I just wasn’t gonna have a hard time with increasing the veggies, so that was challenging.

[00:16:33] Um, and one day I had been like four days, which is like not good like I was supposed to, doing an n. Um, I hadn’t gone to the bathroom. I just could feel it. Like I’d said so much in my like, intestines. Uh, my mom even said like, Oh, I can see the baby bump now. I was like, No, it’s not even the baby bump yet.

[00:16:50] It’s straight up like bloat in that I haven’t gone to the bathroom. It’s like, you’re supposed to poop every day, you know? And I do, and I just couldn’t this time. Um, so I actually been having, starting to have some sacral stuff going on. I kept forgetting, having Tony adjust me, and finally I was like, Okay, can you adjust me this morning?

[00:17:06] Kid you not after four days and trying all the magnesium and upping all the things, he adjusted my sacrum. And then upper cervical as well, which are two areas that make babies poop a lot. Um, when I’m working on them and. I would do a bathroom like two minutes later and it was great. And then that day, like four other times.

[00:17:22] So chiropractic truly affects the nervous system. It can get bowels moving for sure. I can really attest to that. A lot of my baby’s gonna attest to that as well. Um, and then one other suggestion that I actually got from a doula that used to be my area, Alyssa Mcgi. Um, her Instagram handle, I think is at St.

[00:17:40] Augustine. Doula I think is what it’s, But she suggested a couple different teas to me and then she also suggests to eat raisins throughout the day. So I’ve been eating raisins throughout the day cause we had ’em anyways. And I actually think that that with chiropractic has been really helpful for my body cuz I haven’t increased my magnesium.

[00:17:56] But it could also be a hormonal shift cuz now I’m in second trimesters. So that is a suggestion that I would’ve never thought of before because you hear like prune juice and things like that. But I’ve just been chewing, not a time, but a little raisins throughout the day. And that seems to. Helpful. And it’s like a, a lot of times I’m like, Why do I want like gummy bears during pregnancy?

[00:18:14] I want some of these sugary gummy bears, but the raisins have like, made me not feel the need for that. Um, let’s see, uh, other symptoms, So pregnancy rhinitis, which is where you can just get super, like just congested. There’s more mucus and fluids during pregnancy and um, a lot of, um, congestion inflammation can happen from that.

[00:18:35] There’s really only if it’s not allergies, which I also have allergies into the mix of this, which, um, course 10 has helped me a lot with allergies. And then I have a homeopathic, uh, remedy that I’ve used as well that has been helpful but hasn’t seemed to be able to hit the allergies that are out here in Colorado right now.

[00:18:52] But two things that are really helpful, um, that I’ve found to help me breathe at night so I’m not mouth breathing cuz then you wake up with a sore throat and like, you don’t wanna mouth breath, you don’t wanna be a mouth breather. That’s not great. And I’m not classically, but my nose has been really stuck from this pregnancy rhinitis, um, is.

[00:19:08] There’s the breath right strips, which I just have an off brand nasal strips. But the problem with this is it actually helps really well like lifting up and helping like open that nasal passage but you can’t wear too many days in a row or like makes this skin really sensitive. And I ended up having like a little piece of skin get so sensitive, like peeled off and I was like, Ow.

[00:19:25] So this little like sc for a little bit. So I then I was like, I don’t wanna wear those for a couple days. So then I got these really cute and sexy antis snoring nose vents and I don’t believe I was. Snoring. We got these off Amazon and this is what they look like, and you put ’em up your nose and it opens and, and allows you to breathe.

[00:19:42] So that’s been helpful for me as well. Um, Amazon, they come in in 12. I’m like, I don’t need 12 of these, but I have 12. Um, and that’s helped a lot. And then, As a chiropractor, I do hate admitting this cuz it definitely can crank on the neck a little bit. I’ve done like a slight, ever so slight incline just so that I’m not flat laying back.

[00:20:00] Um, so I’ve done a little slight incline, but I’ve been really aware of the angle to help with my neck. And then I live with a chiropractor so it can help my neck. Um, but I’d rather breathe at night cuz that’s really, I notice that if I’m not breathing well through my nose it increases my nausea. Um, and it just makes me feel more fatigued cause I’m just like, I’m like heavy breathing.

[00:20:17] So something to consider there is, If you’re not breathing well, that could be impacting these other symptoms. Like breath is really important. Making sure you have nice good breathing. Oxygen flow is really important. And then, uh, a neti pot is really helpful as well. And you can make your own salt and baking soda solutions.

[00:20:35] Um, but that doesn’t always cut it either. So kind of a combination I’ve had to flow through. Um, other thing, during pregnancy, I am hypermobile, so I screen all my patients to the bait and scale, seeing if they’re hyper mobile because hyper mobile patients I’ve found. More likely to have pubic bone pain and si pain during pregnancy.

[00:20:53] And I am hypermobile. I have not been working out as much and doing stability exercises, so then I added them back in cuz I know what I need to do. Um, I’m just tired and it’s hard to do it. So it really helps me reminders like, relate to your patients. This is how they feel too. Um, but that sacred. Um, I’ve been feeling at night, so I have to shift a little bit more, and I’ve already had to add in a sleeping pillow, add in my stability exercises, so things like glute bridges, squats, uh, possibly cla shells, um, lateral walks.

[00:21:25] And when I add those in and just strengthen my glute muscles and hip stability muscles, that really helps with the sac issues a lot. And I haven’t had them during the day, but the fact that they’ve been sneaking in at night is let me know, like, Okay, really time to do these things. So, I love people to come in and see me to do the chiropractic and rehab work before they’re in pain, um, so that we can get ahead of things so that they’re not in pain during pregnancy and at the start of anything come in so that we can help you.

[00:21:49] Um, then there’s also, so actually I wanna touch note on that is that like I have fitness as part of my life. It’s part of my identity, but as I mentioned, one of my first symptoms, a lot of people feels tired. I have to let go of that. Life is just a little bit different in first trimester. Working out is really just not high on my agenda.

[00:22:07] I’m tired. I have so many other things to do that I let myself. Be okay with not working out. And I’ll do my rehab. I’ll fit in a few squats. I do a lot of yard work and I’m like, I’m moving. That’s what I want is movement. It is okay if I’m not working out. During first trimester, I really was fitting in walks, again, yard work.

[00:22:27] So I encourage patients, can you fit in a few strength things just to help stability. So maybe just a few glute bridges, a few squats. Can you go on some short walks just to get outside and get a little bit of movement. But in terms of going to Orange Theory or CrossFit, your HIT training or going on runs, if you don’t feel like it, lean into that and be okay with it, you will get back into it.

[00:22:47] And I already feel myself getting back into it now that like I’m getting my energy back and I’m feeling better. I’m not nauseous, but when you’re nauseous, you’re not gonna go for a run or lift weights. Like it doesn’t feel good. And there are studies that say the exercise can reduce nausea. It never did for me.

[00:23:02] So fourth pregnancy, I’m like, I’m just leaning into, I’m not working out right now. And that is okay. I’ll get back into it. And so that is what I’m getting back into in second trimester. Um, so first trimester sleep struggles can also start. So I’ve found some nights I’m like waking up every other hour. Um, magnesium can really help with that.

[00:23:20] Um, and working out can actually help with that quite a bit too for me. Um, so once I start working out again, it really helps, uh, getting into deeper sleep. Um, and then, let’s see. Oh, the last thing I wanna mention and then I’ll stop here, is that one of the hardest parts for first trimester for me is not feeling like I’m being productive, which I had mentioned already, and that’s really hard for me within the family because it’s like, I don’t wanna cook meals cuz I’m nauseous and I’m tired and I, you know, I was like making bread all the time.

[00:23:51] I didn’t wanna do that for the family. It’s like, oh, going out and helping with the chickens and ducks. Like, no thanks, like I’m too tired and helping get the kids to bed. Tired and don’t feel good, and just like not contributing the way that I wanna contribute doesn’t feel good for me. Um, and then in the bi in my businesses, it’s tough to just be like, I, like not like I’m gonna go to bed

[00:24:11] I’m like, I have emails to send out, I have notes to do. I have all these things to do to get going on another online course that I’m doing. It’s like, just can’t. Um, and then I could feel my energy ramp back up around like 13 weeks where I’m like, Yes, get this done. Get that done. I knew it would be temporary, but in first trimester, if you are not feeling productive or efficient or feeling like, man, like your partner’s having to carry so much of the load because you don’t wanna cook and you don’t wanna like, help the kids get to better, whatever it is, like, it’s okay.

[00:24:42] It, it won’t last forever. Your fatigue and exhaustion is real. Your nausea is real, and like no one expects you to be a superhero at this point in time. And so that’s also me speaking to myself like it’s okay. And I will say it did take at least a full pregnancy, maybe two for me to be okay with that.

[00:25:01] This is my journey. Um, I added just extra stuff to it, but those are some of the main symptoms that I’ve had. Um, Bloating’s another one. So a lot of us will feel like super flat stomach in the morning. At night. You’re like, Am I eight months pregnant? What’s going on? Um, so bloats really normal. It can be uncomfortable.

[00:25:18] I spend a lot of time because of the constipation and bloat in first trimester, already starting to add belly oil. So I really like wish gardens belly oil. I have this in the office and so I just rub this on at night. I rub into my muscles. Um, I note where my uterus is. So, um, you know, by, 10, 12 weeks, it’s reached past the pubic bone.

[00:25:39] So then I start feeling for it. It’s a little hard, and then I kind of watch and observe and feel it grow up and just feel that like I’m like, This feels hard. Oh this, that’s like my uterus. And feel those shifts and changes in my belly. And it’s a really great way to connect before. The baby’s moving. Um, and then just starting early with the oils and nourishing that skin, that’s gonna go through a lot.

[00:26:00] Um, and then I’m just in the habit of, I’ve just massaged my belly at night and I do that every night during pregnancy. Um, and it feels great and it’s really helpful to keep your abdominal wall muscles, um, just like. Loose and pliable and not like super tight and tense. And I did a lot of wheelbarrow like, like dig like bunch of dirt into the wheelbarrow and like lifted it and moved it over here and did a ton of loads and I noticed that.

[00:26:24] So I have like a trigger point in my abdominal wall. And so I don’t want that trigger point to get worse and worse that it’s an extreme pain as things start like expanding. So it’s like I grab this oil. Then I got all over my belly and was digging in and, and working on that. So, um, just a few things. My first trimester, next time I do a live in a blog, I’m gonna come on and talk more specifically about what I’m doing each week or every other week and dive into the movement.

[00:26:47] I’m doing symptoms I have. Um, the rest of it will be shorter, but this has been like encompassing all a first trimester for myself. Um, letting you feel like you can give yourself some forgiveness if you’re not doing a lot right now. Um, and if you have any questions, just reach out to me, cause I’m happy to answer those pregnancy questions.

[00:27:04] All right, Bye you guys.

–

by Editor | Live Loud Life Podcast

When Your Strength Becomes a Weakness | EP 81

Live LOUD Life Podcast
Lafayette Colorado

Episode 81

When Your Strength Becomes a Weakness

With Dr. Antonio Gurule

Welcome back to another episode of the Live Loud Life Podcast! In this episode, Dr. Antonio Gurule discusses When your Strengths Become a Weakness. Through this discussion, Dr. Antonio will share personal insights to his own life-journey as well as key considerations for identifying your own personal weaknesses before exploring how to overcome weaknesses and gaps with the proper support.

 

Episode Highlights:

 

  • [02:22] Susceptibility to re-injure
  • [04:41] Identifying Potential Weaknesses
  • [07:23] Using adaptability to be too casual
  • [10:49] Diverting Attention Dilutes Progress
  • [12:00] Seeking Support to Overcome Weaknesses

About Dr. Antonio Gurule

Background:

  • Father
  • Doctor of Chiropractic
  • Owner of Live LOUD
  • Personal Trainer & Health Coach

When Your Strength Becomes a Weakness

[00:00:00] Dr. Antonio Gurule: What’s up guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Live Loud Life podcast. My name is Antonio, your host of the Live Loud Life podcast. Um, couple short, housekeepings, whatever you wanna call that. I can’t remember. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve honestly, uh, recorded anything. We, um, we’ve been doing a lot of, um, Outdoor backyard projects, uh, which I’ll give you a sidebar for that too.

[00:00:31] But this dang chicken coup I’ve been building for, I swear it was like months now that is finally finished. The chickens and the ducks are in their new home. They’re happy as can be. Uh, we have two, um, compadres, two males that are, that have been a little mean and bully-ish so they’re off to the side. But anyways, that is completed, um, which is fantastic.

[00:00:52] Um, for those of, I think I said this in the last one, I can’t remember from when we announced it, Uh, but we’re expecting baby number four, which is crazy. This is a surprise for everybody, but we’re very, um, amped, so we’re adding a another little regret to the live loud, uh, Gurule clan, which is gonna be fantastic.

[00:01:11] Come March. Late February, early March of next year. Uh, we may have three birthdays in March. Uh, everyone’s telling, uh, Michelle and I to keep our hands off of each other in June. Apparently there’s something going on there. Um, but that’s quite exciting and to not, and to add anymore onto that, we decided to get a puppy.

[00:01:31] We’re getting a new puppy at the end of October of this year, and, uh, the kids and I are just so amped about that. Uh, it was a funny story about that. Um, Michelle doesn’t recall it as such, but I recall it just as this was, I was originally, um, hoping for just three kiddos and she really always wanted four, and so she basically made me a deal that said if we have a fourth child that I get to have the puppy that I’ve been wanting for a few years.

[00:02:00] And lo and behold, baby’s not coming. So puppy’s coming. But we figure now’s a good time to, you know, do the early training before baby comes. Cuz I feel like getting a puppy afterwards in training would be a lot more difficult. Um, so that’s all, that’s new in our life. Uh, hope everyone’s doing, uh, well, we’re trying to keep ourselves busy.

[00:02:17] Oh, the side part. So, um,

Susceptibility to re-injure
[00:02:22] Dr. Antonio Gurule: This is not what the topic is today, but it’s kind of like a sidebar. Cause I had someone else coming in with back pain and you know, they’re very active and they had fallen hunting and they hurt their back again and kind of fr and, and, and they didn’t necessarily go as far through our little back program as I’d wanted.

[00:02:38] They kind of, uh, decided to go their own round and get back into CrossFit and other things, which was fine. They were doing okay, but. The frustration was like, Why do I keep hurting my back now the number one cause of injury, previous injuries, if you have hurt yourself before, you’re more susceptible to just hurting that area.

[00:02:54] Again, it’s unfortunate, but it is what it is. Now, obviously we would go through an extensive amount of rehab and training and strengthening to mitigate that risk. Um, but that does unfortunately make you slightly more susceptible. Now we wanna build resilience around that to reduce that susceptibility.

[00:03:10] And that’s what I’ve been suffering. I mean, there’s, I do a lot of conditioning and resistance training and core training and, and understanding obviously the principles about how to better, uh, stabilize. But I also know that I have my shortcomings on things that I should be working on. Slight with more, um, mobility in certain areas, but also some more odd object.

[00:03:30] Training, uh, an odd object kettlebells might be included in that, but we’re talking about like sandbags and, and um, stones and medicine balls and different things like that which force you to learn how to leverage and move your body in unique different positions and holding on objects. Now, I would say I feel fairly comfortable about doing a number of odd objects, but.

[00:03:52] I’ve been suffering some from some low back pain over the last week or so because of all the odd object lifting and all the bending over I’ve been doing from, from, um, you know, uh, putting up post and, and lifting up fences and just a number of different things and it just caught up to me. Now it’s nothing that’s bad or debilitating.

[00:04:11] Good thing. I know the things to do to help wipe out and clear that as fast as possible. But I just wanted to add that as a little caveat is sometimes we get frustrated by these nagging injuries because we’ve had substantial injuries in the past that we either haven’t adequately rehabbed or or, or gone through, or we’ve kind of fallen off the wayside of what had been working previously to help us, and then we kind of get back into those old patterns now it kind of segues into this next, next topic.

Identifying Potential Weaknesses
[00:04:41] Dr. Antonio Gurule: Because, uh, the topic is, um, when your strengths can actually become, um, a weakness or a deficit to use, right? So, That segue is we get comfortable about kind of what’s going on and, and, and we’re finding like, Hey, I feel good about this and so I don’t need to direct so, so much time and attention to that which, which I would argue and validate that that would be, that would be true, but sometimes we use that strength as a crutch.

[00:05:05] Like, I’m okay because. This is strong to me, but, uh, and there’s, there’s a lot of talk about this where there’s, there’s one caveat that talks about triple down on your strengths, right? If you’re good at this, don’t do the things that you don’t need, that you don’t need to do, you’re not good at, because you’re really good at this.

[00:05:22] Now, from a business standpoint, And, and, and, and maybe communication standpoint, relationship standpoint, that makes sense. Um, but more so from just a general business standpoint, but from like a health and wellness standpoint, that doesn’t really make sense cuz there’s weak spots that obviously need to be addressed.

[00:05:38] Right? And, and what I have been realizing and trying to be more honest with myself is I have been using my quote unquote strengths as an excuse for certain things. Now this goes beyond the just health. Side of it, maybe in the wellness side, but from the business side. But this is, this is also just from a, we’ll just say a general more global behavioral side, right?

[00:06:03] So one of my, and, and we have taken a number of, uh, um, personality tests, strength tests, um, Colby Index, strength finders, minor Briggs, you know, all those different things. I’ve taken all them over the years. Um, uh, and what I have found from, you know, when I’m, look, when you’re looking at all those, Uh, I’m an initiator.

[00:06:26] I’m an activator. I have, I’m very high in adaptability. Um, low, lower on research and strategies, kind of in the middle, but my, but my flow tends to be. You got an idea, Let’s go. Oh, that didn’t quite go the way we wanted to. Let’s, let’s shift laterally over here, which there’s, there’s obviously huge pros to that, but there’s, there’s a lot of cons to that because there’s not as much maybe strategic implementation.

[00:06:54] And that’s the thing that I’ve been, this is a sidebar for another show that’s something I’ve been struggling with is while I do set goals, I struggle to set goals. Um, and because. I feel that the adaptability, the adaptable side of me does not like being pinpointed to one thing because I like being able to shift and, and understanding that the goals can be bigger than that.

[00:07:18] There’s multiple roads in Rome and understanding that there will be constant shifts in navigations. Right.

Using adaptability to be too casual
[00:07:23] Dr. Antonio Gurule: But I’ve been using this quote unquote “adaptability” to, to be too casual. Uh, I was listening to a podcast and essentially, It was, it was saying you’re too casual, right? Like, like those that are doing extremely well, they’re not casual about it, right?

[00:07:41] They’re, they’re, they’re focused. Their intention is there. And, and I 100% agree with that. And I find that when I feel frustrated about where I am from a health standpoint, Could be diet, could be mental, could be relationships, um, could be, you know, whatever part of that wellness we, we wanna look at. But also from a business standpoint, it’s just like, man, I’m super frustrated with maybe where our numbers are and things like that.

[00:08:07] I take full responsibility for that, but I’m, I’m looking at it and I’m seeing as just like I’m using my strength as adaptable and this, this implementer and this action oriented. To be almost too chaotic, right? I’m being too casual about it cuz I want to allow myself to shift and navigate as I see fit, and that has always been a struggle.

[00:08:34] And this is also true from like one, one thing I’ve been, uh, I would say more invested in and, and very curious about and, and trying to learn a lot is about, um, financial independence and just finances in general. Um, I would think. I think a lot of people, at least that I know and talk to from our age, we came from kind of the more, I don’t wanna say blue collar cuz it’s not necessarily blue collar, but like our, our, our parents’ age was, you know, go to school, you work, you get a job and you save.

[00:09:04] Right? Um, reading this is actually have it right here. Um, Psychology of money. Um, Morgan, I don’t know to pronounce the last name, I apologize, household hostel. Um, but it talked about how, you know, how new, even just the stock market and 401ks and all these other investment opportunities really are. And so that’s why it was so ingrained within a lot of our parents’ age and my parents’, uh, particular is that’s just what you do and, and.

[00:09:34] And, and, and it works. It can’t work for you. And it depends, obviously, if you have, you know, if you’re entrepreneur or W2 and all those different things as an employee. But I’ve been, I’ve been thinking about that and that’s been the, this frustration is just like, how do you, how do you narrow in when you have so many elements within your life that have.

[00:09:53] A lot of importance. Family, finances, your health. Uh, and it’s, it’s a big struggle. It’s a big thing to, It’s a big thing to balance and you can’t say that. Well, you know, the, the top priorities get put to the top, um, because they all. Could be top priorities. And that’s the, that’s the big struggle again, that I’ve been having and just sharing kind of like where I’m at, how I’m feeling, and, and knowing that you can’t do all the things.

[00:10:19] And I, I feel like we’re at a good position where I can, you know, hopefully hire more people to help me. And, you know, from, for as a listener, if you’re not an entrepreneur or you don’t earn a business that would be hiring a coach, you’re still in a position to hire other people to help you. Um, and, and you, I mean, you know, I’m trying to do that.

[00:10:36] I’m trying to figure out where I need more help, but it’s also just, it’s also just researching and learning and trying to figure out, but understanding and, and this is a long, I really apologize, this is a long way of saying is like there was this other book that I had come across just called One Thing, Right?

Diverting Attention Dilutes Progress
[00:10:49] Dr. Antonio Gurule: When you start diverting your attention too much, My fault as an adaptable or implementer person is you start diluting everything that you do. So when you’re thinking about. Goals, whether that be financial, health, wellness, uh, relationships, business, employment, you know, all that stuff is. You have to, you have to start to narrow down and I am literally speaking out as I am talking to myself.

[00:11:18] Like this is me talking through my own thoughts of sharing what hasn’t been working for me and hearing what Hasn been working for everyone else and finding the, the struggle of, of that. Now, that’s not to say, again, multiple rows in Rome, that, that those things that I’m doing now might not come down the road at a certain place in time.

[00:11:37] And, and I know they will on, I wasn’t gonna say I hope they will, but I know they will because it is important to me. There are certain pieces I’m trying to put into play while doing other things, but knowing that if I focus too much time over here, I lose attention here. And, and the moral of it is, and maybe, I think, I think all those people do struggle with this, and maybe you have the same strengths that I do because of that.

Seeking Support to Overcome Weaknesses
[00:12:00] Dr. Antonio Gurule: Uh, we’re seeing maybe a behavioral pattern based on personalities. But that is, that is a lot of reason why, and I tell myself, and I validate myself. I’m being, uh, this is okay because, uh, these are my strengths. It’s just, it’s my strengths at fall. Right. I’m just, I’m just a person. It’s like the person who constantly is, is is getting burned or hurt, right? I’m just a loving person. Uh, I care too much. I give too much. Is there’s a point in time where that strength might become a fault or a weakness to you where you have to protect yourself. And the more you know about yourself, the better you can. Realize that and recognize it, which is, which is a huge turning point, right?

[00:12:38] Um, uh, or you just, and then ask for help and support. And that’s where I know I need to, is we have all these different things that we’re trying to put in place that’s trying to help with this, but then I’m trying to take this so it’s not just sitting there doing nothing and make it in and turn it into something else.

[00:12:54] And it’s, it’s, it’s a, it’s a navigation game that just growing up, I didn’t really, I didn’t see too much. And this is, again, no fault to my parents or anyone else. It’s just the way it was was just you work and you save. And we’ve done, we’ve done well. I’m, I’m not complaining about where we are way, and I’m super grateful that we have the opportunity to be entrepreneurs, to help people to, to be in this situation where we can share, um, information like this to be in a situation where, I can have four kids and not feel, um, uh, you know, super strapped from paycheck to paycheck.

[00:13:29] So this is in no way I’m complaining about that. It’s just how do you go from where you are to where you wanna be? With the strength that you have, but also realizing that those strengths could be, uh, turning into something negative or more or less, you’re using them as an excuse. So it was just something I want you to ponder about and think about.

[00:13:50] Um, we see this as a, you know, as a limitation for many of the people that come into the office. Um, uh, you know, I sympathize with everyone because I’ve been in the position of obviously being a, a parent before and the time and detention that it takes, you know, I, I do. It’s, it’s tough. It is definitely tough, especially when you start adding, when you start adding more of a man, the time you have, uh, greatly diminishes when you go from one to two kids, two to three kids, and I don’t even know.

[00:14:19] Um, everyone says once you get past three, like once you have four, it’s just, it’s just all the same. It’s just, it’s just crazy all the time. So we’ll see how that actually goes. Um, But it’s, it’s like, Oh, well, you know, I have to divert so much time and attention to this, so I can’t think about myself. Um, and we’ve all heard the saying, you can’t pour from an empty cup, right?

[00:14:40] And, and so you have to, you have to just kind of navigate it, whether it’s, whether you wanna look at a wellness wheel or anything like that is what needs more time and attention. How can I use my strengths? To fulfill that. If I, if, if it is not a strength that I have, then that’s where you would then reach out for support or help, whether it be through us or somebody else, coach who, you know, who knows what it is.

[00:15:01] It could be financial coach, it could be, um, uh, not doing your own taxes and hiring accountant, know who knows what that might be. But, but I find that to be, uh, a super, super valuable when we’re having that conversation. And I had this realization, and I think it was like my, it wasn’t. I wanna say it was like one of my first.

[00:15:23] Five podcasts. Um, I interviewed, uh, a mentor of ours who’s a chiropractor, and he’s currently the president of college down in Texas. And I had that realization just this week when I was having a conversation with my son about something and, and my, my oldest, and I wouldn’t say we butt heads, but you know, he’s older.

[00:15:42] He’s, he’s extremely bright and smart and he, you know, the conversations you have with him and as I’m talking to him, it was literally, The conversation I was having to was just a self-reflection and realization, and it just opened up my eyes to these, you know, quote unquote crutches or, or excuses that I’ve been making based on my strengths, uh, which were supposed to be able to be helpful.

[00:16:05] So, uh, something hopefully valuable for you to think about, uh, if you’ve never taken these evaluations, One is called Strength Finders. Um, that one I really like. It’s actually got a number of strengths. So it looks, the whole premise is you, Something that might be low on that list. It’s not a weakness, it’s just not your strongest strength.

[00:16:24] Um, so you really, you can get a breakdown of your top five, which is obviously the most helpful, but it’s kind of nice to see all of ’em in the spread. Um, and then working from a team aspect, the Colby Index has been good because it really shows you. Who needs to fulfill the spaces or the gaps that you don’t obviously have.

[00:16:42] So, um, uh, they’re also just, they’re also just good cuz you can do this from like a family perspective too. It’s like, Hey, as a family you’re better at this than I am. I’m better at this than you. And let’s con divide and conquer. Right? And it could be helpful too, um, from a coaching perspective of, you know, find that could be the, that could be the element of what helps you find the right coach for you is they really help you fill in the gaps.

[00:17:05] That you don’t have, not from a knowledge human standpoint, from more of just a personality and how they addressed and approach certain topics, communications on and so forth. So, som gonna think about. Hopefully that helps y’all, uh, until next time live loud.

–

by Editor | Live Loud Life Podcast

Relationships and Adventures on Two Wheels with Jenny Johnson of CYCLERIE | Ep. 76

Live LOUD Life Podcast
Lafayette Colorado

Episode 76

EP. 76 | Relationships and Adventures on Two Wheels

With Jenny Johnson of CYCLERIE

Jenny Johnson is the founder and president of CYCLERIE, a children’s cycling education company based in Erie, Colorado. There is a huge decline in kids outdoors doing organic play that is healthy. Therefore, CYCLERIE was born from a need to have children to get outdoors and getting them to appreciate the nature and the open air, rather than turning to their iPad or TV screen

Jenny Johnson created CYCLERIE in 2019, and it launched in 2020. They offer bike programs like camps, kids’ cycling training, and events. Today, CYCLERIE not only attracts people from the Erie community but also from Lafayette and Broomfield.

 

Episode Highlights

00:38 – Jenny Johnson’s motivations for founding CYCLERIE

02:50 – Overview from CYCLERIE’s Learn to Pedal and Adventure Bike camps for kids

03:41 – How COVID impacted CYCLERIE

08:02 – A tip for getting your child to ride a bike

09:51 – Biking trails to consider taking your family

13:30 – What to consider when buying a bike for your child

17:45 – Other biking events and camps to consider for children

https://www.cyclerie.net/

https://www.instagram.com/cyclerie_/

About Jenny Johnson of CYCLERIE

Background:

  • Founder and President of CYCLERIE in Erie, Colorado.
  • Passionate about children’s outdoor lifestyle.

Dr. Antonio Gurule  00:09

Awesome. Well, welcome back to the Live Loud Life podcast. Today I’m sitting down with Jenny Johnson, and we’re going to be talking about her newish-

 

Jenny Johnson  00:19

2020

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  00:21

Okay, 2020. Newish, but been around for a few years. But what they’re doing in the local community East Boulder County, Weld County, with biking and family. So welcome.

 

Jenny Johnson  00:32

Thank you for having me.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  00:33

Yeah. So talk to us a little bit. It’s called CYCLERIE. What is CYCLERIE?

 

Jenny Johnson  00:38

Yeah, CYCLERIE. CYCLERIE, the name, was sort of tossed out there. It’s French for the word cycling. So it’s kind of a play around words, Cyclerie. I didn’t know that at the time because I’m a Spanish person more than a French person. But that was kind of a fun twist. But it’s Cyclerie meaning, you know, based in Erie, tried to circle around the Erie Community. But also, we get a lot of people from Lafayette and Broomfield. I created it, probably in 2019. It had been brewing for a while, but 2020 was when we launched it.

 

01:17

I always had neighborhood kiddos coming over to our house, and we were constantly just kind of exploring together on the bike. I was kind of the fun mom, but it was something I love to do. So I thought, you know, a lot of these kiddos aren’t getting the chance to go outside. Or maybe their parents are busy, or they’re usually just turning to an iPad or the TV screen. I started researching it, and there’s a huge, huge decline in kids outdoors in that organic play, which is so important in life. And as children, especially if you try to speak to a kiddo about climate change, when they’re seven, or you know, environmental facts, you’re just not going to get anywhere with a seven-year old or an eight-year old. So, or as young- our campers are as young as three and four. So but getting them outside in nature and having that experience just, I don’t know, it invests the value in them, I think, for future appreciation of the outdoors and just being a kiddo and playing.

 

02:18

And so that’s how CYLERIE started. And then the bike aspect of it is so cool because we’re able to get from point A to point B, much faster than we would walking or hiking. So it’s just more kids on bikes, and you get more adults on bikes by getting more kids on bikes. So that’s my philosophy is just getting more people outside in nature and building confidence.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule 2:40

So walk me through a little bit like- so they’re on bikes- I think you just had a camp that just ended?

 

Jenny Johnson  02:50

Yeah. So we have multiple camps. Right now this summer, we had two. So we have a Learn to Pedal camp for the really young kids. They’re just maybe on training wheels. Or it could be older kiddos that just haven’t learned yet. And we’ll usually break those age groups up. There is a Learn to Pedal camp that’s Monday through Thursday, three hours in the morning. And then we have another camp, which is alternating weeks called Adventure Bike Camp. And that’s where what I was talking to you about, where we go somewhere. We have a destination. We usually meet at Star Meadows Park in Erie, and we ride to various nature areas. And then the last day of camp is Ice Cream day. So Dairy Queen, usually, but we try to hit up some other local spots if they’re open at 10 a.m.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  03:41

That’s really cool. I think that- obviously, that kind of self-developed or starting to develop in 2019, but then 2020 launch, if you will. I think that came around in a good time because so many kids were then yet put in doors for longer periods of time having to catch up with school based on COVID and everything, just being stuck. And or, you know, they’re kind of like hesitant about playdates because it was inside. So it’s like, this is all outdoors. It’s all exploration. And I think that’s so important, too, because so much of what we try to, at least, encourage for other parents, or at least for our own kids, is just that exploration model of just seeing where things go and develop.

 

Jenny Johnson  04:19

Yeah. I was devastated, honestly, in 2020 because I had been brainstorming this idea for several years, really, since my oldest, who’s now almost 10 started riding a bike. And then whenever March 1st, I was going to launch it 2020, and then that was right when the pandemic really was starting to become full swing. And I was just crushed, but like you were saying, turns out there was a bike boom, a whole bike, what are they calling it, evolution or revolution, that’s happening.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule 04:50

You couldn’t buy bikes anywhere.

 

Dr. Jenny Johnson 04:49

Couldn’t buy bikes anywhere because so many families were getting out on bikes. And kids’ bikes were booming. I also sell children’s bikes. It’s not my primary business at all. It’s just more of a complementary aspect for kiddos that are at camp.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  05:06

Is it like specific types? Or is it like Striders for just like introductory type of stuff?

 

Jenny Johnson  05:12

It’s kid-specific bikes anywhere from the Strider size, which would be the 12-inch size tire all the way up to 26 inch tires for the older kids. So pretty much any kiddo that’s not yet able to fit an adult bike.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  05:25

Yeah. So that being said, obviously your passion for biking and kids. How would you- I mean, obviously, I think most people know Striders like the thing to do, but why is that such a beneficial tool for kids learning how and or, as a sidebar to that, should they be using training wheels at some point in time?

 

Jenny Johnson  05:48

Yeah, so, you know, I hate to say it’s one way or another because if you’re willing to get your kiddo outside, like whatever works for your family. However, from an expert’s point of view, training wheels are a lot harder to teach to balance. If they’ve been on training wheels before, I can always tell at camp, which ones are the Strider kids and which ones are the training wheels because training wheels are essentially converting your bike to a tricycle? You’re not really learning to balance. So if you can’t get a Strider, that’s even your size for your kiddo, if say they’re seven and they haven’t rode yet, you can always take the pedals off of any bike and turn it into a Strider bike. And that’s much more beneficial teaching them to use certain core muscles and balance rather than leaning from side to side.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  06:35

Yeah. That’s a good point. Now, I do have another question. Well, my oldest what he struggled with was he could kill it on the Strider. Like he could go down hills and do everything. But the point when then trying to get them on the pedals, he never could understand like propulsion was all like this. How do you then encourage kids, from a propulsive mechanism, to being here grabbing your feet and pushing versus understanding how the pedals actually work?

 

Jenny Johnson  07:03

Yeah. It’s tricky. It’s incremental, just like with anything. So a lot of repetition. There is some an option to bring a trainer bike, a stationary style bike that can set up where the bike is still stationary, but the kiddos are on the saddle getting that motion without going anywhere or with risk of falling, just like an adult does at spin class around a peloton. It’s a stationary bike. It teaches them the different cadences.

 

But when they’re really young, that’s hard for some of that to click. So we just incrementally go from picking our feet up, gliding, frog jumping, and then eventually they’re putting one foot on the pedal. So it may just start with that quick, they have a dominant side. And then it just natural progression and over. Usually our camps are four days, the private lessons I’ll do are usually three to five lessons, 30 minutes each, and it’s just that small incremental repetition.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  08:02

And well, the good thing about kids, too, is like they catch on to things mostly fairly quickly when you have the repetition. They just get it so fast. Yeah, well, it’s funny. Speaking of ice cream, my oldest, he was being a stinker about- we got on this because we bought them new bikes. We got him a new bike, it was bigger, all this great stuff. And he was kind of intimidated by it. And, you know, we kept asking him, it was like weeks until he even wanted to try it. So he’s into bribery. Like, “Hey, we’ll go get you ice cream if you go ride your bike.” And this was Saturday 8 a.m. He’s like, “Are you serious?” I’m like, “Yeah.” He’s like, “All right. Let’s go do it.” We went outside and he rode it like he’s been doing it for like a year. Just like that, he just took off.

 

Jenny Johnson  08:41

I hate to call it- yeah, it is bribery, and it almost always works. But I think part of it, too, is just autonomy, like giving them- they have the power and the vehicle to get to where they want to go. And once they figure that out, it’s pretty inspiring, I think, for them, even as an adult. I rode here, and it’s pretty nice.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  09:00

That’s, I think, the hard part as you had mentioned with kids like in commuting and stuff, sometimes you can have that opportunity. I would love to be able to commute every day to work just on the bike. I think it’s such an amazing. I did it in college. I lived at CU Boulder okay. I had a car. I think I put like 1,000 miles on my car in like the four years I was in college. I never drove anywhere. I rode my bike everywhere

 

Jenny Johnson  09:25

Then you run into people that organically you wouldn’t in a car because when we’re in a car, we’re-

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  09:30

You’re shut off from everything.

 

Jenny Johnson  09:31

Not to say that I commute everywhere. I still use my car yeah a ton with three kiddos and multiple pickups, and we do activities in Boulder, but just having that ability when you have the time to go on your bike is pretty cool.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  09:44

So being now, so you’ve moved from Texas. How many years have you guys been here?

 

Jenny Johnson 09:49

Since 2018. So four years.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule 09:51

So figuring out the area, I think a lot of people like to know, too, what are some of the more family-friendly. Most trails around here are family-friendly, but it could also be like elevation gain and things like that. What are some of your favorite trails around here to take let’s say like a family that either has someone on a Strider and/or learning to pedal but not too intense?

 

Jenny Johnson  10:13

Yeah, and you can- before I get to the location specific, you can bring a bike trailer and maybe get your kiddo to pedal halfway with the agreement, like hey, if you get tired, the bike trailer’s here. We can throw you a small bike safely in there with you and get from point A to point B. The Coal Creek Trail is very flat and docile. If you’re looking for more of a mountain bike trail, Heil Valley Ranch, H-E-I-L, Heil. People get it confused with Haul. Heil Valley and Boulder, they have a fun schoolhouse loop.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule 10:46

Okay. I didn’t know that.

 

Jenny Johnson 10:46

Oh, yeah. It’s a mountain bike trail. So I probably I would think starting at like age four, maybe even boulder. You never know. [crosstalk]. Yeah, if your kiddo has never been on mountain bike trail, it’s a good starting point. There is some elevation gain, but Valmont Bike Park is great, too.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  11:05

Yeah, we love that one.

 

Jenny Johnson 11:05

Just to test out your skills, and you’re not far from home. The cars usually, you know, they’re in the parking lot if you need to go grab a snack. I guess the main thing is always bring snacks. That’s what we always say at camp, ride, snack, you know, game, ride, snack, game. And yeah, Coal Creek Trail. And also just if you have bike paths in your neighborhood, we have several where we are, but it’s kind of easy if you can go from the house or find a quick path to school. Before you take your kiddo out, maybe do some of your own research. I just say keep it simple and try to find somewhere fun that has a destination. It doesn’t have to be ice cream. We have a ton of fun. The kids love just finding any kind of water.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  11:47

Yeah, water is key. Anything they can [crosstalk]. That’s awesome. What have you heard of the TowWhee strap? That just reminded me.

 

Jenny Johnson 11:56

Yeah. I haven’t used one.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  12:00

Yeah, that was a huge game changer for us. My oldest, for some of our rides, because he could go far. And he actually- it was crazy. At four-and-a-half, we love going to Frisco for the marinas and we would ride from Frisco to BRAC. And his little legs, he rode from Frisco to BRAC and back. It was like 10 miles round trip. But some of those hills were tough and elevation’s different, too. So the TowWhee strap is a retractable toe strap, which is huge, because what we had used previously did not retract and it almost got caught up in the tire. So that’s super helpful. But even just small little things, we’re just like, hey, do you need a boost, hook up, and then pull them over the hedge and you can go. That’s a fantastic tool to have.

 

Jenny Johnson  12:43

You probably don’t want to hear this being a chiropractor, but I tend to push them up by grabbing their shoulders, which is so bad probably for your back.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  12:52

No. I do the same thing, too, because oftentimes you don’t want to hook it up.

 

Jenny Johnson  12:55

I’m like, oh, what did I do? That’s right. I pumped.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  12:57

You’re pushing them.

 

Jenny Johnson  12:59

Yeah, I’m riding up the hill pushing their back. We call it giving it a boost. Like do you need a boost? And I’ll do it for kids at camp, too. Even though it is Erie, there are still some significant hills. They’re not for kids. That’s the other aspect is getting a quality, lightweight bike is pretty key because imagine if you were or I were trying to ride an 80 pound bike somewhere, but that’s the weight to power ratio that we’re dealing with in some of the big box store bikes. And you would never expect yourself to be able to do that. And we’re expecting our children to do that and up hills.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  13:30

That’s a good point. We’ll talk about some of the- you had mentioned spikes you saw because that was some of the things we ran into is first and foremost, A, it was kind of tough when you have a kid, you’re like, well seems crazy to spend X amount on a bike when they’re, A, growing out of it fast or, B, just learning. But it has made a significant difference because some of the ones we had, A, they were heavy, B, being that they were used, not really tuned up well. So bearings are very dry and gritty and it’s cracked, to say the least. When you’re thinking it, you’re just like man, not even also having gears, their torque output or [crosstalk] based on torque is significantly change. What makes it so much harder for them, even when they’re just trying to learn. So what do you guys recommend?

 

Jenny Johnson  14:13

You know, if you can find a good use bike, if you don’t have the budget, because some of these entry-level kids bikes, say for a four- or five-year old can be $300 or $400 that are the high quality bikes. If you don’t have that upfront money, if you could look for a good quality used bike and, you know, obviously take it to the bike shop and make sure everything is functioning and safe. But if you do have the ability to get into the $400 or $500, depending on the size, market, you can buy that, hand it down to siblings. The resale value is excellent on the higher quality bike. So you almost always get back at least 50% of what you paid for.

 

I don’t want to drop any name brands, but I would just say that there are kid-specific design, not something from the bigger box stores. They’re designed specifically for children, meaning like their brake levers are the right size. Because so many times, you just go into these big stores and the brake levers, it’s a flashy looking beautiful bike, but they can’t even break and stop. I’ve seen that so many times. At camp, the kids or their parents will come to me, like, Oh, they’re just really timid. And I look and they can’t even stop on their own because the brakes are adult levers that they just throw in a kid’s bike and then throw it on the shelf and sell it with the cute basket.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  15:34

Yeah. That being said, do most kids bike from an early standpoint? Do they start with a coaster brake or are they trying to get more to lever brakes? Because I found maybe it’s because levers are too big, but I feel like just the grip strength of kids, it’s kind of challenging to pull levers. So is that partially why they have coaster brakes or are coaster brakes advantageous?

 

Jenny Johnson  16:00

I personally don’t like coaster brakes. But even some of the higher quality brands will put a coaster brake on their teeny tiny bike. But when you’re going downhill or if you’re in any kind of loose gravel, the coaster brake can cause you to skid. And when kids are naturally trying to find that cadence and that pedal forward, a lot of times they’ll pedal backwards and then they stop and they don’t know what’s going on. But you and I probably grew up with coaster brakes. We’re obviously totally fine. I didn’t learn ‘til I was, you know, a little bit older, five. But you see these two- and three-year olds riding and they’re able to grab the handbrake. You can adjust the brake, too, on the kid brakes so they can grab them a little easier.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  16:42

There is. If you have a bike that has coaster brakes, there’s a way to take the coaster brakes out. It’s actually not that hard. You just YouTube it. You just take apart the hub and you just take the pads out.

 

Jenny Johnson  16:51

Yeah, a lot of the companies that they sell they have a free wheel kit. If it comes with a coaster brake, you can buy the free wheel and swap it out whenever your kiddo is ready for that handbrake set. All the bikes that I used to teach with at camp and in my experience teaching tons of kiddos, they’re absolutely fine with the handbrake, even some Strider bikes now that have no pedals come with a great practice to teach them that because it’s the stopping power is also so much quicker. They can stop a lot faster with handbrakes than they do that the coaster brake action.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  17:23

And I think just, like you said, the coaster brake as they’re trying to learn that cadence is just so confusing when they’re thinking pedals move, I go forward, but then they go backwards, and then they stop and it just throws them all off. That was at least one of the tougher things for our kids. My son, though, now that he knows how to do it, he loves coaster brakes.

 

Jenny Johnson  17:43

You can do those with the handbrakes, too.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  17:48

True. So one camp just ended. How often do these camps run?

 

Jenny Johnson  17:53

So normally, it’s just the summer okay. And 2020, when school was out of session, we did fall programming and a lot longer summer session. But with the weather in Colorado in October, it can be dicey. We ended up having to cancel a few later fall sessions. But yeah, I might do a fall program. 90% sure of that just waiting for staff. I’m always unsure of- the staff that we have is usually college kiddos transitioning off to college or they just graduated high school and they move out of Erie after school. So once we get our staffing figured out, then we go ahead and open the program. So it’ll probably start in like September, October, and it would just be four or six weeks, once a week. So in the summer, we do pretty much daily, Monday through Thursday, 9 to 12. And then the fall would be once a week, just like you would go to dance class or you could go to soccer practice weekly.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  18:53

So that’d be like an evening class, not weekend?

 

Jenny Johnson  18:55

It’d be like an afternoon, probably like 4 to 5:30 is what we’ve done in the past.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  19:01

You guys ever go up to the Erie Bike Park with the age group?

 

Jenny Johnson  19:06

Yeah, we do. Our summer camp this year, we always have- naturally there’s sometimes more of an advanced group. And then there’s a group that’s a little more cautious. And so those breakout into two different age groups, advanced and beginner. So the advanced group this year, they went to the pump track because they’re able to ride longer, too. So from Star Meadows Park, it’s probably, I would say, five to six miles round trip to get to the pump track and back. So the group that wanted to hang out closer to home, we did that and still explored and saw, you know- we think of ice cream store that day we went nature discovery. And then the older kids were like, we really want to go to the pump tracks, so we made it happen. Sort of let them decide what they’re going to do and when there’s a safe route to get there. The pump track’s really fun. It is one of those places is where you just have to know the rules, which way to go, because there can be other kids there and it can be dangerous.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  20:06

I’ve seen a couple collisions there. But it’s fun. And the kids love that. It’s such a fun thing for them to do.

 

Jenny Johnson  20:13

Yeah. And it’s a great starting point, too, if you are thinking about doing some mountain biking. The pump track is a great way to just get used to the hills and gravity.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  20:21

That’s awesome. Well, I know it’s kind of in the infancy- well, not infancy. It’s been around for a couple years, but what are some of the- do you have any other plans or things with it moving forward that you want to be able to do with it?

 

Jenny Johnson  20:34

Yeah. I would like to get more grownups involved. So we’ve thought about doing-

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  20:41

I think that’d be huge. Because I know like my- I mean, my wife knows how to ride a bike. But, you know, we’ve tried doing some mountain biking and stuff. And she’s like, I just don’t really know how to approach or deal with even obstacles and things like that.

 

Jenny Johnson  20:54

100%. I learned to mountain bike in Texas. So mountain biking in Colorado, I had to step up my game, big time. So I can see why the barrier to entry is there. because mountain biking trails in Colorado aren’t green trails always. And there’s this machine that you have to learn how to operate and make sure the tires are aired up and the chains lubed and everything has to be dialed. Then that’s half the battle just to get out on the trail. So I can see why there are a lot of people that are hesitant to get involved in the sport. So we’ve thought about having some clinics, obviously teaching families and parents. All right, here’s what to do if you get a flat tire. Here’s a flat tire clinic. If something were to come up, we’re going to give you the tools so you feel empowered to go out there. If something were to happen, you can change your flat.

 

21:42

Also, just basics in mountain biking classes, maybe just starting out with trail etiquette. Like if someone’s coming up behind you and you feel panicked or nervous, you don’t have to get over right away. You get over when it’s safe and announce when you’re coming. Just basic trail etiquette, just to feel comfortable. And then we’ll get to maybe more of the small drops or going over big hills or big rocks and roots. But yeah, that’s how I see it moving forward is doing some group rides, family group rides, then maybe some clinics, especially more for the moms that are involved, because there’s so many moms that come to me saying I don’t even know what bike to buy. What about the bike trailer? And what do I need to connect a bike trailer to my bike? Like there’s a lot of details? And I’m always trying to remember, okay, not everyone’s been doing this for 10 years. And this is new to everyone. So what may seem easy for some people, I just tried to break it down and make it open to everyone because there are so many people in the last two years that have gotten into cycling with the pandemic. And it’s sad to think that their equipment is just sitting in their garage because they’re feeling stumped.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  23:00

I think that I was thinking too. We saw a lot of people just like, What do I do? And then just bought it? And like you said, just kind of sits there and not actually being used?

 

Jenny Johnson  23:07

Yeah. So we’re thinking about- not just thinking. We are planning some programming and have that-

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  23:15

And we’re going to have some races and all of that.

 

Jenny Johnson  23:20

Yeah. It does need a location to have a hub to get this all started. And then oh, man, I have so many ideas for the racing. I would like to call it events more than racing.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  23:27

Yeah, no, yeah. It’s great.

 

Jenny Johnson 23:29

You know, some kids just love the competition. And, you know, just having- giving to kids what we would have as adults, like a little podium and some pedals and just fun prizes, quality giveaways. That’s also on the radar, too.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule 23:45

That would be awesome.

 

Jenny Johnson 23:47

Yeah. The single track is a little dicey to have a race there. For some kids, it can be intimidating, but it could be somewhere in like a flat field. It doesn’t have to have huge hills or jumps. If anyone has any recommendations or any opportunities that they’re aware of, please connect with me because I’m looking for some opportunity.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  24:05

Yeah, I’ll keep my eyes open. Speaking of races, there was an obstacle course race I recently saw on some random farm in East Erie near I25. Yeah, it was off a county road. It was off Erie Parkway. And south of that, and I was just like, what are these people doing? And they were running an obstacle course race out there.

 

Jenny Johnson  24:29

Okay. It may have been The Recess Factory.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  24:33

I didn’t look up what it was. I just saw an obstacle course.

 

Jenny Johnson  24:37

[crosstalk] open anymore, but it used to be like a mud run type setup.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  24:41

It was only like a month ago.

 

Jenny Johnson  24:42

Okay. Yeah, I’ll have to have to connect you with that person, but I’m pretty sure that would have been what it is. But yeah, but it was on foot, right? Like a foot obstacle

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  24:51

Yeah. It was exactly like what you’d see like a Tough Mudder or Spartan Race, but it was just in this field out there.

 

Jenny Johnson  24:59

Because I know the RadRover event that the town does is really popular.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule 25:02

RadRover, I have not heard of that. What is that?

 

Jenny Johnson 25:06

So RadRover, the town of Erie, they do that every- I think it’s July. It might be coming up- I’m not sure. Don’t quote me on the dates, but last year it was in July about this time. I think they used to try to have like a kids triathlon, and it wasn’t as successful. And so they just focused more on keeping it simple to RadRover, like one sport, and that seemed to do really well.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule 25:27

So that’s a biking event?

 

Jenny Johnson 25:28

No, sorry. It’s an obstacle course event. It’s put on by the town of Erie, but I would like to do something like RadRover, but only do the bike instead of incorporating any kind of like swim bike run. Keeping it simple for kids that’s key.

 

Dr. Anthono Gurule 25:45

Yeah. Limit the variables.

 

Jenny Johnson 25:45

Yes. Yes. Yes. But kids’ triathlons do happen, but there’s a lot involved to get there.

 

Dr. Anthono Gurule 25:50

For sure.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  25:50

For sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well, also from just set up, but liability issues with water and stuff. That’s a whole another game.

 

Jenny Johnson  25:56

And I think just exposing kids to that, not even competition, but just hey, like, my neighbor is doing this. Like this is a normal thing. Like we go out and we run together and we have fun and we high five at the end. And, like, I don’t know, for me, I’m not super-fast, but I love doing little races, cyclocross events and things like that.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  26:19

I don’t even think of- I just think of two. Like we did the turkey trot last year and our kids had a blast. And it’s the thing that everybody does every there’s five knots and races all the time, but there’s really not- and granted, I think it’s harder to structure bike events like that because there’s road closures and things like that from my kids’ perspective. They love anything like that.

 

Jenny Johnson  26:39

And it can be small. Doesn’t have to be anything grandiose. And I don’t know, I just love the community aspect of events like that, whether I’m going fast that day or not. Yeah, like at the end, you know, everyone’s hanging out, it’s family oriented. So I pursue that for Erie.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  26:56

Have you done the Venus de Miles since being out here?

 

Jenny Johnson  26:59

No. I do cyclocross. And actually, funny enough, my kiddo got me into that last fall because it’s basically like riding a road bike on gravel. So it’s a unique kind of- richer in a way.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  27:16

Jump over obstacles, do crazy stuff.

 

Jenny Johnson 27:19

Yeah, you carry your bike. So I primarily mountain bike. I do some road biking, but the cyclocross was really fun. And most of them are in Boulder. I would love to see one in Erie because the cyclocross races have men’s, women’s, and little kids. And so it’s a family event that everyone can do on a Saturday.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  27:41

I think they could do. They just need to find or there’s enough open-

 

Jenny Johnson  27:45

Permitting and getting people out to Erie. I think a lot of people, in Lafayette too, I think a lot of people think this area is still like cows and pasture. But you know, there’s such a market for young families. And no, it would be great to not have to drive into Boulder for every event.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  28:04

That’s awesome. Well, I’m looking forward to seeing all those things come up. I think that’s going to be awesome. And we’ll keep an eye open for what happens for fall. And so I should say, before I forget because I’m always bad about this. How do people learn more? Where do they find more information? How do they connect with you if they wanted to get into the camps or just stay in the loop about when camps are, when events are, so on and so forth?

 

Jenny Johnson  28:28

Yeah, so it’s cyclerie.net, C-Y-C-L-E-R-I-E. cyclerie.net. I’m most active on Instagram. It’s @cyclerie. So you can find me there. I’m Jenny Johnson. I have a Facebook page as well and a website that has all of the program information. So we always have summer programs. The registration usually opens March 1. And if you’re ever interested in private lessons or getting a group of kids together, too, we do that year round as long as it’s not too cold. If there’s not snow on the ground, we’ll usually have our bikes out as a family

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  29:04

And then do you guys have like a newsletter or anything? Or is that where most things are announced? Like if there are group rides or anything coming up or anything like that?

 

Jenny Johnson  29:15

Yeah. We’re actually kicking off a newsletter this fall. Previously had just relied on social media. But I know a lot of times that can just be inundated with so many events. So the newsletter and direct email is going to be our next method of communication for bigger events.

 

Dr. Antonio Gurule  29:32

Great. Well, thanks for spending time and sharing about this. I think this is awesome. I can’t wait to see how it builds and grows because we’re huge on just family bike rides together, too. We have the trailer, we have the TowWhee, we love packing up and just be like, Hey, we’re going to go somewhere new, ride, see what happens. So this is amazing what you’re doing.

 

Jenny Johnson 29:54

Thanks for having me.

–

by Editor | Live Loud Life Podcast

Live Loud Chiropractic

Why Stretching Might Not Be The Best If You Are Pregnant EP|58

Live LOUD Life Podcast
Lafayette Colorado

Episode 58

Why Stretching Might Not Be The Best If You Are Pregnant EP|58

With Dr. Antonio Gurule

Connect With Antonio and the Live LOUD team: hello@liveloudlife.com

Subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/LiveLoud

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Guiding your to the adventurous life you were made for!

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Live Loud Chiropractic and Coaching Top Chiropractor and Physical Therapy in Lafayette Colorado Serving Boulder County Boulder, Longmont, Louisville, Erie, Broomfield, and Arvada Colorado

About Dr. Antonio Gurule

Nutrition Building Blocks Broken Down

Background:

  • Father
  • Doctor of Chiropractic
  • Owner of Live LOUD
  • Personal Trainer & Health Coach

Anthony Gurule  00:00

Hey what’s up guys, welcome back to another episode of the Live LOUD Life podcast. My name is Dr. Antonio, I’m your host of the Live LOUD Life podcast. My wife and I, we co-own Live LOUD Chiropractic and Coaching here in Lafayette, Colorado. We are just outside of Boulder, Colorado in Boulder County. And our mission is to help families. We want to help make families stronger, so that we can build a stronger community. We want to help guide you to the adventurous life that you and your family were meant for. And we do this through chiropractic and coaching. chiropractic, obviously being more of a hands on approach, more of a clinical conversation, clinical diagnostics, but the coaching aspect is really what we believe is, you know, the foundation of what our system methodology, whatever you want to call it is, because a lot of this comes around through just coaching suggestions and recommendations. also, you know, obviously within that comes into clinical prescriptions of certain things to eat or supplements, so on and so forth. But it’s coaching a lifestyle, it’s coaching, it’s coaching a philosophy and a foundation about how to live an active healthy life as an individual, and setting an example of a healthy active life for your family, for your immediate family, for your friends, and more importantly for your community. So stronger families to make a stronger community as a whole would be a win win, right? And that’s what we want to be able to do. we want to be able to help fill in the gaps in the holes that you’re maybe not getting from, from other roles and conditions.

 

Anthony Gurule  01:43

And today that’s in particular where we’re going to talk about. it’s going to be a little bit more of a shorter episode because this is more of a quote unquote, you know, just discussion around how to lay out a framework and a better understanding of how to work out or what exercises are safe or maybe not safe during pregnancy. This is a very, very common question that we get.

 

Anthony Gurule  02:12

My wife Nichelle has created a mini course that has some workout ideas, recommendations, and prescriptions than laid out into a workout. She guides and  educates other clinicians on how to broach this topic as a chiropractor, how to better serve prenatal patients through chiropractic care, but also exercise recommendations and prescriptions, having recommendations with other personal trainers within the community whether that’s CrossFit whether that’s Orange Theory, chatting with coaches and owners and saying hey, if you have prenatal patients and they’re having these types of symptoms, or this has happened, here’s some better recommendations, not modifications. We call them lateralizations–you’re just you know, you’re doing something something different or something else we you know, we borrow that term from Charlie Weingroff, who’s a physical therapist and strength conditioning coach. But it also and also doulas, right, doulas and midwives and OBs who are directly involved with the prenatal process from nearly conception all the way through, having this conversation. we know that exercise is important during pregnancy,

 

Anthony Gurule  03:19

There are so many different studies that talk about the benefits of exercising during pregnancy, not only for the mom, but also for baby, which is quite interesting. They’re seeing increased cognitive-what’s the word I’m looking for? Excuse me, their cognitive output as a as an as a child through as they age is actually better from moms that actually worked out during pregnancy.

 

Anthony Gurule  03:50

Now this is tough, right? How do you define working out or exercise? it’s different for everybody. But we want to, and we encourage that, and yet we’re sympathetic to the different stages of life, aches and pains, so on and so forth, which obviously would limit what you can do from an exercise perspective. So you know, it’s a bit of a gray area on determining what is working out? what is exercise? What are the physical guidelines or recommendations for pregnancy? And without getting into the like, nitty gritty detail of every single thing. And obviously, every potential situation, if you had this versus this, what could happen? we’re not gonna be able to do that. What we just want to lay out is what is what are we trying to accomplish here, and we want to encourage you to stay as physically active as possible.

 

Anthony Gurule  04:41

And one of the things that constantly comes up is, well, should you add something in that you have not already been doing? Let’s say for instance, someone just through the stages of life with work and kids or whatever that is, they were not able to work out as much before they got pregnant, but now that they’re pregnant, whether they have more time or they understand the importance of exercises during pregnancy, well, would we say, “Well, you haven’t been exercising, so you shouldn’t do too much.” No, that doesn’t, that doesn’t really make sense. Now, we would encourage not to do too much, there’s obviously, you know, a too far swinging the pendulum of the other way. But we wouldn’t say “no, don’t exercise because you weren’t doing something before,” we just have to find those first few stepping stones to help them start to gain some momentum. and help hold their hand, if you will, So that their technique and they feel confident about lifting, or how far they’re walking or whatever that is. And that’s an important topic, because a lot of times people want to add things in, but they weren’t quite ready or weren’t doing them before. And they then assume that they’re not able to do them at all. So you do have to take that in consideration, there is a ton that you can do, and that you can still add, even though you weren’t doing them prior to pregnancy.

 

Anthony Gurule  05:54

Now on the big questions is, is it safe? you know, outside to contact sports, or different things like that the majority of what you’re going to do is safe for pregnancy, right? Rock climbing, we have pregnant patients that have been rock climbing before, obviously, there’s a certain inherent risk with certain sports or activities. You know, you could fall off riding your bike, you could fall over running, right, so we’re not encouraging any of these by any means. We’re just kind of, you know, setting some suggestions, if you will. And you have to take into consideration.

 

Anthony Gurule  06:31

Now, there are certain things to consider when you’re talking about like weightlifting, and how heavy and the intensity that you’re doing. And if you’re doing Valsalva movements, which is essentially holding your breath to maintain a more rigid or stiff torso, as you’re seeing changes in blood volume and blood pressure, you know, you do have to take that in consideration. And that is again, of course a conversation with your provider that is managing your, your pregnancy, but we recommend Mama’s weight lift, or do resistance training. During pregnancy, again, we talked about about load management and the intensity and things like that, but you can still lift and do fairly intense things. And it’s a fairly as a you know, as a scale and a wide range during pregnancy and see a ton of benefit from that. Now, are we trying to hit one rep maxes and PRs during pregnancy, I mean, some would argue yes, but I would argue, why, that’s not really an accurate representation of what your strength is anyways. So you know, you do have to to kind of keep manipulating the numbers and the weights and the intensity and the sets and reps in order to do it. But weightlifting and resistance training is safe, and it is effective. Now, outside of that, there’s not a lot of unsafe things to do, again, outside of contact sports, or things that would elicit, you know, potential trauma to you or baby based on impact we’ve had, again, not our recommendations, but some have tried very just easy scheme, because they’re in the winter months, and they wanted to and they felt very confident about not falling. So you know, you have those types of things.

 

Anthony Gurule  08:16

Overall, again, we’re talking about movement. You need to move, and it’s good to get your heart rate up. And it’s good to breathe hard. So that doesn’t mean just because you’re pregnant, you can’t do HIIT training or circuit training or CrossFit or Orange Theory. But you do have to listen to your body and understand certain signs that would indicate that things might be too much, right? Now those are going to be different for everyone, but a lot of this comes down to you know, lightheadedness, you know, breathing too hard. Certain aches and pains within lower extremity, chest, abdomen, so on and so forth would be obviously like your more extreme ones. If you’re becoming pale or anything like that, I mean, again, these are the same criteria, though, that would be if someone else was working out or training too hard. So it’s realistically the same thing. It’s just that your threshold level for all those most likely have gone down. And depending on what type of an athlete you were before, you’re going to be maybe a little frustrated that you’re not able to do the things you were able to do previously, which makes sense. But if you’re someone who wasn’t exercising before, you’re probably going to be a little bit more hyper aware of that, of just feeling that shortness of breath or that uneasiness. So again, we’re not saying you have to push through that because we’re not trying to set yourself up for a strength and conditioning program to increase your metabolic capacity to increase your strength and conditioning during pregnancy. We’re trying to help you maintain a healthy active pregnancy.

 

Anthony Gurule  09:54

Now, walking. walking is great. but in general, we encourage you to do something above and beyond walking. Obviously, again, certain things would dictate that you would not be able to do so. And this is again, any exercise. Any exercise that you do during pregnancy needs to be consulted with and work through and have a conversation with the primary physician who is managing your pregnancy, whether that’s your nurse practitioner, your midwife or your OB or obstetrician, right. But we would encourage more than just walking. walking is fantastic, but that’s kind of like your baseline minimum, right? Just like our activities, or recommendation activity guidelines. We want a few days a week of where we’re kind of just doing this steady state getting our steps in, you know, kind of pushing ourselves, we’re huffing and puffing, but still just kind of at that conversational level, but you’re not really getting a lot of benefits outside of that.

 

Anthony Gurule  10:55

So if you’re just walking, high five. kudos. can you do something more? Can you do some bodyweight squats? Can you do some bodyweight, you know, good mornings? can you do some walking lunges? do you have a suspension training, we’re able to do some bodyweight rows? Do you have some bands that you can do some rows with? You know, there’s a lot that you can do that allows you to get a little bit more out of that. Now, again, this all comes back down to preferences of exercises that you like to do, because that’s gonna allow you to maintain the most consistency, but then also the intensity that you like to do. And we do encourage having an open mind and at least being willing to try some high intensity things that allow you to still get your heart rate up a little bit. And it’s okay to lift more than five or 10 pounds. And not saying that that is a bad thing. There’s programs out there where it’s all directed around that where it’s lighter weight, high rep, but I just don’t want individuals and mamas to feel like they’re not able to do more and or being ashamed because other people are just saying they should back off because they’re pregnant. “why would you need a lift that much?” It fits within your strength, and your comfort, and your wheelhouse, that is totally fine.

 

Anthony Gurule  12:05

Again, you if you’ve been doing that enough, you understand the risk reward ratio and having a conversation with your practitioner has driven us to kind of help navigate and guide as you start to get further through pregnancies, what things maybe we need to change or manipulate. But that’s totally fine. Now outside of that, the question around safe also comes up around core exercises. diastasis recti, pelvic floor strength, so on and so forth, we want to enhance the capability of understanding how to control tension within your abdominal wall and your pelvic floor through pregnancy, because the pressure is increasing due to baby taking up more space. But we’re not we’re not necessarily we’re not gaining more strength, right.

 

Anthony Gurule  12:45

And so what a lot of people assume it’s when we’ve seen this, is “I don’t want diastasis. So I’m doing more core work to prevent diastasis from happening.” diastasis recti will happen in 100% of moms, it’s estimated at the week 35 Everyone will have some form of it. Now it is technically not a quote unquote diagnosis, though, until 12 weeks postpartum, because it is a normal thing that everyone will get. So you can’t diagnose someone with something that everyone will get–doesn’t make sense, right? So after that, though, if you still have weakness or spacing issues, then we can have a you know, a stronger conversation about putting a diagnosis on that.

 

Anthony Gurule  13:26

But what we’re trying to enhance and help is what exercises are quote unquote, not safe versus unsafe, but adding too much pressure or tension into the abdominal wall or the pelvic floor and creating more laxity. again, as that pressure for as baby’s growing starts to put more pressure on the pelvic floor and the abdominal wall. If you’re doing more things that increases the pressure within the within the abdominal cavity that’s going to push on that separation even more and/or push on that pelvic floor even more, creating potential incontinence or prolapse issues and/or more bulging and doming within the abdominal wall stretching out that separation or that gap even further, potentially making the recovery process more challenging or slightly longer. I’m not saying that it will but potentially, so we do have to take that in consideration. So we go through activation exercise of the pelvic floor, of the abdominal wall so that you better understand how to control those pressure increases while you’re lifting or exercising so that you simply can stay at a management level.

 

Anthony Gurule  14:28

And that in turn, helps you get through pregnancy of understanding how to lift up your older kiddo, having to lift up dog food or anything like that. It’s just managing and controlling pressure. So there’s really not anything that I would say that safe or unsafe. Now, things that we would advise against for core exercises is sit ups or crunches. You know a lot of those things that create like hanging knee raises and different things like that during pregnancy. A lot of those things that create a lot of intra abdominal pressure and tension. and especially during a flex position, that tends to put a lot more pressure on the abdominal wall, the separation where diastasis will occur as well as the pelvic floor.

 

Anthony Gurule  15:09

So, you know, while we never say never, there’s definitely a category of things that we definitely urge against because the risk/reward benefit and again, risk not being “injured,” But risk of potentially putting more pressure and making the recovery process  on the other side harder, is not is not something that we find to be as advantageous. But you can still get the benefits of quote unquote, core exercises through full body movements such as goblet squats, such as deadlifts, you know, depending on the phase that you’re in, push ups, which are, you know, a dynamic plank. or being able to do a TRX row, which is a reverse plank as you’re just lifting yourself up. three point rows where you’re on, you know, two hands or doing like a row on a bench, where you’re in a tabletop position that’s adding anti rotation exercises. So there’s a ton that you can do that still highlights and isolates, the core isolates, sorry. that highlights and will emphasize core activation, but through a full body compound movement. And what’s great about that is during pregnancy, depending on your energy levels, it’s hard to do all the little isolated accessory and all these separate exercises as it is. So it’s kind of nice being able to combine everything, so you get more bang for your buck, especially if you’re a parent and you’re on and you’re on baby number two or three, right?

 

Anthony Gurule  16:31

So what exercises are safe for pregnant women to do? All are. reduce or eliminate for sure contact activities, different things like that. the increased risk activities of you know, trauma and things like that. Outside of that you’re managing pressure, I would definitely encourage reducing anything that’s heavy lifting, that’s, that’s requiring you to do Valsalva moves, you’re having to hold your breath for an extended period of time. that changes blood pressure, so on and so forth. But outside of that, Pregnancy is a completely safe time to do all exercises. we definitely as we highlighted, urge and encourage, you know, certain things over other ones just for you know, added bang for your buck or full body movements, so on and so forth. And that, but outside of that you are free to do what you want.

 

Anthony Gurule  17:19

If you want guidance, though, you know, there are there are trainers out there that work specifically with prenatal patients. we would love to be able to have that conversation with you if that’s something you want to bounce back or navigate. Because we do want to encourage as much as we can. A very, very active pregnancy through exercise working out or however you want to describe that. So if you found this beneficial, please like share, subscribe. if you’re pregnant, I hope you can utilize this and take some of the information for you and yourself. If you have anyone else you know… a relative a family member, a friend who is pregnant and they’re unsure they’ve been you know asking this question what things I don’t know what things I can do. I don’t know if it’s safe for baby share this video with them. We’d love to be able to provide a better frame of reference and or context to be able to ask better questions so that they can find the workout program  or the movements that work best for them during their pregnancy. Until next time guys live loud .if you’re currently pregnant, Congratulations, and we look forward to helping and serving in the future.

–

by Live LOUD

Fatherhood With Trevor Hall EP|42

Live LOUD Life Podcast
Lafayette Colorado

Episode 42

EP|42 Fatherhood With Trevor Hall

With Dr. Antonio Gurule

Show Notes:

The every changing dynamics of fatherhood.

Today we chat with father, husband, and singer song writer Trevor Hall about his journey into fatherhood with his new son, as well as the dynamics between his father and him when he was growing up.

Connect with Trevor at @trevorhallmusic or on his webpage https://www.trevorhallmusic.com/

 

Connect With Antonio and the Live LOUD team:

hello@liveloudlife.com

 

Subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/LiveLoud

Visit the website: http://www.lifeloudlife.com

Like the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/liveloudchiropractic/

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/live.loud.life/

Guiding your to the adventurous life you were made for!

.

If you dig this give it a like ❤️, if you’re loving it let me hear you with a comment 🗣👂, and if you know it will help someone or anyone out please share 👥📲

About Dr. Antonio Gurule

Nutrition Building Blocks Broken Down

Background:

  • Father
  • Doctor of Chiropractic
  • Owner of Live LOUD
  • Personal Trainer & Health Coach

Anthony Gurule  00:00

Hey what’s up guys, welcome back to another episode of the Live LOUD Life podcast. My name is Dr. Antonio, I’m your host of the Live LOUD Life podcast. My wife and I, we co-own Live LOUD Chiropractic and Coaching here in Lafayette, Colorado. We are just outside of Boulder, Colorado in Boulder County. And our mission is to help families. We want to help make families stronger, so that we can build a stronger community. We want to help guide you to the adventurous life that you and your family were meant for. And we do this through chiropractic and coaching. chiropractic, obviously being more of a hands on approach, more of a clinical conversation, clinical diagnostics, but the coaching aspect is really what we believe is, you know, the foundation of what our system methodology, whatever you want to call it is, because a lot of this comes around through just coaching suggestions and recommendations. also, you know, obviously within that comes into clinical prescriptions of certain things to eat or supplements, so on and so forth. But it’s coaching a lifestyle, it’s coaching, it’s coaching a philosophy and a foundation about how to live an active healthy life as an individual, and setting an example of a healthy active life for your family, for your immediate family, for your friends, and more importantly for your community. So stronger families to make a stronger community as a whole would be a win win, right? And that’s what we want to be able to do. we want to be able to help fill in the gaps in the holes that you’re maybe not getting from, from other roles and conditions.

 

Anthony Gurule  01:43

And today that’s in particular where we’re going to talk about. it’s going to be a little bit more of a shorter episode because this is more of a quote unquote, you know, just discussion around how to lay out a framework and a better understanding of how to work out or what exercises are safe or maybe not safe during pregnancy. This is a very, very common question that we get.

 

Anthony Gurule  02:12

My wife Nichelle has created a mini course that has some workout ideas, recommendations, and prescriptions than laid out into a workout. She guides and  educates other clinicians on how to broach this topic as a chiropractor, how to better serve prenatal patients through chiropractic care, but also exercise recommendations and prescriptions, having recommendations with other personal trainers within the community whether that’s CrossFit whether that’s Orange Theory, chatting with coaches and owners and saying hey, if you have prenatal patients and they’re having these types of symptoms, or this has happened, here’s some better recommendations, not modifications. We call them lateralizations–you’re just you know, you’re doing something something different or something else we you know, we borrow that term from Charlie Weingroff, who’s a physical therapist and strength conditioning coach. But it also and also doulas, right, doulas and midwives and OBs who are directly involved with the prenatal process from nearly conception all the way through, having this conversation. we know that exercise is important during pregnancy,

 

Anthony Gurule  03:19

There are so many different studies that talk about the benefits of exercising during pregnancy, not only for the mom, but also for baby, which is quite interesting. They’re seeing increased cognitive-what’s the word I’m looking for? Excuse me, their cognitive output as a as an as a child through as they age is actually better from moms that actually worked out during pregnancy.

 

Anthony Gurule  03:50

Now this is tough, right? How do you define working out or exercise? it’s different for everybody. But we want to, and we encourage that, and yet we’re sympathetic to the different stages of life, aches and pains, so on and so forth, which obviously would limit what you can do from an exercise perspective. So you know, it’s a bit of a gray area on determining what is working out? what is exercise? What are the physical guidelines or recommendations for pregnancy? And without getting into the like, nitty gritty detail of every single thing. And obviously, every potential situation, if you had this versus this, what could happen? we’re not gonna be able to do that. What we just want to lay out is what is what are we trying to accomplish here, and we want to encourage you to stay as physically active as possible.

 

Anthony Gurule  04:41

And one of the things that constantly comes up is, well, should you add something in that you have not already been doing? Let’s say for instance, someone just through the stages of life with work and kids or whatever that is, they were not able to work out as much before they got pregnant, but now that they’re pregnant, whether they have more time or they understand the importance of exercises during pregnancy, well, would we say, “Well, you haven’t been exercising, so you shouldn’t do too much.” No, that doesn’t, that doesn’t really make sense. Now, we would encourage not to do too much, there’s obviously, you know, a too far swinging the pendulum of the other way. But we wouldn’t say “no, don’t exercise because you weren’t doing something before,” we just have to find those first few stepping stones to help them start to gain some momentum. and help hold their hand, if you will, So that their technique and they feel confident about lifting, or how far they’re walking or whatever that is. And that’s an important topic, because a lot of times people want to add things in, but they weren’t quite ready or weren’t doing them before. And they then assume that they’re not able to do them at all. So you do have to take that in consideration, there is a ton that you can do, and that you can still add, even though you weren’t doing them prior to pregnancy.

 

Anthony Gurule  05:54

Now on the big questions is, is it safe? you know, outside to contact sports, or different things like that the majority of what you’re going to do is safe for pregnancy, right? Rock climbing, we have pregnant patients that have been rock climbing before, obviously, there’s a certain inherent risk with certain sports or activities. You know, you could fall off riding your bike, you could fall over running, right, so we’re not encouraging any of these by any means. We’re just kind of, you know, setting some suggestions, if you will. And you have to take into consideration.

 

Anthony Gurule  06:31

Now, there are certain things to consider when you’re talking about like weightlifting, and how heavy and the intensity that you’re doing. And if you’re doing Valsalva movements, which is essentially holding your breath to maintain a more rigid or stiff torso, as you’re seeing changes in blood volume and blood pressure, you know, you do have to take that in consideration. And that is again, of course a conversation with your provider that is managing your, your pregnancy, but we recommend Mama’s weight lift, or do resistance training. During pregnancy, again, we talked about about load management and the intensity and things like that, but you can still lift and do fairly intense things. And it’s a fairly as a you know, as a scale and a wide range during pregnancy and see a ton of benefit from that. Now, are we trying to hit one rep maxes and PRs during pregnancy, I mean, some would argue yes, but I would argue, why, that’s not really an accurate representation of what your strength is anyways. So you know, you do have to to kind of keep manipulating the numbers and the weights and the intensity and the sets and reps in order to do it. But weightlifting and resistance training is safe, and it is effective. Now, outside of that, there’s not a lot of unsafe things to do, again, outside of contact sports, or things that would elicit, you know, potential trauma to you or baby based on impact we’ve had, again, not our recommendations, but some have tried very just easy scheme, because they’re in the winter months, and they wanted to and they felt very confident about not falling. So you know, you have those types of things.

 

Anthony Gurule  08:16

Overall, again, we’re talking about movement. You need to move, and it’s good to get your heart rate up. And it’s good to breathe hard. So that doesn’t mean just because you’re pregnant, you can’t do HIIT training or circuit training or CrossFit or Orange Theory. But you do have to listen to your body and understand certain signs that would indicate that things might be too much, right? Now those are going to be different for everyone, but a lot of this comes down to you know, lightheadedness, you know, breathing too hard. Certain aches and pains within lower extremity, chest, abdomen, so on and so forth would be obviously like your more extreme ones. If you’re becoming pale or anything like that, I mean, again, these are the same criteria, though, that would be if someone else was working out or training too hard. So it’s realistically the same thing. It’s just that your threshold level for all those most likely have gone down. And depending on what type of an athlete you were before, you’re going to be maybe a little frustrated that you’re not able to do the things you were able to do previously, which makes sense. But if you’re someone who wasn’t exercising before, you’re probably going to be a little bit more hyper aware of that, of just feeling that shortness of breath or that uneasiness. So again, we’re not saying you have to push through that because we’re not trying to set yourself up for a strength and conditioning program to increase your metabolic capacity to increase your strength and conditioning during pregnancy. We’re trying to help you maintain a healthy active pregnancy.

 

Anthony Gurule  09:54

Now, walking. walking is great. but in general, we encourage you to do something above and beyond walking. Obviously, again, certain things would dictate that you would not be able to do so. And this is again, any exercise. Any exercise that you do during pregnancy needs to be consulted with and work through and have a conversation with the primary physician who is managing your pregnancy, whether that’s your nurse practitioner, your midwife or your OB or obstetrician, right. But we would encourage more than just walking. walking is fantastic, but that’s kind of like your baseline minimum, right? Just like our activities, or recommendation activity guidelines. We want a few days a week of where we’re kind of just doing this steady state getting our steps in, you know, kind of pushing ourselves, we’re huffing and puffing, but still just kind of at that conversational level, but you’re not really getting a lot of benefits outside of that.

 

Anthony Gurule  10:55

So if you’re just walking, high five. kudos. can you do something more? Can you do some bodyweight squats? Can you do some bodyweight, you know, good mornings? can you do some walking lunges? do you have a suspension training, we’re able to do some bodyweight rows? Do you have some bands that you can do some rows with? You know, there’s a lot that you can do that allows you to get a little bit more out of that. Now, again, this all comes back down to preferences of exercises that you like to do, because that’s gonna allow you to maintain the most consistency, but then also the intensity that you like to do. And we do encourage having an open mind and at least being willing to try some high intensity things that allow you to still get your heart rate up a little bit. And it’s okay to lift more than five or 10 pounds. And not saying that that is a bad thing. There’s programs out there where it’s all directed around that where it’s lighter weight, high rep, but I just don’t want individuals and mamas to feel like they’re not able to do more and or being ashamed because other people are just saying they should back off because they’re pregnant. “why would you need a lift that much?” It fits within your strength, and your comfort, and your wheelhouse, that is totally fine.

 

Anthony Gurule  12:05

Again, you if you’ve been doing that enough, you understand the risk reward ratio and having a conversation with your practitioner has driven us to kind of help navigate and guide as you start to get further through pregnancies, what things maybe we need to change or manipulate. But that’s totally fine. Now outside of that, the question around safe also comes up around core exercises. diastasis recti, pelvic floor strength, so on and so forth, we want to enhance the capability of understanding how to control tension within your abdominal wall and your pelvic floor through pregnancy, because the pressure is increasing due to baby taking up more space. But we’re not we’re not necessarily we’re not gaining more strength, right.

 

Anthony Gurule  12:45

And so what a lot of people assume it’s when we’ve seen this, is “I don’t want diastasis. So I’m doing more core work to prevent diastasis from happening.” diastasis recti will happen in 100% of moms, it’s estimated at the week 35 Everyone will have some form of it. Now it is technically not a quote unquote diagnosis, though, until 12 weeks postpartum, because it is a normal thing that everyone will get. So you can’t diagnose someone with something that everyone will get–doesn’t make sense, right? So after that, though, if you still have weakness or spacing issues, then we can have a you know, a stronger conversation about putting a diagnosis on that.

 

Anthony Gurule  13:26

But what we’re trying to enhance and help is what exercises are quote unquote, not safe versus unsafe, but adding too much pressure or tension into the abdominal wall or the pelvic floor and creating more laxity. again, as that pressure for as baby’s growing starts to put more pressure on the pelvic floor and the abdominal wall. If you’re doing more things that increases the pressure within the within the abdominal cavity that’s going to push on that separation even more and/or push on that pelvic floor even more, creating potential incontinence or prolapse issues and/or more bulging and doming within the abdominal wall stretching out that separation or that gap even further, potentially making the recovery process more challenging or slightly longer. I’m not saying that it will but potentially, so we do have to take that in consideration. So we go through activation exercise of the pelvic floor, of the abdominal wall so that you better understand how to control those pressure increases while you’re lifting or exercising so that you simply can stay at a management level.

 

Anthony Gurule  14:28

And that in turn, helps you get through pregnancy of understanding how to lift up your older kiddo, having to lift up dog food or anything like that. It’s just managing and controlling pressure. So there’s really not anything that I would say that safe or unsafe. Now, things that we would advise against for core exercises is sit ups or crunches. You know a lot of those things that create like hanging knee raises and different things like that during pregnancy. A lot of those things that create a lot of intra abdominal pressure and tension. and especially during a flex position, that tends to put a lot more pressure on the abdominal wall, the separation where diastasis will occur as well as the pelvic floor.

 

Anthony Gurule  15:09

So, you know, while we never say never, there’s definitely a category of things that we definitely urge against because the risk/reward benefit and again, risk not being “injured,” But risk of potentially putting more pressure and making the recovery process  on the other side harder, is not is not something that we find to be as advantageous. But you can still get the benefits of quote unquote, core exercises through full body movements such as goblet squats, such as deadlifts, you know, depending on the phase that you’re in, push ups, which are, you know, a dynamic plank. or being able to do a TRX row, which is a reverse plank as you’re just lifting yourself up. three point rows where you’re on, you know, two hands or doing like a row on a bench, where you’re in a tabletop position that’s adding anti rotation exercises. So there’s a ton that you can do that still highlights and isolates, the core isolates, sorry. that highlights and will emphasize core activation, but through a full body compound movement. And what’s great about that is during pregnancy, depending on your energy levels, it’s hard to do all the little isolated accessory and all these separate exercises as it is. So it’s kind of nice being able to combine everything, so you get more bang for your buck, especially if you’re a parent and you’re on and you’re on baby number two or three, right?

 

Anthony Gurule  16:31

So what exercises are safe for pregnant women to do? All are. reduce or eliminate for sure contact activities, different things like that. the increased risk activities of you know, trauma and things like that. Outside of that you’re managing pressure, I would definitely encourage reducing anything that’s heavy lifting, that’s, that’s requiring you to do Valsalva moves, you’re having to hold your breath for an extended period of time. that changes blood pressure, so on and so forth. But outside of that, Pregnancy is a completely safe time to do all exercises. we definitely as we highlighted, urge and encourage, you know, certain things over other ones just for you know, added bang for your buck or full body movements, so on and so forth. And that, but outside of that you are free to do what you want.

 

Anthony Gurule  17:19

If you want guidance, though, you know, there are there are trainers out there that work specifically with prenatal patients. we would love to be able to have that conversation with you if that’s something you want to bounce back or navigate. Because we do want to encourage as much as we can. A very, very active pregnancy through exercise working out or however you want to describe that. So if you found this beneficial, please like share, subscribe. if you’re pregnant, I hope you can utilize this and take some of the information for you and yourself. If you have anyone else you know… a relative a family member, a friend who is pregnant and they’re unsure they’ve been you know asking this question what things I don’t know what things I can do. I don’t know if it’s safe for baby share this video with them. We’d love to be able to provide a better frame of reference and or context to be able to ask better questions so that they can find the workout program  or the movements that work best for them during their pregnancy. Until next time guys live loud .if you’re currently pregnant, Congratulations, and we look forward to helping and serving in the future.

–

by Live LOUD

How To Get Out The Door as a Busy family & Not Forget Anything EP|33

Live LOUD Life Podcast
Lafayette Colorado

Episode 33

EP|33 How To Get Out The Door as a Busy family & Not Forget Anything

With Dr. Antonio & Nichelle Gurule

Let’s GO!

Live LOUD husband and wife founders and team members chit-chat about how they pack up and get out the door as a busy family of 3 kids without forgetting anything and most importantly being on time.

Connect With Us:

@live.loud.life

www.liveloudlife.com

Please give us a shout-out if you like it and a review!

We would love to hear from you our listeners to see how this content is impacting your life and helping you live the adventurous life you were made for!

About Dr. Antonio Gurule

Nutrition Building Blocks Broken Down

Background:

  • Father
  • Doctor of Chiropractic
  • Owner of Live LOUD
  • Personal Trainer & Health Coach

Anthony Gurule  00:00

Hey what’s up guys, welcome back to another episode of the Live LOUD Life podcast. My name is Dr. Antonio, I’m your host of the Live LOUD Life podcast. My wife and I, we co-own Live LOUD Chiropractic and Coaching here in Lafayette, Colorado. We are just outside of Boulder, Colorado in Boulder County. And our mission is to help families. We want to help make families stronger, so that we can build a stronger community. We want to help guide you to the adventurous life that you and your family were meant for. And we do this through chiropractic and coaching. chiropractic, obviously being more of a hands on approach, more of a clinical conversation, clinical diagnostics, but the coaching aspect is really what we believe is, you know, the foundation of what our system methodology, whatever you want to call it is, because a lot of this comes around through just coaching suggestions and recommendations. also, you know, obviously within that comes into clinical prescriptions of certain things to eat or supplements, so on and so forth. But it’s coaching a lifestyle, it’s coaching, it’s coaching a philosophy and a foundation about how to live an active healthy life as an individual, and setting an example of a healthy active life for your family, for your immediate family, for your friends, and more importantly for your community. So stronger families to make a stronger community as a whole would be a win win, right? And that’s what we want to be able to do. we want to be able to help fill in the gaps in the holes that you’re maybe not getting from, from other roles and conditions.

 

Anthony Gurule  01:43

And today that’s in particular where we’re going to talk about. it’s going to be a little bit more of a shorter episode because this is more of a quote unquote, you know, just discussion around how to lay out a framework and a better understanding of how to work out or what exercises are safe or maybe not safe during pregnancy. This is a very, very common question that we get.

 

Anthony Gurule  02:12

My wife Nichelle has created a mini course that has some workout ideas, recommendations, and prescriptions than laid out into a workout. She guides and  educates other clinicians on how to broach this topic as a chiropractor, how to better serve prenatal patients through chiropractic care, but also exercise recommendations and prescriptions, having recommendations with other personal trainers within the community whether that’s CrossFit whether that’s Orange Theory, chatting with coaches and owners and saying hey, if you have prenatal patients and they’re having these types of symptoms, or this has happened, here’s some better recommendations, not modifications. We call them lateralizations–you’re just you know, you’re doing something something different or something else we you know, we borrow that term from Charlie Weingroff, who’s a physical therapist and strength conditioning coach. But it also and also doulas, right, doulas and midwives and OBs who are directly involved with the prenatal process from nearly conception all the way through, having this conversation. we know that exercise is important during pregnancy,

 

Anthony Gurule  03:19

There are so many different studies that talk about the benefits of exercising during pregnancy, not only for the mom, but also for baby, which is quite interesting. They’re seeing increased cognitive-what’s the word I’m looking for? Excuse me, their cognitive output as a as an as a child through as they age is actually better from moms that actually worked out during pregnancy.

 

Anthony Gurule  03:50

Now this is tough, right? How do you define working out or exercise? it’s different for everybody. But we want to, and we encourage that, and yet we’re sympathetic to the different stages of life, aches and pains, so on and so forth, which obviously would limit what you can do from an exercise perspective. So you know, it’s a bit of a gray area on determining what is working out? what is exercise? What are the physical guidelines or recommendations for pregnancy? And without getting into the like, nitty gritty detail of every single thing. And obviously, every potential situation, if you had this versus this, what could happen? we’re not gonna be able to do that. What we just want to lay out is what is what are we trying to accomplish here, and we want to encourage you to stay as physically active as possible.

 

Anthony Gurule  04:41

And one of the things that constantly comes up is, well, should you add something in that you have not already been doing? Let’s say for instance, someone just through the stages of life with work and kids or whatever that is, they were not able to work out as much before they got pregnant, but now that they’re pregnant, whether they have more time or they understand the importance of exercises during pregnancy, well, would we say, “Well, you haven’t been exercising, so you shouldn’t do too much.” No, that doesn’t, that doesn’t really make sense. Now, we would encourage not to do too much, there’s obviously, you know, a too far swinging the pendulum of the other way. But we wouldn’t say “no, don’t exercise because you weren’t doing something before,” we just have to find those first few stepping stones to help them start to gain some momentum. and help hold their hand, if you will, So that their technique and they feel confident about lifting, or how far they’re walking or whatever that is. And that’s an important topic, because a lot of times people want to add things in, but they weren’t quite ready or weren’t doing them before. And they then assume that they’re not able to do them at all. So you do have to take that in consideration, there is a ton that you can do, and that you can still add, even though you weren’t doing them prior to pregnancy.

 

Anthony Gurule  05:54

Now on the big questions is, is it safe? you know, outside to contact sports, or different things like that the majority of what you’re going to do is safe for pregnancy, right? Rock climbing, we have pregnant patients that have been rock climbing before, obviously, there’s a certain inherent risk with certain sports or activities. You know, you could fall off riding your bike, you could fall over running, right, so we’re not encouraging any of these by any means. We’re just kind of, you know, setting some suggestions, if you will. And you have to take into consideration.

 

Anthony Gurule  06:31

Now, there are certain things to consider when you’re talking about like weightlifting, and how heavy and the intensity that you’re doing. And if you’re doing Valsalva movements, which is essentially holding your breath to maintain a more rigid or stiff torso, as you’re seeing changes in blood volume and blood pressure, you know, you do have to take that in consideration. And that is again, of course a conversation with your provider that is managing your, your pregnancy, but we recommend Mama’s weight lift, or do resistance training. During pregnancy, again, we talked about about load management and the intensity and things like that, but you can still lift and do fairly intense things. And it’s a fairly as a you know, as a scale and a wide range during pregnancy and see a ton of benefit from that. Now, are we trying to hit one rep maxes and PRs during pregnancy, I mean, some would argue yes, but I would argue, why, that’s not really an accurate representation of what your strength is anyways. So you know, you do have to to kind of keep manipulating the numbers and the weights and the intensity and the sets and reps in order to do it. But weightlifting and resistance training is safe, and it is effective. Now, outside of that, there’s not a lot of unsafe things to do, again, outside of contact sports, or things that would elicit, you know, potential trauma to you or baby based on impact we’ve had, again, not our recommendations, but some have tried very just easy scheme, because they’re in the winter months, and they wanted to and they felt very confident about not falling. So you know, you have those types of things.

 

Anthony Gurule  08:16

Overall, again, we’re talking about movement. You need to move, and it’s good to get your heart rate up. And it’s good to breathe hard. So that doesn’t mean just because you’re pregnant, you can’t do HIIT training or circuit training or CrossFit or Orange Theory. But you do have to listen to your body and understand certain signs that would indicate that things might be too much, right? Now those are going to be different for everyone, but a lot of this comes down to you know, lightheadedness, you know, breathing too hard. Certain aches and pains within lower extremity, chest, abdomen, so on and so forth would be obviously like your more extreme ones. If you’re becoming pale or anything like that, I mean, again, these are the same criteria, though, that would be if someone else was working out or training too hard. So it’s realistically the same thing. It’s just that your threshold level for all those most likely have gone down. And depending on what type of an athlete you were before, you’re going to be maybe a little frustrated that you’re not able to do the things you were able to do previously, which makes sense. But if you’re someone who wasn’t exercising before, you’re probably going to be a little bit more hyper aware of that, of just feeling that shortness of breath or that uneasiness. So again, we’re not saying you have to push through that because we’re not trying to set yourself up for a strength and conditioning program to increase your metabolic capacity to increase your strength and conditioning during pregnancy. We’re trying to help you maintain a healthy active pregnancy.

 

Anthony Gurule  09:54

Now, walking. walking is great. but in general, we encourage you to do something above and beyond walking. Obviously, again, certain things would dictate that you would not be able to do so. And this is again, any exercise. Any exercise that you do during pregnancy needs to be consulted with and work through and have a conversation with the primary physician who is managing your pregnancy, whether that’s your nurse practitioner, your midwife or your OB or obstetrician, right. But we would encourage more than just walking. walking is fantastic, but that’s kind of like your baseline minimum, right? Just like our activities, or recommendation activity guidelines. We want a few days a week of where we’re kind of just doing this steady state getting our steps in, you know, kind of pushing ourselves, we’re huffing and puffing, but still just kind of at that conversational level, but you’re not really getting a lot of benefits outside of that.

 

Anthony Gurule  10:55

So if you’re just walking, high five. kudos. can you do something more? Can you do some bodyweight squats? Can you do some bodyweight, you know, good mornings? can you do some walking lunges? do you have a suspension training, we’re able to do some bodyweight rows? Do you have some bands that you can do some rows with? You know, there’s a lot that you can do that allows you to get a little bit more out of that. Now, again, this all comes back down to preferences of exercises that you like to do, because that’s gonna allow you to maintain the most consistency, but then also the intensity that you like to do. And we do encourage having an open mind and at least being willing to try some high intensity things that allow you to still get your heart rate up a little bit. And it’s okay to lift more than five or 10 pounds. And not saying that that is a bad thing. There’s programs out there where it’s all directed around that where it’s lighter weight, high rep, but I just don’t want individuals and mamas to feel like they’re not able to do more and or being ashamed because other people are just saying they should back off because they’re pregnant. “why would you need a lift that much?” It fits within your strength, and your comfort, and your wheelhouse, that is totally fine.

 

Anthony Gurule  12:05

Again, you if you’ve been doing that enough, you understand the risk reward ratio and having a conversation with your practitioner has driven us to kind of help navigate and guide as you start to get further through pregnancies, what things maybe we need to change or manipulate. But that’s totally fine. Now outside of that, the question around safe also comes up around core exercises. diastasis recti, pelvic floor strength, so on and so forth, we want to enhance the capability of understanding how to control tension within your abdominal wall and your pelvic floor through pregnancy, because the pressure is increasing due to baby taking up more space. But we’re not we’re not necessarily we’re not gaining more strength, right.

 

Anthony Gurule  12:45

And so what a lot of people assume it’s when we’ve seen this, is “I don’t want diastasis. So I’m doing more core work to prevent diastasis from happening.” diastasis recti will happen in 100% of moms, it’s estimated at the week 35 Everyone will have some form of it. Now it is technically not a quote unquote diagnosis, though, until 12 weeks postpartum, because it is a normal thing that everyone will get. So you can’t diagnose someone with something that everyone will get–doesn’t make sense, right? So after that, though, if you still have weakness or spacing issues, then we can have a you know, a stronger conversation about putting a diagnosis on that.

 

Anthony Gurule  13:26

But what we’re trying to enhance and help is what exercises are quote unquote, not safe versus unsafe, but adding too much pressure or tension into the abdominal wall or the pelvic floor and creating more laxity. again, as that pressure for as baby’s growing starts to put more pressure on the pelvic floor and the abdominal wall. If you’re doing more things that increases the pressure within the within the abdominal cavity that’s going to push on that separation even more and/or push on that pelvic floor even more, creating potential incontinence or prolapse issues and/or more bulging and doming within the abdominal wall stretching out that separation or that gap even further, potentially making the recovery process more challenging or slightly longer. I’m not saying that it will but potentially, so we do have to take that in consideration. So we go through activation exercise of the pelvic floor, of the abdominal wall so that you better understand how to control those pressure increases while you’re lifting or exercising so that you simply can stay at a management level.

 

Anthony Gurule  14:28

And that in turn, helps you get through pregnancy of understanding how to lift up your older kiddo, having to lift up dog food or anything like that. It’s just managing and controlling pressure. So there’s really not anything that I would say that safe or unsafe. Now, things that we would advise against for core exercises is sit ups or crunches. You know a lot of those things that create like hanging knee raises and different things like that during pregnancy. A lot of those things that create a lot of intra abdominal pressure and tension. and especially during a flex position, that tends to put a lot more pressure on the abdominal wall, the separation where diastasis will occur as well as the pelvic floor.

 

Anthony Gurule  15:09

So, you know, while we never say never, there’s definitely a category of things that we definitely urge against because the risk/reward benefit and again, risk not being “injured,” But risk of potentially putting more pressure and making the recovery process  on the other side harder, is not is not something that we find to be as advantageous. But you can still get the benefits of quote unquote, core exercises through full body movements such as goblet squats, such as deadlifts, you know, depending on the phase that you’re in, push ups, which are, you know, a dynamic plank. or being able to do a TRX row, which is a reverse plank as you’re just lifting yourself up. three point rows where you’re on, you know, two hands or doing like a row on a bench, where you’re in a tabletop position that’s adding anti rotation exercises. So there’s a ton that you can do that still highlights and isolates, the core isolates, sorry. that highlights and will emphasize core activation, but through a full body compound movement. And what’s great about that is during pregnancy, depending on your energy levels, it’s hard to do all the little isolated accessory and all these separate exercises as it is. So it’s kind of nice being able to combine everything, so you get more bang for your buck, especially if you’re a parent and you’re on and you’re on baby number two or three, right?

 

Anthony Gurule  16:31

So what exercises are safe for pregnant women to do? All are. reduce or eliminate for sure contact activities, different things like that. the increased risk activities of you know, trauma and things like that. Outside of that you’re managing pressure, I would definitely encourage reducing anything that’s heavy lifting, that’s, that’s requiring you to do Valsalva moves, you’re having to hold your breath for an extended period of time. that changes blood pressure, so on and so forth. But outside of that, Pregnancy is a completely safe time to do all exercises. we definitely as we highlighted, urge and encourage, you know, certain things over other ones just for you know, added bang for your buck or full body movements, so on and so forth. And that, but outside of that you are free to do what you want.

 

Anthony Gurule  17:19

If you want guidance, though, you know, there are there are trainers out there that work specifically with prenatal patients. we would love to be able to have that conversation with you if that’s something you want to bounce back or navigate. Because we do want to encourage as much as we can. A very, very active pregnancy through exercise working out or however you want to describe that. So if you found this beneficial, please like share, subscribe. if you’re pregnant, I hope you can utilize this and take some of the information for you and yourself. If you have anyone else you know… a relative a family member, a friend who is pregnant and they’re unsure they’ve been you know asking this question what things I don’t know what things I can do. I don’t know if it’s safe for baby share this video with them. We’d love to be able to provide a better frame of reference and or context to be able to ask better questions so that they can find the workout program  or the movements that work best for them during their pregnancy. Until next time guys live loud .if you’re currently pregnant, Congratulations, and we look forward to helping and serving in the future.

–

by Live LOUD