Thursday, November 6, 2008

Growing muscle in my sleep

Here's a fun tidbit of pregnancy physiology: A typical non-pregnant uterus weighs about 60 g, and is made up primarily of muscle tissue. During pregnancy, the uterus grows 16 times this size to become 1 kg. Of pure muscle.

It's a body-builders dream, putting on 2 pounds of muscle in your sleep.

Anyway, at the gym today:

Deadlifts - 65 x 12, 12, 12*
Presses - 40 x 10, 8, 7, 7
V-sit ball tosses (4 kg) - 30, 30, 40
Ham curls (reverse bridge on the ball - 3 sets of 12

* These are getting a bit awkward -- I have to place my feet a little wider (and therefore my hands) to accommdate the growing belly.

Rowing - 3250 m/17 minutes (250 m intervals of slow/fast)

I was aiming for 20 minutes of rowing, but I was really tired (squinching my eyes closed and gritting my teeth to get through the fast intervals), and according to everything I've read, pregnant ladies are supposed to surrender to the tired, rather than fight through it. Which is counter-intuitive to me, but I guess I'll save it for labour.

Weigh-in: 140. I knew this would happen sooner or later. But 2 pounds of it is uterus!

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