Lauren Brooks Fitness

  This pre-exercise is phenomenal for anyone who has ever had a baby, C-section, hysterectomy, abdominal surgery, sits at a desk, or has core weakness. Elise Badone, Muscle Activation Technique Specialist, has come up with this isometric.  This looks like a "knee plank" but there is much more to it.  You will actually feel your TVA and pelvic floor muscles waking up and firing much more efficiently with the way that Elise has you do this exercise. Since I personally have had 2 Cesareans in a 24 month time span, I lost proper communication from my pelvic floor and abdominal muscular system to the brain.  The fact that I had two babies that were very large for my frame, in such a short time span, didn't help either!  With that being said as I became stronger my body became a very good over compensator.  Which happens to anyone who has had any trauma in that region.  Same goes with anyone who has had hip, knee, foot, ankle, or any sort of injury! T...

I often get asked by my friends and family, how do you do it Lauren?  "You never make any time for yourself.  You are either working or with your babies".   Finding time these days outside of my fitness career and family has been quite challenging.  Although I do my best to give as much quality time to my babies, I don't give much quality time to myself! But to be honest with you I enjoy what I do so much, that it's more fulfilling to me than getting my nails done or watching television.  I much rather be thinking about my next project or designing a fun workout for my classes.  I can't help it! This is just who I am.  On a side note, spending time with my friends more is something that I need to really work on.  It's just hard when most of my friends now have babies too and we have to work around nap schedules! Every day I get inundated with emails asking me for advice regarding fitness, nutrition, or questions about my DVD's.  On the ...

Chloe is now 7 months and getting close to crawling. She is giggling all the time, singing, laughing, and having fun with her big sister. I am still exclusively breast feeding Chloe, which as you can see by her pictures, she is well fed! Lyla is surprising me everyday with her new words. It's unbelievable watching these 2 girls grow up. Nothing is more fascinating to me then to see my own children grow and become little people. Chloe is finally sleeping through the night, although I'm afraid to say this because as soon as I tell someone that, the next night she wakes up! But it might be safe to say it. With getting a little more sleep things are starting to look clearer to me. It's amazing how just a couple nights of sleep can actually give you a whole new outlook on life. My energy is so much better all around. Which is perfect timing since I have a very important project I am working on. As far as my postpartum recovery goes, I would say I'm feeling awesome...

Lauren with her 2nd baby Chloe, at 6 months old. I'm sure many of you, this probably seems very young, and some of you very old. In fact for the last several years I have been thinking about this day. I had many goals set in my mind that I wanted accomplished before the age of 30. I don't know why it feels like such a big number to me. Anyway the way I pictured celebrating my birthday turned out completely different than I had ever expected. I figured I'd go to Vegas with a bunch of girlfriends and party it up, but in fact I ended up doing the exact opposite. During my college years I had ample time and opportunities to surf, snowboard, skateboard, and wakeboard. It has been over 7 years since graduating college. Once I established my career all my leisure activities took a back seat. But the good news is I found kettlebells. Since graduating college I have only gone snowboarding a handful of times and had the opportunity to wakeboard once or twice. I pretty mu...

Little Miss Chloe exactly 6 months here Lyla wanting to be close to her sister Now this here it true love.  Lyla LOVES being a big sister. (tears)  Okay 6 months!!!!  It sounds like such a long time but it feels like yesterday. There is no wasting time these days. I'm constantly on the move now juggling 2 kids, my business, and of course my hubby.  There is never a dull moment in my house.  I'm still adjusting to two little ones.   As far as my fitness and health goes I would say I'm on a slightly slower road than last time. Finding the time with two kids is much more of a challenge. But I have dropped a couple pounds this month since introducing foods to Chloe. Even though I'm making tons of milk now, it's crazy! I'm at a weight and body fat that I am enjoying. My clients and I all took our body fat percentage with hydrostatic weighing (the gold standard, getting dunked in a tank).  At 2 months postpartum I was 117lb with a 19.7% body fat. ...

Well here I am again!  It's now been 5 wonderful months with my new baby.  I will admit that getting back in shape this time around is MUCH harder than it was with the first one.  In addition finding the time and energy to do everything with 2 kids has been more of a challenge.  I keep looking ahead and know that I will get to my goals, but have to accept that it's just taking a little longer this time.  Having the second C-section in 2 years does not help either! Since I am constantly hungry, due to the nursing, it's important to have healthy snacks on hand at all times to keep me from gaining weight.  If I don't eat often I get very low blood sugar and even shaky.  I will not be sad this time when its time to stop nursing Chloe, since I'm ready to have a normal appetite again.  I have been asked by many to post what I am eating. Here is a sample of what I eat. It changes daily. There are several extra snacks than normal for me in addit...

Here is Chloe at 4 months old. Things are going great! Nursing is going well, although I find when my weight falls under 115, my milk supply drops dramatically! It's strange that as long as I am between 115-117 I am able to keep up a healthy supply. I would love to be able to drop about 5 more pounds, but I will have to hold off until it's time to introduce solid foods to Chloe. Which will be 2 more months. In the meantime I am really enjoying getting my strength back.  Yesterday I picked up a bell to do some snatches thinking it was the 16kg (35lb) and realized that I had by accidently snatched the 20kg (44 lb)! Successfully achieved it but definitely felt HEAVY!  Oh well, glad I can do it, but my joints are not ready for it for at least several more weeks.  8-) My friend and client, Robin Duncan (in my first DVD), has really inspired me to try some hot yoga.  I have been meaning to give it a try after I was done with the pregnancy, but like ...

Baby Chloe is 6 Week s Six weeks means I get the clearance to start exercising again!!! Wooooo hoooooo!!!! This seems all too familiar. It was just 2 years ago that I was recovering from my last pregnancy and C-section with Lyla. I have to admit it feels a little more challenging this time around trying to figure out how I'm going to prioritize my life to make sure I actually have the time and energy to workout. I guess now that I look back I had it pretty easy with 1 kid.  I do feel that using kettlebells and remaining strong during both pregnancies, using pregnancy workouts , allowed me to recover in record time. While waiting to get the green light to use my kettlebells , I used walking as my outlet. I was given permission to start walking (for exercise) 2 weeks after surgery. Walking and the right nutrition has helped me over the past several weeks shrink down to a comfortable size. However, I am hungry around the clock from nursing, so I'm probably eating bet...

I have now been through 2 C-sections since writing this blog post and thankfully I've recovered beautifully from both with the appropriate progressions. For those who are new and are just finding me. WELCOME! First let me say I did NOT want a C-section. I did everything in my power to avoid the first and even the second. I'm a kettlebell fitness strength and conditioning coach who relies on her body to share, teach, educate, and I was under the impression that having to give birth via C-section would and could destroy my body and career. Boy was I wrong! If you're feeing the same way, start by reading this article I wrote many years ago that still applies today! Many people have asked and here is part of my experience.  I don't claim to be a medical expert but not only have I successfully healed my C-section, my abdominals are no longer numb, and I've successfully helped others who've had multiple C-sections (even some 20 years ago) find their core aga...

I have been feeling pretty good these past couple days. During the holiday season I am not as busy so I have some more down time.  Even though my baby tends to tire me out, I am feeling rejuvenated! Today I squeezed in two mini workouts. Morning workout 2 Handed Swings  12kg  1 min Snatches                 12kg  2 min Jump Rope                      1 min Alternating Swings 12kg 1 min Alternating Snatches 12kg 1 min Jump Rope                            1 min Pull ups           3x Took 1 minute break in between each exercise Evening workout (my client was running late so I squeezed another one in) Turkish Get Ups  16kg   2/2 Pull ups                            4x Pistol...

What do you choose??? Well if I have a choice I will choose the nice ass! As all you kettlebellers know, swinging those bells can really roughen up the hands with ugly calluses. I have several people including myself that every now and again get bothered by it. I have never been one to spend time making my hands look really pretty in the first place. With the work I do they would be ruined in one day, so I don't even bother too much. So this is a message for those ladies who let the calluses stop you from swinging kettlebells and doing pull-ups. One of the affects that kettlebell swings have on the body is a very strong nice butt! Tracy Reifkind, the swing master, is the woman to talk to if you have a question on swings and hand care! She is a perfect example of what the swings can do to your body. Suck it up because the rewards are worth it!!!! On another note, today was an awesome class. It rained outside during the class but my husband and I managed to put a tarp o...

I have been flucuating on my body fat scale this past week. Getting a bit frustrated, I have been averaging about a 21.6% body fat. I consider this way too high for my own personal standards. My weight of 115 is great, but the body fat is telling me I need to start working a bit harder. BUT I have a big question running in my mind.  Does breastfeeding hold on to that last bit of fat I am trying to shed? I am fitting in to all my pre pregnancy clothes but I want my super lean look back! Most people say breastfeeding helps you lose weight. Which initially I agree with. I am definitely not trying to make excuses, but I think nursing causes you to hold on to a certain amount of fat. Back in the days in order for the baby to survive when the food was scarce, I believe the mother was designed to hold on to a certain amount of fat, to make sure milk could still be produced for the survival of the baby. I have spoken to many many women who breastfed and said they dropped about...

Today is Lyla's 2 month birthday. I can't believe it has already been 2 months. She is getting so big. I'm even starting to feel like a real person again. Here is my quick workout that I did today. KB Push-ups 6 x 3 Lat Pull down 60lb 8 x 3 Single Front Squat 26lb 5 x 3 each side 1 minute rest at the end and repeated 3 times Hanging Leg Raises 15 x 2 Windmill 26lb 2 x 2 Waiter Walk 26lb 30sec x 2 Repeated 2 times Plank Hold 60 seconds (core was already tired from hanging leg raises, so barely made it for this one) Stretched