Lauren Brooks Fitness

How to Lose the Baby Weight even after a C-section Congratulations on finally having your baby! I hope the birth went well and you’re beginning to recover. I know how shocking it is to come home with your baby in hand - yet still look six months pregnant. Trust me, I’ve been there, too!  It’s frustrating walking around looking and feeling pregnant after you’ve already had the baby, plus you’re more exhausted than you ever realized you could be. I remember days where I couldn’t even string words together to make a clear sentence. Taking care of two in diapers was no picnic. I can’t imagine what my friends who have four, or even six, kids dealt with. More power to them!  So, let’s discuss recovery and how the heck you can lose your baby weight!  Losing baby weight is no walk in the park. I’m not going to beat around the bush. Seldom will you find a mom who gives birth and the next day she looks as if she never had a baby – though I have seen it on occa...

I enjoy sometimes when life has settled down and there is no big news to discuss. The big family holidays are over and things are mellow.   I have been in a super laid back mood since I got back from Marin County. Going with the laid back theme I have kept my workouts as such. Very short ones as usual.  Here are a couple ones I have done in the last several days. One I got from Ross's training book Never Gymless. Workout 1 (feeling lethargic so eased back in to this first workout on the cardio part) Swings    8kg      50 reps    Suitcase Deadlift  2 24kg's  6 reps Swings 12kg    50 reps Suitcase Deadlift  2  24kg's  6 reps Swings 16kg   40 reps Suitcase DL   2 24kg's 6 reps Snatches 12kg   10 per side Presses  12kg   6 per side and repeated 2 times Rehab for my TVA .  Still feeling C-section pains and that the muscles are not working correctly. ( I wi...

I'm all all fired up this morning because I am headed to the mountains this evening. That's right, it's snowboard season.  This is what I use to LIVE for. If I didn't have a baby right now I would have hit the slopes the second the mountain opened. Ben and I will be going up there with Lyla. So we will have to take turns taking runs. So with all my excited energy I wanted to get in a quickie workout before getting in the car heading to slopes. Here it goes! 2 Handed Swings 12kg 40x Alternating Swings 12kg 42x Double Cleans 12kg's  10x Dead Double Cleans 12kg's 10x (tough) High Pull Catch and Squat with a Burpee  12kg 10x  High Pull Catch and Squat with a Burpee 12kg  10x Double Snatches  8kg's  15x Double Snatches 8kg's   18x 1 Arm Push ups  2 per side Ab wheel roll out  10x 1 Arm Push ups 2 per side Ab wheel roll out  10x Stretches with baby and done!   Last season I ...

Today I was determined to do a little kettlebells and some other bodyweight exercises. Just needed my baby to take her morning nap. I decided to warm up with an 8 minute walk around the neighborhood. Just enough time to get her to sleep. Once I got home I knew it was just a matter of time until she would wake up. I needed to hurry up and get my workout done. Here it is. Explosive Push Ups 10 Jump Pull Ups (just using my tippie toes) 4 One Leg Explosive Box Squat (18 inch box) 10/10 on each leg Snatches with 12kg 20/20 Went through each exercise with little to no rest. After Snatches rested 1 minute and repeated 3 times. Felt great after this. The best thing is this took about 20 minutes to do. I could have been done but since she was still asleep I decided to use the extra time. Lying Hip Rotations 10x Wheel Roll Outs 12x Medicine Ball Twists 30x Did 2 sets and then she woke u...

I'm thanking San Diego everyday for the beautiful weather it has. This city has allowed me to have such a wonderful outside gym. It was a bit over cast this morning which was nice because it cooled things down to about 72 degrees. I know that is nice and cool compared to most of the country right now in August! Here are some pics of where most of my training and teaching happens. Todays workout is below. We had some high intensity music going to keep the energy up! Warm Up Joint Mobility exercises in Neck, Hips, Shoulders, and Knees Light Swings 10x Body Weight Squats 10x Figure 8's 60 seconds Workout Sequence 1 Sumo Squats 12x Fisted Push ups 10x One Arm Swings 10x each side Alternating Swings 10x 2 Handed Swings 10x Rest 1 minute after last exercise and repeat 3 times Sequence 2 Renegade Rows 5x alternating each side Single Squat and Press 6x per side High Pulls and Snatches 10x per side Rest...

Today has been such a perfect day. I woke up and actually went surfing!! It has been way over a year since I have paddled out. I thought today would be a great way to celebrate Lyla's 7 month. We took some cute photos of her. Ben was actually able to get a picture of me on a wave. After I got home I was so pumped up that I did a fun kettlebell workout. If you have time try this one. Here is the workout. Single Leg Deadlift with 2 12kg's 8x per side Windmills 12kg 3x per side Swing to Head 12kg 10x Swings to Chest 12kg 10x Swings to Belly 12kg 10x Rest 1 minute Repeat 3 times Push-ups on Kettlebells 10x Clean, Squat, Press 12kg 6x per side One Arm Rows 12kg 10x per side Snatches 12kg 10x per side Rest 1 minute repeat 3 times Moving Plank 4 on each side Medicine Ball Twists 20 No r...

Sqeezing in a quick workout. WIll try and do another one this evening before I train some clients. Warm Up 30 seconds on 30 seconds off 3 times Up and Over on Bosu Ball Box Shuffles Workout Step Ups on 24 inch box holding 2 8kg's 10 L & R Double Snatches 2 8kgs 10 Back Lunges 2 8kg's 10 L & R Double Snatches 2 8 kg's 10 Repeated whole thing 4 times My heart rate was up there. I tried to keep the rests under 30 seconds. This morning weight is 110 pounds! Last night one of my clients was 10 minutes late so this is what I decided to try and do. I need to do this more often because I was surprised I was able to do this at all! Pull-ups 2 reps (woo hoo) Pistols 2 reps on each leg (stoked) Push-ups on KB's with one leg 6 reps on each leg Repeated 3 times

Today I decided it's time to go a little heavier with some of the exercises. I haven't been posting my workouts, since there has not been any consistency with my training, due to various reasons. Trying to go heavier without training much is not always the smartest thing. But I felt if I can keep my form for 1 rep then that is good enough for me today! So I was prepared to not even be able to do one Here is my short training A. Turkish Get Up 16kg 1 rep on each arm 4 set ( little wobbly at first but did it with success!) Snatches 16kg 6 reps on each arm 4 sets Total 8 TGU's and 48 Snatches. Took longer breaks, 2-4 minutes, so I can have perfect form each time. B. Push ups on Bosu upside down 10 reps 3 sets Pistol Holds (held for 5 seconds at the bottom and came up with 2 legs) 8kg 2 reps 3 sets Morning weight was 111.2lb and 19.1% body fat. Still breastfeeding, so not sure how accurate the body fat scale is if I am walking aroun...

I have been much more strict with my eating this week. I already notice a huge difference in how I feel. Some of my staple snacks are green apples and almond butter, grass fed whey protein shake w/ flaxseed oil, hardboiled eggs, and raw nuts. Trying to eliminate simple sugars all together. It can be very tough when you are always hungry and constantly snacking. While breastfeeding you also tend to feel that you never have enough food. I've really been able to track my eating very well with this great online nutrition tracker. It's free to use and very helpful. Thedailyplate.com is what I've been using. I know there are others out there but this one seems to track the foods the easiest with a good amount of detail. My workout yesterday for 3/19 was raised up a couple notches. Already feeling like my strength is coming back. Every thing below were Supersets. I am feeling a bit sore in my legs and upper back. Nothing too bad. 1.Leg Press 90lb 10 x 3 ...

Today I did a nice little kettlebell workout in my backyard. It felt really good to get back in to it. I was very shakey because it has been so long. Keeping it short was best for me so I can work on keeping good form without getting too fatigued. Right now just trying to focus on getting my basic strength back. I repeated each sequence twice. Windmill 18lb 3 TGU 18lb 2 (challenging, use to be able to do it with 35lb kettlebell) Double Suitcase Deadlift 2 26lb 10 Kettlebell Push-ups 5 Swings 18lb 20 Single Front Squat 18lb 5L and 5R Walked 2 miles with the stroller up and down hills.

Since this is only my second weight lifting workout it is very similar to Saturday's workout. My abs were a little bit sore from my snowboard session, but otherwise I felt wonderful. I plan on doing kettlebells for tomorrow's workout. 1. Leg Press 50lb 12x3 Assisted Pull Up -90 10x2 2. Leg Extension 35lb 10x2 Leg Curls 40lb 10x2 3. Tricep Pull Down 30lb 10 x 3 Bicep Curls 12.5 10 x 3 4. Windmills 18lb 3x2 Flys 12.5lb 10x2 5. Back Extension 5lb 15 x 2 Ball Crunches 15 x 2 Plank 60 second hold I did not take any rest in between sets except to drink water. I finished the workout with a slow paced jog for 1 mile and stretching.

It's been about 6 weeks since giving birth to my little girl via C-section. I have just got clearance to start lifting weights. As excited as I am to get back in to the gym I know I have a long long LONG way ahead of me. Before I got pregnant I was relatively strong for my size. I was able to easily press and squat two 25 pound kettlebells at the same time. I was also able to do pistols (one legged squats), pull-ups, and swing heavy kettlebells. After 9 months of being pregnant, 6 weeks of recovering from a C-section, and little to no sleep I am very deconditioned. I tried pressing an 18 pound kettlebell and my shoulder was actually shakey. Before I got pregnant I could press that weight in my sleep and hold it over my head for many minutes. So that is just one example of where I am starting from. I decided because I have lost so much strength, muscle, and mobility to start back with a variety of traditional weights, machines,kettlebells, and snowboarding. This workout...