I once read an interview of a fellow female BJJ practitioner where it was stated that her biggest fear was that of getting injured or pregnant. No offense to this person as I know where she was coming from but it made me laugh. After having two children and a third on the way (I am now 26 weeks pregnant), for me there is no comparison between an injury and the joy of bringing a child into the world. But that is not the inspiration for this post.
It was actually last year that I was contacted by a woman asking advice on training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu whilst pregnant as she was at the time about 12 weeks with her first child. (I had met her at a BJJ camp earlier on in the year and during some discussion between the girls the topic of being pregnant and training had popped up). Around the same time a student of mine in Hobart announced her pregnancy, and not long after I got pregnant with my third, and since then two more female students have announced pregnancies (yep, it's catching!)! So with all these babies growing I thought this is the perfect time to post on training and being pregnant. This is totally my own perspective and I'll start by sharing what I had to say in reply to the first email I received after being asked for advice.
The BIGGEST advice I can give to you is to listen to your body. I can't tell you what you should do but I'll tell you what I did with both my pregnancies (or if I was ever pregnant again) and what I think about being pregnant and training and I'll try and answer all your questions. You must be hitting the second trimester where you feel energetic. I remember getting the morning (all day) sickness but as soon as that passed I was rearing to train! For me I trained normally up until I was too big to move. I would do all the warm ups and drills (except ones that would apply pressure to my belly, which I got away with doing most), I would practice techniques (when I started to pop these became limited) and I would ONLY roll with my black belt instructor who happened to be my husband (hehe) and there was another girl who I would roll with and maybe a couple of the higher belts who would roll lightly with me. Because I was a purple belt when I was first pregnant it was easy for me to roll with the other female student because I could use much more technique with her and didn't have to use strength/force. I found it "safe" to roll but I wouldn't roll with just anyone especially not white belt guys!! Any pressure directly on your abdomen probably isn't a good idea. Technique drilling for me was totally fine, even with a heavy partner so long as they aren't putting pressure on your belly. It's only when you get much bigger that lying on your back would get uncomfortable more than anything! Have you talked to your instructor about being pregnant and training? I can't speak for anyone else but having been through that myself and not wanting to give up training for 9 months I would be happy to train with you and for you to come along to my girls only classes. I was in Tassie last month and one of my students there announced that she was pregnant (I had a nice roll with her!!) but I give her the same advice. Listen to your body, train how you trained before you got pregnant but modify certain aspects to accomodate your growing baby. I never once felt that I put my children at risk, I never felt unsafe training, but all along I only did what I felt I could and made sure I trained WITH people who I could trust and felt safe with. As your pregnancy progresses too you'll start slowing down and there are things that you just won't be able to do! I remember getting to the point when I could hardly run with my big belly and realised that it was time to stop! It's tricky too with being pregnant because you can't expect people to want to train with you! My husband was really protective during my first pregnancy and didn't want me to train to begin with but I really wanted to keep training (and was quite lucky that with my first pregnancy I didn't start popping out until after 5 months) so I was able to train longer without getting too uncomfortable.
After another email from this woman I then replied...
Look, it's a really tough time being pregnant. I look back and think oh yeah everything was fine for me- I had no problems training. I had read too that it was very healthy to exercise -that if you ran before you were pregnant you should keep it up etc etc. But I know that if something had happened- if I had miscarried- I would be devastated. Its natural to worry particularly when miscarriages happen even if you are not training or exercising!! (ah can't believe you missed out on the morning sickness by the way- haha, that's so awesome!!) So anyway, I hope you work out a good system to train (roll) and feel safe at the same time because even though exercise may be good, worrying over things isn't!
Everyone is different. In the end this woman decided it was best for her to give up training until her baby was born and then get back into it. It's much better to have peace of mind rather than worrying over how safe it is to train. For my friend in Hobart she too began by participating in the warm ups and techniques but in the end gave up training but would still come and watch which I think is great to keep your head in the game.
For me it is a challenge being pregnant, to give up serious training and competing. This time around I had hurt my back early on (think I had strained it from the throwing up!!) so that limited my training even more than usual. But once my back had recovered I was able to train again but would and still do listen to my body. I am lucky that I am in the circumstance where I have been teaching classes too so even though I can't train to the fullest I can still instruct the girls. And before I know it I will be back to my fullest on the mats but with a newbie baby in tow. Unlike an injury, at the end of pregnancy there is something much much better at the end. As much as this is a post on how I feel about being pregnant and training, I also emphasise that no matter what your choice is whether to keep training when your pregnant or not- the fact is that for me whether it is a lot of training or a little bit of training that I have had to give up- it is all worth it- even if you have goals you want to achieve, whether it be comp-wise or belt-wise, these can still be achieved in the end.
At "FIGHT FOR LIFE" (raising money for cancer), where I took two sessions (16 weeks pregnant)
Training with Master Wilson and Fernando @ 16 weeks pregnant (had to make the most of being able to roll with Fernando the little machine while they were visiting from Brazil)
Training with the girls in Tassie @24 weeks pregnant (at this stage only rolling with Minol & I did have a roll with Rach- yep picking on the little one).
And these children (below) are what makes the small sacrifice all worth it.
