Model and mom of one (soon to be two) Ashley Graham’s schedule is pretty jam-packed. But in between her runway gigs and chasing around Isaac, her toddler, she’s still found plenty of ways to get moving while holding on to her favorite parts of her workout routine.
With baby number two on the way, Ashley had to totally revamp the way she exercises. “This pregnancy is so different because a) I have a toddler at home and b) I’m not in the shape that I was when I got pregnant with Isaac,” she told Women’s Health. “After I had Isaac, it was like baby weight, pandemic weight, and I never really got back on my toes.”
Now, Ashley’s approach to fitness has since evolved to better match where she is in life. Her workouts are more geared toward “what’s to come after I pop this baby out,” she says. Ashley sat down with Women’s Health to talk about everything from buying a Stairmaster to making playground time into a workout. Keep reading for her best pregnancy fitness tips:
Make your workouts work for you.
In the gym, Ashley usually focuses on strength training and cardio. “When I’m working with my trainer, we do a lot of weights, and then sneaky cardio,” she says. “But I will say I just bought a Stairmaster, and I put it in my bedroom. It looks out the window, and I have no excuses.”
Lately, she’s been targeting her glutes in particular. “Honestly, I feel like my butt has fallen a lot in this past couple of years,” she explains. “So anything to just kind of start lifting it back up.”
And she’s not above squeezing in a few smaller workouts throughout the day. In her first trimester, Ashley said she was too sick to work out in the morning. “Now, in my second trimester, I want to get it done at eight a.m., in and out,” she says. “But then I am enjoying doing a little bit of yoga in the afternoons because that was something that really helped me through my pregnancy with Isaac.”
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Stick with what you love.
Ashley has been working on her yoga game for years, and she’s still keeping up with it now. Her favorite place to take classes is Sky Ting Yoga in New York. And now, she’s getting into prenatal yoga. “It’s just, to me, more boring because it’s less twisty and upside down,” she told WH. “But it’s just so good to be so limber and not have my back hurt.”
Ashley loves posting her yoga progress on her Instagram, like this shot from a recent Story:
Consider exercise as a form of self-care.
For Ashley, gym time = me time. “I’m always so glad after I leave the gym. Like, ‘I’m so proud of you, Ashley,'” she says. “I have that quick ‘congratulations’ to myself because it’s a good reminder to me to keep going because I was so active with Isaac, I don’t want to fall off on this one.”
During her first pregnancy, Ashley says she worked out six days a week, a mix of “crazy cardio” and weight training. Now, she’s balancing staying healthy with getting back into shape.
“I’m giving myself a lot more grace this pregnancy. I’m letting myself rest a lot more—when I’m tired, I take the nap, instead of telling myself to push through,” she says. “When Isaac goes for a nap, I go for a nap, and I think that these are the things that are actually helping me stay active.”
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Make working out a family affair.
Sometimes, the whole clan gets moving together, Ashley explained. “When it’s playground time,” she says, “I look at it as more of a workout. I get in the sandbox and I go down the slide and I get sweaty in New York summers and that might be my activity for the day.”
She appreciates the extra time with Isaac, too. “We’re eating crackers, drinking juice, and sliding down the slide,” she added. Her husband Justin gets in on the fun, too. “Justin will do drills, and he’ll run after him, and I’ll do some lunges and things like that. But it’ll be like a family workout, where he’s outside playing, but we can also still kind of get a little bit in.”
Ashley said that making a conscious effort to turn playtime into a sweat sesh can go a long way. “It sounds like normal play with your kid, but if you really look at it as ‘okay, we’re gonna get a workout,’ then you can actually turn it into that.'” Plus, Isaac is already learning from the best: “When Justin’s doing push-ups, he likes to lay under him,” she said.
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Set the best example you can.
Ashley, who’s already a super outspoken body positivity advocate on social media, says she continues to model those values for Isaac. “Something that I learned from my mom at an early age was that your words really have power,” she told WH.
“No matter how old your child is, they’re listening, and they pick up on everything. They’re so smart at such a young age, and even though he can’t speak words, he is mimicking our behavior,” she continued. “So I’m just really cognizant about what I say about myself and how I treat myself in front of him, just like my mother did.”
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Fuel your body with foods you really like.
Warning: Ashley’s daily diet might make you hungry. After her morning workout, she likes a specific breakfast—one English muffin with scrambled eggs on top, and the other with butter and jam. She also loves fruit, like nectarine and plums, and she adds that she’s been craving cucumbers and celery (just like she did during her first pregnancy, go figure).
“Lunch, I’ve been eating sandwiches like crazy,” she said. “Do not sleep on sandwiches!” Her sammie of choice is Hawaiian bread stacked with mayonnaise, Grey Poupon mustard, chicken, muenster cheese, and lettuce. And her favorite dinner is lamb made by hubby Justin. “That’s definitely a staple in our home,” she adds.
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And know you’re trying your best.
At the end of the day, Ashley’s advice to other expectant moms is to know you’re doing everything you can. “I try to sweat at least once a day, and if I don’t that day, I don’t put so much pressure on myself. I just do it the next day,” she said.
It’s about just knowing that “you’re pregnant. You’re growing life. So it’s important to listen to your body, and even though my mindset when I’m not pregnant is to just go, go, go, I have to remember also, because I am pregnant, sometimes just to rest, as well.”
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