Strength, Pregnancy and Birth

[David A. Rowe]

Rip,

As requested, here's an update (and a new perspective) on strength, coaching and how these tie into the full spectrum birth.

Our son was successfully delivered, completely naturally, at full term at a weight of 7 lbs 1 ounce and a length of 20". Unfortunately, my wife experienced very intense round ligament pain throughout the pregnancy. We tried, several times, to adjust either training OR technique, but she could not deal with the pain. That being said, the physical AND mental adaptations were absolutely beneficial.

Firstly, there is a lot of pain involved in labor and the process. Exhaustion will set in long before delivery is complete. No amount of training before hand will make this easy, but it will prepare you, mentally and physically, to better deal with the challenge. Adaptation to the valsalva was also extremely helpful.

Secondly, strength coaching and birth coaching share many of the same skills. Adequate, concise and timely cuing are as critical to a lifter under a heavy bar as they are to a mother going through painful contractions or pushing to deliver. Being adequately informed about physiology and having a basic understanding of hour our bodies and muscles work is essential. Learning to lift and coach helped me fulfill my role, but the key thing here is it helped her by giving her the experience of being coached while doing something difficult. "Coachability" is an extremely important mental adaptation.

In conclusion, any woman contemplating having children should get her squat up to 300, her deadlift to 400, and probably thrown in a few heavy sets of 20 before conception, and she should train as safely as possible, for as long as possible, while pregnant. I couldn't be more impressed and proud of my wife. She fought the bear on the mountain top and WON, and she did so by preparing through hard work well ahead of time.

Thank you again, Rip, and all of the coaches and staff who made Starting Strength possible. You've all done your part in helping us help ourselves through this. My wife is already itching to get back under the bar.


Dave

[Mark Rippetoe]

Better you than me, but glad to "help."