Training When Pregnant With Adrenal Insufficiency

…is not easy, but so worth it!! Without training, my mood would most likely have been even worse than what it was this spring. I had the chance to experience that I’m capable of something. Getting endorphins from exercise helped with my depression as well. AI wise it’s still weird that physical stress doesn’t affect me as badly as mental kind. Of course it’s easy to just go to the gym, put some good music on and focus on the movement. I still forget almost everything if I don’t put an alarm on my phone and use calendar, remainders and do-it notes. Focusing on complex things was dead poor as well. Only now I feel I’m getting my brains back and am really happy and grateful for even a couple of clearer and more focused weeks during this pregnancy.

I’m also really grateful for the help my husband has given me by driving me to the gym (of course he trains there too), and for friends who have sometimes come to train with me while I’m at my mother’s in Espoo or otherwise traveling.

Resting enough and not having to work has helped to lower my cortisone dose from the really high amounts in the first trimester when everything was a mess in my life, but I still need a bit more than what I used to take when not pregnant. I take Prednisolone 5 + 3.75 mg every day, and if I have something really taxing to do such as a course that lasts for 6-8 hours I need even more. For workouts, I have now taken 10 mgs hydrocortisone for an an hour lasting lifting session. Endurance training I can normally do without extra.

It’s weird that for the first time, summer heat hasn’t bothered me. I can stand being in the sun at midday, and am loving that I haven’t needed to updose with cortisone and stay indoors. Normally I can’t tolerate sunlight and heat almost at all. So the start of this summer with lots of warmth has also helped to uplift my moods ❤ .

I want to share some of my workouts for others to get an idea what you can do when pregnant. The most important thing is to listen to your body. If something feels off, causes pain or discomfort, or if you are just having a day when you are tired, trust your body! Quit any uncomfortable exercise, and rest adequately. You have all the time in the world later on (depending on your child and help you are getting for childcare, of course) to get back into harder training. But taking care of your body and making sure you are keeping yours and your baby’s health at first place during pregnancy is number one. I will write about some exercise guidelines in this post and then share some of my workouts later on.

Latest research has already buffed some myths regarding training when pregnant. Mothers who are used to exercising at moderate to hard intensities can continue to do so as long as they feel okay. And for mothers who haven’t been exercising, NOW is the best time to start! You will lower the risk for gestational diabetes and musculosceletal pains if you exercise when pregnant. You will also most likely deliver a healthier baby, and recover from the delivery sooner. Just begin with really low intensity and make sure to rest enough, and don’t progress over moderate intensity training.

Other myths are that you can’t lie on your back after a certain week. Well, if you feel fine, you can lie and sleep on your back until the end of pregnancy. The risk of the fetus and placenta to pressure your vena cava, the biggest vein to bring blood from the lower extremities to your heart, is not so big as once thought. If you feel nauseous, off in any way, headache, tingling or other off sensations in your legs, then you should avoid lying on your back and use a small incline or side lying positions. The blood flow to fetus is usually good enough if you are performing an exercise on your back and then rise up to sitting position to rest.

Also, if you have been doing high intensity interval training = HIIT, you can continue during pregnancy as long as you feel fine. But if you haven’t, it is not recommendable to start.

A great resource for training during and after pregnancy is Girls Gone Strong and their articles! I’m currently studying to become a Pre- & Postnatal Coach in their Coaching & Training Women Academy ❤ .

Here are some exercises I’ve liked to do during this pregnancy, the pictures are all from second trimester workouts:

Belt squat is a great quad exercise when pregnant and if regular squats begin to feel uncomfortable, as it’s easier for your back

Bench pressing is still okay when pregnant!

Incline pressing is a good alternative for regular bench

Both vertical (up- and downwards) and horizontal rows are a staple in pregnancy training

During pregnancy, different rows are really important as your breasts increase in size – without training your upper back muscles, it can affect your posture negatively and cause back pain.

Half-kneeling side lift is a great core exercise suitable for all trimesters in pregnancy 🙂 :

I’ll also write more about nutrition during pregnancy later on, but I just wanted to add that it has been a big test for me to really think why I’m choosing healthy foods and have a healthy and flexible attitude towards eating. I want to provide the best building blocks for my baby. Even if I’m not able to help having many medications during pregnancy, one thing I can affect is the foods I eat. Eating healthily and enough will not only affect my child but also my possible grandchildren and so on, through epigenetics. You can read a lot about epigenetics online, the main point is that you can affect how the genes your baby (and his/her offspring) has are expressed by how you act during your pregnancy – how much stress you have, what you eat etc. I also want to embrace good eating habits because I will be an example how to eat to my baby boy Leo when he grows up ❤ .

Getting a variety of good quality meals with veggies, starchy carbs and protein as well as healthy fats will provide the energy to train and nutrients for the baby to grow 🙂 ❤

Besides lifting weights 2-4 times per week, I have been doing cardio, mostly walking although it feels a bit uncomfortable now and has been so after about week 16. I started to have light contractions after longer than 30-60 minute walks depending on intensity. Rowing was out of the question also after about weeks 14-16 when my belly started to grow. The best I’ve felt is doing endurance training sessions on crosstrainer indoors, or water running. I haven’t been doing any HIIT training, just walking on basic endurance levels of heartbeat and on crosstrainer. Sometimes I use indoor cycling (usually at my mom’s who only has a bike). I do both basic endurance and some light speed endurance sessions 1-3 times per week if I have the time and feel good. I like the bike, but it has started to cause both tail bone and pelvic pains so the crosstrainer at home is my most precious friend right now when it comes to endurance training 🙂 .

Having a great time at FAF Running Trainer course with my personal trainer friend Eeva ❤

Last weekend I attended a two-day FAF Running Trainer course to learn more about technique analysis and drills, running economy and running training programming with a personal trainer friend of mine. The course was fantastic – I got a huge amount of new knowledge and am thrilled I have a couple of running clients I can start to work my new skills with right away! I also got the chance to get analysis of my own running technique and how to improve. I was a bit surprised but in a nice way, as my technique got praised and the only thing to really focus on improving was to raise the cadence of my running and use shorter stride length. Running with bare feet and focusing on drills and cadence got my running form already into a great shape. We’ll see if I one day decide to start running with my baby after giving birth 🙂 ❤ .

Running technique at slow motion after two days of technique drills and without running shoes, aka “look, a pink elephant is running” !! 😀 :

I was already pretty exhausted from having a short weekend holiday with my mother at Tampere – it’s funny how we adrenal insufficient people need a vacation to recover from a vacation! 😀 And now the really intensive Running Trainer course wiped me out completely. I will now take a break from writing and training too hard and will sleep a lot, and hopefully am in the shape to get back into writing later in June 🙂 .

I wish everyone great workouts, tasty meals and sunny summer days!! ❤ ❤

xoxo,

Veera

What I’ve Been Up To (And Down From)

It has been such a long time I wrote this blog that a lot has happened. To point out that I have done something else than just sleeping and feeling awful I wanted to share some highlights from this year 🙂 . I’m blessed with lots of friends and possibilities to do all kinds of fun and interesting stuff as long as I have some energy and a chance to rest enough afterwards. I’m not giving up on trying to live my life even when my adrenal insufficiency makes it difficult. But I do have to say I never thought or understood how tired one can become when pregnant! If AI exhaustion was bad, then this… More times I can count I’ve literally fallen on the sofa or bed, just to fall asleep the moment my head hits the pillow, or have my feet give up under me completely. No amount of willpower could keep me awake and functioning.

Me with Anni celebrating her book launch on February ❤

On Feb I had my 35th birthday (that I spent working) but before that I had the chance to go and celebrate my former coach and friend, Olympic athlete and weightlifter extraordinaire Anni Vuohijoki’s book launch. Anni published her first book, Voima kanssamme (Power with Us) this year and yes, it’s a great book and especially I recommend it to all women who are interested in becoming strong both mentally and physically in their lives ❤ .

I couldn’t have been happier for Anni when she won her first weightlifting European Championships medals this year – bronze on clean&jerk and on total ❤ ❤ !! She is an exemplary athlete with professional team supporting her and has made huge progress the whole time I’ve known her. She makes a great example that if you want to reach the top, you need to have everything in order – your health, nutrition, mental game, finances, great coaching on all aspects and still remember to have fun!

Anni also keeps an English vlog nowadays, go and check it out here !

Anni is simply the best !!<3

I’ve had lots of issues with my pregnancy that are still difficult for me to go through without crying. I will try to write about the health stuff later. But there was a scare that my baby wasn’t growing normally – there are still issues that are followed, and I had to change my maternity hospital because of not getting treatment and consultations I needed due to both my adrenal insufficiency and problems with extremely low blood sugar that caused symptoms and was one factor why I was unable to work. I got symptomatic hypoglycemic attacks they simply refused to study and treat and was forced to go to private doctors and registered dietitian to try and sort things out with my health. The mental strain was unimaginable and if I wasn’t fighting not only for myself but also for the sake of my unborn child I don’t know how I would’ve made it sane.

I also had troubles believing I was pregnant as I didn’t have a big baby bump until on my fifth month. Because of some suboptimal nutritional decisions made in the early pregnancy I gained almost 6 kilos in the first trimester (!!) and mostly felt like overweight person, not a pregnant woman. Also my placenta is placed very anterior so that I only started to feel real kicks on weeks 23-24 – I had only slight, weird, light touch sensations that could have been anything before.

I had to look at the ultrasound pictures over and over again to realize I was pregnant before the constant kicking started 🙂

On Easter, my Christmas came early when my favorite lecture team from Renaissance Periodization finally came to Finland to present all things related to recovery and nutrition for serious athletes ❤ . Science is truly stronger! Last time I saw Drs Israetel, Hoffman and Davis was on their London seminar two years ago. Read more on my trip on post “Nutrition, Training & Recovery” -seminar in London 🙂 .

Once again, the seminar was absolutely fantastic. I can wholeheartedly recommend everyone serious about their fitness and progress to check out RP’s website and especially their ebook section as well as RP+ membership!

As a RP fan who follows their work there wasn’t so much new to learn as for many others attending, but I got some cool new insights into volume landmarks in training and was able to ask tons of questions at their Q & A and also got them on video to share with my fellow fitness coaches on my fitness team Finnish Physique Academy with their permission. That was great! Especially I benefited from info about transitioning from diet to mass phase with female physique athletes and different methods of progress during a mesocycle when training petite females. I also got to ask questions my fellow coaches wanted to find out.

Dr. Mike tells more about MY favorite type of massing diet!

More on high carb, low fat massing:

Dr. Hoffman presents everything you need to know about recovery strategies!

To really learn all you can about recovery and adaptation and training volume, get RR’s books Recovering From Training and How Much Should I Train? as they are both golden!

Melissa’s diet presentations were great as well – especially the dieting mindset part! ❤

We had a great gang of eager students and simply the best teachers ❤ – and special thanks to my friend Ulrika and her husband for company during the course!

I have had issues with training as my tiredness and low mood have prevented me from doing as much as I would’ve liked, and then not accomplishing anything has made my mood even darker with lots of self accusations and shame. I know a lot of women are too tired to exercise as much as they’d like during pregnancy and I have my AI as complicating issue as well. If I was all fired up and energetic and feeling good I wouldn’t be on sick leave now would I?? But coming to terms that my brain wasn’t working at all and my body didn’t respond to my wishes was a tough thing. Having friends to cheer me up was really important. There were a lot of times I felt really alone and sad in Hamina, as I only have one close friend there and I was too tired to reach out to even her most of the time.

Luckily I have lots of good friends in the Helsinki metropolitan area I got to see every time I had energy to drive to stay with my mother in Espoo ❤ . We went to train and have lunch with my personal trainer friend and see a mutual friend’s gig in Helsinki with another. I’ve been to water running again – only once, but this week I’m going again with a friend to a nearby swimming hall. It also has outdoor swimming pool open in the summer and I’m already waiting anxiously to go! I’ve had troubles to go and do stuff by myself due to tiredness, brain fog and depression issues. Especially starting something has been almost impossible. I just procrastinate until forever, it seems.

A good meal after a good workout with a friend ❤

I had a chance to enjoy a friend’s gig at legandary Raffaello’s terrace in Helsinki with good company

Dance Storm, you rock !!

On Mother’s Day, we drove to Loviisa to visit my mother-in-law with my husband and the dogs. The weather was wonderful and afterwards we sat for a while in the city marina. We also visited the ruins of Loviisa bastioni, a fortress built in the 18th century.

The weather has been exceptionally warm and sunny for most of May here in Finland. Even warmer than in Spain I heard !! I don’t feel so good in high temperatures especially AI wise, so most of the time I try to spend the hottest hours indoors and go out later in the evening. We had a nice picnic with my hubby one day at local Pitkäthiekat (Long sands) and he took both Franz and Maksim swimming. Franz actually hates to swim but he can if he has to… Maksim seemed to enjoy his first dip in the ocean, though! Afterwards they both were satisfied as the grueling heat had gotten to them, and refreshed from their swim they played at the beach for a while. There is still birds’ nesting season and they were on leash and what a circus they made as they got tangled all over…

Franz and Maksim enjoying a wonderful Mother’s Day weather in Loviisa

Taking my little ones and my tummy out to check Loviisa bastioni with hubby ❤

Maksim after his first ever swim in the ocean (!)

In our first picnic this year enjoying the weather at the beach in Hamina ❤

These past two weeks have probably been my happiest during this pregnancy. I’m not crying anymore, and I feel I have more energy to do things. I still sleep about 12 hours per day, but I’m not as brain fogged all the time as I was and have been able to exercise more consistently 3-4 times per week at the gym and do some light walking as far as I can. I’ve started to get contractions and low back pain if I walk too much. But I’ll write about my pregnancy exercise routine more thoroughly next time!

Wishing you wonderful summery feelings,

xoxo,

Veera

A Very Fitness Christmas & New Year

Wonderful Christmas and New Year Holiday time for each and everyone!

I’ve again been working and training through both Christmas & New Year… Could have done without the work part, but after many months of sick leave without pay this year I have to earn a little to spend a little :).

Just before Christmas, I had again such a great time in Vierumäki Sport Institute of Finland in my second part of Finnish Fitness Alliance’s coaching certification course, and got to know our group of fitness coaches a bit better.

We learned more about dieting strategies, fitness and bodybuilding research done so far in the world, evidence-based nutrition and supplement guidelines, doping regulations and many other subjects. We also had to plan and run a posing practice to each other in small groups. My group had kind of advantage as we had IFBB bikini World Champion Anna Virmajoki giving us a couple of hints how to do it 😀 …

At Vierumäki with my fellow fitness coaches

The best lecturer in Vierumäki was one of my favorite dietitian / nutritionists in Finland, Patrik Borg aka Pöperöproffa (The Mush Professor 🙂 ). He is renowned from his work on obesity and sports nutrition and he writes a very popular blog in Finnish: http://patrikborg.blogspot.fi/ . His talk was about eating disorders in sport. Some of best pieces of Patrik’s lecture:

-How do you stay relaxed and keep a normal relationship with food and eating? The answer is not discipline and tight control.

-Food is food. It shouldn’t be a reward or a punishment. Allow flexibility in your diet and make conscious choices by free will – “I could have some cake, but I choose not to today”.

-“Shouldn’t” -type of thinking leads to problems, as well as denying yourself certain foods or food groups or stigmatizing some as “bad” or “unhealthy”.

-An alarm should ring in your head if you notice feeling guilty about eating, or anxious when thinking about eating or about certain foods, or you “buy” allowance to eat by (over)exercising.

I’ve had issues with body image, self image and disordered eating when I was a teenager and exercised a lot. I hope Patrik’s message about relaxed and permissive eating would reach as many people suffering from same issues as possible. Now as I’m older and thankfully wiser I’ve gotten through that phase. Still, many others need therapy and help of a dietitian and other health care providers to heal themselves. A good coach/personal trainer can also help with disordered eating habits, preferably in co-operation with aforementioned professionals.

A few years ago, Precision Nutrition’s coaching program helped me focus on how I perform instead of how I look, and noticing and naming the feelings and thought systems behind my actions that made me overeat junk food or starve myself. If you’re interested in learning more as I’m a certified Precision Nutrition Level 1 coach (and happily doing my Level 2 Cert program!), shoot me a message 😉 .

Finnish winter is long and dark but great teaching, atmosphere and my thirst for knowledge kept me awake at Vierumäki!

I feel so happy about my decision to start the fitness coach course. Fitness is something I’m really passionate about. The sport of fitness, whether it be natural bodybuilding, bikini, physique, figure, etc. requires incredible amount of dedication, determination, patience and self belief, and really teaches you to walk the walk – live by healthy eating habits and regular exercise every day of the year. I’m thrilled and privileged to be able to work with other fitness enthusiasts and famous coaches and athletes ❤ . I hope I’ll be able to finish my powerlifting coach certificate next year, too, though. I still love the bench, deadlift and squat, too (not necessarily always in that order 😀 ).

I’ll be finishing my Finnish Fitness Alliance’s level 1 coaching certificate next February, and have decided to continue straight away to level 2 course that starts only 2 weeks from now! ❤

Aaaannd…. I’m also now a certified personal trainer!! 🙂

http://www.trainer4you.fi/koulutukset/personal-trainer-koulutus.html

I finished my written, case study and live coaching exams this month. ❤ I feel so relieved the long year of studying is finally over. I’m not sure if I learned much new since I had so much past knowledge and experience about training, nutrition and coaching, but now I have the certification to prove it.

The last weekend of studying at Trainer4You was probably the best. We had one of Finland’s gurus of functional movement, physiotherapist and Anatomy Trains -instructor Ari-Pekka Lindberg to teach us movement analysis ❤ . 

When I have the chance in future, I’m want to learn more about functional movement and movement screening. Before my personal trainer studies, I’ve studied fascial manipulation techniques, manual back therapy and acupuncture for my physician’s work. But next year 2018 my focus is on becoming a better coach for my athletes, and learn more about fitness sports, especially the competition prep. I’m happy I have such good contacts and already a great fitness team I can fit – more on that later 😉 .

After New Year I have more time to rest, but just to keep myself in good health and performance I’ve fitted short naps and other relaxing breaks such as cuddling with hubby watching Netflix around my each day.

Me and Franz getting some rest before I hit the gym

Franz takes his naps seriously 😀

I got the spend Christmas with my husband in Hamina – even though I worked, we still went to the gym and had some fun and relaxed time together – that’s all I needed and asked for for this first Christmas as a married couple ❤ ❤ .

We found a new way to put hubby’s medals into use in Christmas decorations! 😀

A very Merry Franz Christmas! ❤

I managed to squeeze in my regular benching session and squats on Christmas Eve :).

After a couple of first hectic weeks of year 2018, I hope I will be sharing more and more often here on my blog about my journey into coaching, how I manage stress nowadays, what’s in my workout program and about my athletic and other aspirations for new year.

xoxo,

Veera

Having A Lot On My Plate Right Now

I wanted to write a quick update on things to prevent a massive procrastination event coming where I would delay and delay posting until next Christmas.

I’m stuffed with things to do – and food! I needed to find a new goal for myself as I’m not going to compete in a powerlifting meet – so I started massing, instead 🙂 . I’ve got tons of delicious, healthy food to eat and am hoping to gain some serious muscle during this autumn! My coach Jen from Renaissance Periodization has given me full reins to eat more. Way more. I’ve been indulging myself with copious quantities of peanut butter and my other favorite foods like oatmeal 😉 – not forgetting fruits, berries and veggies, though! I’ve got 360 grams of carbs on lifting days and am too ashamed to even tell the amount of fat on top of this….

I started a new hypertrophy mesocycle with less volume per week as I was having problems to recover from training and all my other responsibilities of work and studies. Today I had my second squat workout with good mornings and leg curls as accessories. I was feeling a bit nauseous and really tired with low motivation to train but managed to grind through. Even my fiancé helped by sending me a meme! I had some serious shakes going on after lifting, though.

Franz is his lovely and mischievous self and keeps me company wherever I may roam. We’ve been sleeping together, going for walks – sometimes accompanied by a friend – and found some great spots for picking blueberries in Hamina (don’t bother, they’re gone now 😀 ).

My coaching group is almost 2 months old now – how time flies! The ladies in it are very different from each other but I’m happy to have the chance to help them with their health and wellness. We are in this for the long run and making lasting changes to their habits regarding diet and nutrition and that’s not an easy task. We had such a great time working out together with my friend who is also in the coaching group ❤ .

I’ve also been tiptoeing on high heels practicing figure poses – but for the benefit of being able to coach my athlete(s) competing in figure better. Some news may be upcoming about my aspirations for a figure coaching career later this year… 😉 But first I have to do some more work, continue with another weekend of personal trainer studies followed by powerlifting coach studies the next weekend, leading up the AFPT Convention in Oslo, Norway. See ya soon!

xoxo,

Veera

“Nutrition, Training & Recovery” -seminar in London

Last weekend I attended “Nutrition, Training & Recovery” seminar by Renaissance Periodization’s ultratalented team of Dr’s James Hoffman and Mike Israetel in London.

And – WOW. This broscience attack squad completely overloaded my neurons with knowledge so that I may have to deload a full month before I recover from the information assault… I can’t truly express the extent of my happiness and gratitude for this experience. Actually, I’m almost speechless with awe, and that doesn’t happen very often to me :).

I was so deeply enthralled by the presentations I seem to have only hazy memories of the two seminar days. Without my notes and the picture below to prove it I probably could’ve wondered whether this was all a dream… I’m extremely thankful for our wonderful hosts Steve Hall and Mike Samuels for arranging the seminar!

Me with RP’s Melissa Davis, James Hoffman and Mike Israetel ❤

Dr. Mike Israetel is an Assistant Professor of Exercise Science in Temple University, a bodybuilder, powerlifter AND a Brasilian Jiu-Jitsu grappler 🙂 – I’d really hate to wrestle this guy… Though I wouldn’t dare challenge him intellectually, either – his formidable wit combined with clear and precise presentation skills and great humor simply makes this girl all humble and week on the knees… 😉

I also enjoyed immensely from Dr. James Hoffman‘s presentations, especially regarding recovery. With adrenal insufficiency my recovery resources are seriously limited, and while taking good care of nutrition and seeing to that I train smart but hard, it’s extremely important for me to know how I can enhance recovery. He was very kind to talk with me in more detail about cortisol and it’s role in recovery processes, as well.

It was great that James had brought his girlfriend, Melissa Davis with him as she was such a sweet and smart person, I was so happy to get to meet her :). She’s also part of team Renaissance Periodization, a PhD of Neurobiology and Behavior and a Jiu-Jitsu grappler as well – amazing! She also co-authored RP’s great nutrition and diet book for women, more on that below :).

Men and horses, prick up your ears as Dr. Hoffman cracks the science behind recovery!

As a whole, we attendees were a very strength training -oriented and enthusiastic group and were treated royally with absolutely fantastic lectures, for example about proper nutrition, workout principles for muscle hypertrophy and planning a proper strength training program and yearly planning for athletes.

Muscle hypertrophy – it’s magic ( if you’re not Gandalf or Brad Schoenfeld 😉 )

If you want to learn more about how to perform better, I can’t recommend highly enough that you go and buy the RP’s Scientific Principles Of Strength Training and Renaissance Diet ebooks. Also, a must have for us ladies, and for anyone who coaches women, is their Renaissance Woman nutrition ebook. I’m already anxiously waiting for the Recovery book Mike and James are currently writing…

The event was also videoed – thanks again to Steve Hall! Here’s a small taste of the wisdom we were treated with shared by Steve in his facebook page:

 

If you already don’t, immediately begin follow these extraordinary gentlemen as they share absolutely great info to fuel your fitness ambitions:

Steve Hall – Facebook – Macros, Bodybuilding & Powerlifting with Revive Stronger  /  http://revivestronger.com/ 

Mike Samuels – Facebook – Healthy Living, Heavy Lifting  /  http://www.healthylivingheavylifting.com/ 

Mike Israetel – Facebook

Renaissance Periodization – http://renaissanceperiodization.com/

What else did I do in London? Ummm… I slept :). Traveling with AI has previously lead to some near catastrophes even with someone accompanying me. Now I was abroad alone for the first time after my diagnosis so I had to consider my health and make sure I recovered well enough. I didn’t want to experience another near-crisis incident as last year in Copenhagen. (See Copenhagen Mania Part 1 and Part 2 and Pre-Crisis Symptoms And Adrenaline Rushes Part 1 and Part 2)

Well, this time overstressing myself was really not an issue. I was so worn out after both days I simply dragged my weary body to the hotel on autopilot as my neurons were crazily firing all over the place, and crashed on the bed. No wild partying as I fell asleep at 10 PM 😂😂. I have to admit I felt jealous and a bit depressed as I thought about other people – healthy and normal people – and what they would have done, or what would my old self have done when spending a weekend in such a fantastic city as London. But my life is what it is and having a poor-little-girl pity party wouldn’t have changed my circumstances one bit. We all have to make trade-offs of some kind in our lives. I needed to take good care of my wellbeing by sleeping enough so I was able to follow the great lectures we had and learn in order to become a better and wiser athlete.

At least I got to treat myself to a small but effective shopping spree as the seminar was held on Saturday and Sunday, but due to health reasons to get enough rest I had booked my return flight for Monday. I can just say I went totally wild in London’s premium sci-fi and fantasy bookstore Forbidden Planet <3. Later I completed maxing out my Visa and Master Card in Foyles’ flagship bookstore to get some new medicine and exercise science additions for my home library. My strength workout for the day was to carry all the books to the hotel :D. And as it was my last day in UK, and I had been a very good and clever girl with my macros, my diet was flexible enough to fit some Chinese delicacies as well as a “small” dessert ;)…

Lunch in Chinatown 🙂

The SMALL dessert

@Piccadilly in great weather

Leicester Square

Bought just a couple of books…

Overall, last weekend’s seminar was one of the the best I’ve ever attended. Period. And I proved to myself I can travel with AI – alone – and handle it. Though I missed my boyfriend on several occasions as we had so much fun the last time we were in London together and it would’ve been nice to share all my excitement and joy of new knowledge and all my new experiences with someone.

After getting back home I was crushed, though. It took me this whole week to get back to my feet. Literally. During the trip I had doubled my hydrocortisone, but after coming home when I tried to lower the dose I was wiped out. I could only sleep and lie on the sofa. Standing up I was dizzy, mildly nauseous and weak. My muscles cramped. I’m still taking 1.5x my normal HC dose but I hope I can soon go lower. So, traveling was nice for spirit, not so nice for body. I rest my AI case – pun intended.

But yesterday I finally got to the gym after a whole week’s break. And with luck this evening will be dedicated to deadlifting <3. I’m also soon meeting with my coach Anni to discuss our battle plan regarding rest of year 2016 – stay tuned! 🙂

xoxo,

Veera

The Great Reverse Diet Debate

Oh my..! I’m so excited to share this delicious discussion with you all who may not have stumbled upon it yet. Here’s the Reverse Diet debate introducing all the biggest, strongest and smartest people in the industry going over the science and real life ( bro 🙂 ) experience behind reverse dieting. Menno Henselmans, Eric Helms, Layne Norton and Peter Fitschen, the arena is yours! Check this S**T out guys and gals! ❤ ❤

So what do I think about reverse dieting, the idea of metabolic damage, or the discussion above? Well, I have to conclude that in the end all the guys seemed to reach consensus – over the big lines, at least.

As a scientist I’ve always loved Menno’s calm and practical way of thinking and making his point ( that doesn’t mean he’s not drool- erm, lovable, in other ways as well 😉 ). We have to use the data available and in the correct way. You can’t  just throw around anecdotal evidence from one or two clients not losing weight or blah, blah. It’s true that sometimes you forget to take into consideration the loss of muscle mass and other metabolically active tissue during dieting and that way it appears that your metabolic rate has dropped more than what would seem if you simply account for the weight lost. So some of the “metabolic damage” labels that get thrown around are probably just lowered metabolic rates due to active tissue lost and also hormonal changes due to dieting that aren’t yet adapted to the “new normal”.

Still, there are outliers. I have witnessed patients’ bodies doing most weirdest things not explained (yet, anyway) by science and what we understand from basic endocrinology – my body included. I’ve met people that I really know are accurate about their food logging and are eating 1000 kcals a day, exercising, and still unable to lose weight, or even worse, gaining. Mostly, though, the drop in metabolic efficiency of the body can be explained by science and there is no magical, irreversible “damage” that one can do by dieting.

Here’s a link to a research paper going over Dr. Chris Fahs’, who’s also a natural bodybuilder, competition prep and recovery from competition. For example, his testosterone, thyroid hormone and leptin values decreased dramatically while the diet progressed. They did return to normal after a period of caloric surplus – but the thyroid and leptin values were still lower than before the beginning of contest prep, especially leptin. What do I make of this? It takes a long time for the body’s endocrine system to adapt and return to normal after a period of dieting into low bodyfat and restricting calorie intake. It may be, that some individuals are more sensitive to hormonal state disruptions that way appear as “metabolic damage”.

I have to be honest and say that I’m a little disappointed in Layne’s part in the discussion. When I met him at his seminar in Helsinki last June, especially his “Putting Science Into Prep” presentation was great. He was reasonable and took into consideration both the health and career of a physique athlete. He was adamant that you first need to make sure you are getting enough calories and you’re metabolically healthy before you can continue to diet and compete. Now in the debate he many times talked about the “wishes” of his clients to stay very lean year around. I don’t know if that’s a healthy approach to use. Some (many) people may be suffering from eating disorders – and that’s an issue that Layne and Sohee Lee have themselves brought up many times as well. So, what the heck, Layne?!

I’ve seen Layne as especially the one to have the balls to say out loud when someone is doing more damage than good to themselves. He shouldn’t have any problems to have enough clients. That someone simply “wants” something that’s not good them for isn’t really a reason to give it to them, is it? That could be equated with an example that I would write prescriptions of narcotics to every patient that asks them and justify my actions by saying that they know the risks, it’s not my fault if they decide to abuse drugs, and if I don’t write the prescription, some other “corrupt” colleague will. NO WAY. I have my ethics as a doctor, and I hope trainers and coaches in the fitness industry also have theirs. We all have to do more good than harm – especially in the long run. Even with an athlete, is placing well in their next competition worth ruining their health for the next year or longer, maybe for a lifetime? You have to look at the big picture and long term goals for your patient / client / trainee.

Regarding the debate and practical considerations about reverse dieting, I think I’m leaning to mostly agree with Eric Helms’s point of view. After a long diet, an adequate caloric surplus (to your dieting calories!) is necessary to boost both mental and physical recovery as long as you don’t go completely overboard. Subsisting on low calories that you raise way too slowly after a diet will only lengthen your recovery into another progressive training season. No one is saying that you need to raise your calories immediately into a 1000 kcal surplus in a period where your body is metabolically primed to vacuum every morsel of energy into fat stores – just in case if you decide to abuse it again with a new diet. But you still should raise enough. 100-150 kcals every other week is…torture. But that’s only my opinion.

I guess I could ramble on and on about this :). Watch the video, and make your own conclusions! I’d love to hear what you think! ❤

xoxo,

Veera

“The Case For Resting Longer And Lifting Heavier” By Sohee Lee

Here’s again a great post by Sohee Lee telling about Brad Schoenfeld’s research article regarding the effects of longer inter-set rest periods in the gym and why resting more could be better for you, as well: The Case for Resting Longer and Lifting Heavier – SoheeFit. Read the original article here.

I can fully vouch for longer rest periods as my one-member empirical scientific research has provided similar results ;). Before I started powerlifting, I was pretty bodybuilding and fitness -oriented trainee. I read all bro (and sis) advice about how to train hard, raise testosterone and really tire those muscles so that they’d get bigger. And how to maximize growth hormone to burn that stubborn fat by doing more in less time and with less rest.

“Do all sets to failure.”

“Use rest-pause, partial reps, forced reps. In all sets.”

“Your leg day wasn’t successful if you didn’t throw up at least twice.”

“Only rest 30 seconds between sets.”

“Double and triple sets are the way to go.”

Usually the advisers were expert fitness athletes and bodybuilders with years and years of training (and sometimes using a little more chemical help than simply whey protein and creatine). As a young and enthusiastic trainee, I of course thought training like a Figure Olympia winner would give me similar physique. It really didn’t cross my mind that for example Erin Stern was a track athlete before getting into fitness and has been training hard nearly all her life – you need to have a solid base to build on!

Erin Stern, photo from InsideFitnessMag

I also thought that doing more was always the best solution for faster progress. And of course with a hectic schedule, as I’ve always had the tendency to fill up my calendar to the brim, shorter rest periods also meant shorter time at the gym. Perfect! I also congratulated myself for getting my aerobic fitness taken care of as my heart rate rarely got under 130 BPM at any time as I rushed from exercise 1A to 1B to 1C to 1D across the gym.

Was my approach efficient? Perhaps. At least considering time-efficiency. Was it constructive in the long run, and did it lead me toward my goals – bigger muscles? Maybe not. I was usually so tired that already in the third set I struggled to get 6 reps with weight I’d done 10 reps in set one. I also completed my sets with fervor – lifting as fast as possible, fearing that if I took any pause between reps or lifted slower I’d get even less reps in the consecutive rounds. My cardiorespiratory fitness sure did improve but as a stringy teenager getting some muscle would have been more beneficial.

Now I rarely rest less than 2-3 minutes between sets. And the heavier the load, the longer I rest. With bench, squat and deadlifts I take 4 minutes between sets and can go all out on every set. Between every rep I take a pause, breathe deep, focus on my mental game and concentrate on proper form and core stability. And my strength levels have soared.

You don’t burn fat or increase your VO2max in the weight room. You get stronger and more muscular. The rest is done in the kitchen. Some folk may even like endurance training in their spare time. As I usually don’t have any, nowadays I count over 5 rep sets as aerobic exercise 😀 …

Follow Sohee at SoheeFit.com.

Sohee has also written two excellent flexible dieting ebooks – Beginner’s Guide to Macros and Reverse Dieting. They’re recommended by for example Layne Norton – and by me!

Read more from Brad Schoenfeld at his magnificent site LookGreatNaked.com

Remember to rest, both at the gym and at home,

xoxo,

Veera

Is Strong Really The New Sexy?

We’ve all seen the memes. “Strong is the new skinny”. “Strong is the new beautiful”. “Strong is the new sexy”. Even “Strong is the new healthy” – I mean, come on, there’s nothing healthy about squatting 150 kilos if your joints, ligaments and vertebral discs are asked, is there?

For me as an aspiring strength athlete and a woman it seems this new trend is only another way of forcing us into a certain mold. A surely eye-appeasing mold for some, but still something that is defined by others. Society. Men. Other women. Marketers. Snake oil weight-loss product salespeople.

In the last few years, the pressure has been on for young women – and men – more than ever to fit (pun intended) even a more demanding stereotype of looking good. The fitness look.

Image source

I mean, come on, have you seen any “strong-is-the-new-what-the-heck-ever” memes / “inspirational” images with ordinary people in them? Even ordinary people who look like they lift? If you have, please send the link to me. Because what I’ve seen is photoshopped twenty-something fitness models in teeny weeny skintight attire. I guess some people are motivated to work out by looks. And that’s fine. But… Focusing on your appearance as the prime motivator for exercising can lead to some very unhealthy behavior models.

In the past, we women only had skinny, borderline or straight anorexic models to look up to, and all you “had to do” to try and achieve that “look” was to starve yourself. Or binge and purge, if you had bulimic tendencies. Nowadays, that’s not enough. You still have to starve yourself, but now you also must run or cycle for hours every day and lift hard and heavy. And have breast augmentation surgery.

I like how my body looks due to years of lifting. I’ve always loved toned, muscular physiques since my early teenage years. But it’s not my first priority. I don’t know if it should be anyone’s. My outside appearance is just a bonus. When I look at myself in the mirror, I can at the same time be satisfied and proud of myself and still objectively evaluate my physique. Do I need bigger and rounder delts? What about my thigh side sweep? Is my back wide enough? Even if I would in the future compete in figure, I don’t intend to ever let my looks dictate how I should feel about myself. A competition placement or having or not having washboard abs should never define your value as a person.

This is the kind of image that motivates me to keep on lifting:

Edith Traina, a 94-year old powerlifting World Champion

Why do I lift weights? The reasons are numerous. Simply being strong is great. Lifting heavy shit I see men struggle to move, whether it be a bar loaded with plates or a huge couch, is awesome. I also crave the physical rush of endorphins, and the emotional high of accomplishment. My mood is so much better when I exercise regularly. I like to push myself and test my limits, but also enjoy the daily grind. Getting a new PR is always a great confidence booster, but just going in to the gym and doing my assigned workout is motivating for me. I like daily routines and can stand slow progress.

I also want to be as healthy and strong as possible when I grow old. With my numerous medical conditions – asthma, immunodeficiency, adrenal insufficiency, hypothyroidism, hypertension, not to mention my troublesome spine with scoliosis, spondylosis and olisthesis I would be so much worse if I wouldn’t keep myself in shape. Regarding my health, keeping my weight under control by exercising and eating a balanced diet is also important.

Lifting is a lifestyle for me. Your reasons to lift weights and what motivates you may be similar to mine of differ substantially. Find your own reason.

“Whatever your body type is, just use it.”

Hammer thrower Amanda Bingson, ESPN Body Issue 2015

Amanda Bingson’s interview: ESPN Body Issue 2015

Strong is just strong. Period. How about we quit continuosly looking in the mirror and concentrate on hitting those PR’s instead? With or without makeup. Nails painted or not. Wearing form-fitting, latest-fashion gym clothes or worn-out sweatpants with a baggy T-shirt. Not caring if it’s trendy, sexy, or even sane. It’s simply what we love to do. Lift.

xoxo,

Veera

I Have A Dream…

I’ve been a fitness enthusiast ever since at a mature age of fourteen I read my first bodybuilding magazine and fell in love with the looks of the fitness competitors. Mind you, there wasn’t any figure or bikini back then. The muscular but feminine physiques of fitness competitors combined with phenomenal athletic performances of the fitness routine enthralled me. I instantly knew I wanted to be a fitness competitor myself one day.

I trained many years thinking about entering fitness comp one day. I lifted hard, ate “clean”, trained ballet, show dance, and gymnastics, stretched every night. Then my health troubles started. First I got diagnosed with hypothyroidism. My metabolism went completely off the rail with weight gain, I lost half of my hair, my period stopped, all I did was sleep… At twenty-something, I really started to get sick. My asthma was acting up and the first signs of my immunodeficiency were showing as I would get common colds every 5-8 weeks, completely messing up my training and recovery. And due med school and the fact I had to work nearly full time to fund my studies and living, there simply wasn’t time to pursue my dream.

It has still lived there in the back of my mind all these years. The tiny speckle of hope that one day I would step on the stage…

Like millions of other bodybuilding fans alike, I’ve been following the Olympia weekend with great interest. I just finished watching Latorya Watts crowned Figure Olympia – she was absolutely magnificent! I’m a huge fan of Nicole Wilkins, but Latorya looked better today. Nicole is the sweetest person ever – one of the highlights of my fitness life was when I got to meet and train with her a couple of years back when she was visiting Finland :).

Latorya Watts – photo from Musculardevelopment.com

Nicole Wilkins – photo from Musculardevelopment.com

Me with Nicole in Tampere, Finland 2013

I admit I’m scared to say out loud or write it down for others to see that I want to be a figure competitor. Back in the early days, it was something so weird that everyone thought I was mad. Why would a girl want to get “big and bulky” (yeah right) and ripped and strut on stage with high heels? Today, bikini fitness is getting really popular in Finland, even in the mainstream media. The “fitness hype” has actually reached such a saturation point it’s become nearly mundane. Every twenty-something girl who has lifted weights for two months is suddenly “a fitness athlete”. Blah.

So why do I still dream of competing in figure? There are, after all, many good reasons for me not to. With my health issues, dieting down into low bodyfat isn’t necessarily the wisest choice there is. A competition diet may, and very likely will, mess up my hormonal balance completely and can also worsen my immunodeficiency. It costs money – a lot more than competing in powerlifting. You need a good coach to take care of your diet, posing lessons, the suit and accessories cost money, etc.

But there are also many reasons why I should pursue my dream in competing. Even once. Fitness has been my first and biggest love in sports ever. Period. After more then 17 years I’m still in love with lifting weights and admire figure physiques. There’s no other sport that can boast the same with my normally very short attention span. It’s also a sport where you’re never ready. You can always develop a better physique; toned thighs and strong glutes, wide back and round shoulders. More muscle will also mean more kilos lifted as a powerlifter. Well rounded hypertrophy and strength training also prevents injuries compared to just training the “big 3” lifts year round.

Now there’s a new breed of women emerging. Dual athletes who compete in both bikini or figure and powerlifting aren’t such rare anymore. They have showed it can be done. And also done healthily, without messing up your body, without deprivation. Thanks to Layne Norton I learned about women like Laurin Conlin and Katie Anne Rutherford.

Katie Anne Rutheford – image source

Laurin Conlin – image source

Maybe my dream isn’t completely impossible? I know it takes time and I first need to get to know my body again, get my adrenal issues under control and train consistently. But I’ll never say never. I met Layne this summer and he inspired me to follow my dream and not care what anyone else says. So maybe, maybe…

Dare to dream and never quit,

xoxo,

Veera

Good Diet Morning

Wonderful morning to everyone! This is going to be another happy post, be warned 🙂 …

After sleeping like crazy for the last few days I woke up well rested into my third diet day. The weather outside is an asthmatic’s dream – cooler and humid after last night’s pouring rain. I’m ecstatically sniffing the first breezes of autumn scents through the open window as I drink some vanilla green tea.

Yesterday evening I was supposed to go squatting but things didn’t exactly go as planned. Just as I’d done my warm ups, mobility work and some foam rolling at home and was about to leave to the gym, a colleague of mine called. She needed help ASAP and I was the only one who could help with such a short notice. Well…I could’ve said “no can do”. But she was in a really bad situation without her fault. Of course I helped. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no saint. I swore silently a couple of times that my plans went down the drain. But my personal belief I want to cherish in my life is that collegiality is still something that separates doctors from many other professions. The true equality between a renowned professor and a first year med student, willingness to help a fellow doctor and offer advice, and shared interest in working to better patients’ lives are values at least I want to live by. So I will always help a colleague in need if I’m able to.

What comes to helping others in general, I’m lucky I have good friends and family who I can rely on. I can try to repay the favor by offering my assistance if I’m able to help. I really think world would be a much better and happier place if each and every one of us could do even one good deed a day. Help your neighbor. Smile at the bus driver in the morning. Most of the times it doesn’t take much of your time and effort but can really make a difference to someone else and also make your day a bit happier, too.

Even my workout problem I had bloated into a huge failure was actually solved easily. After cursing my bad luck for a few minutes I started to actually think and not just pity myself. Why did I have this colossal amount of workout equipment at home if not for working out? And who had told me I couldn’t deviate one inch from my coach’s workout plan if something came up and I couldn’t do the planned workout at the gym? Would it be better not to train at all, or do some stuff I was able to? Yeah, I had been a wining dumbass. So I did a session of both close and wide grip chin ups and pullups, followed with lateral and rear delt work and hanging leg raises for abs. Great workout and looots of sweat!

I, if someone, should have already learned that in life even the best laid out plan is just that. A plan. Life happens. When it comes to reaching your goals and thriving in spite of adversity, your attitude is what matters. You got to have grit, or as we Finns say, SISU. Don’t give up. Be flexible. If your plan doesn’t work, don’t complain about it. Analyze what’s wrong and fix it, or make small adjustments so you can continue following it. Be ready to accept failure from time to time. Sometimes progress isn’t all forward.

My dieting is going well. Though it would be quite alarming if not awkward if I was already breaking down mentally after dieting for two days straight :D. I’m a bit hungry. And not so full after eating. Otherwise I’m great. I actually like the feeling of hunger as it gives me more mental focus especially in the morning. So now I’m experimenting with eating my oatmeal a couple of hours after I wake up, when normally among the first things I do after getting up is running to the kitchen to eat.

I do have to say I still LOVE eating. So even with IIFYM and flexible approach if I want to stuff down huge platefuls of food, I need to control the amount of treats I eat. Yesterday I indulged myself with little bit of candy. If my boyfriend hasn’t gone through the entire bag before tonight, I’ll nibble more after doing my squats. If I’m a good girl and eat my veggies, I may even splurge on some ice cream…

Have a great day and remember to smile!

xoxo,

Veera