About to turn 30, retired from boxing a year ago. Since then I do full body weights 3 times per week and 6 rounds on the heavy bag after a session. I train because I enjoy it and my goal is to just stay in shape and lose a bit of fat as my weight has gone up since boxing stopped.
In about 7 months time my third child will be born so gym time will be limited and food choices won’t be as consistent. How do stay in shape while not training as much? Initially all I’ll be able to do is the odd run, calisthenics and plenty of walks with the baby in the stroller.
I also wondered what the best approach is 7 months out? I was thinking lose as much weight as possible or am I setting myself up for a rebound? Am I better off trying to build as much muscle as possible to boost my BMR and know that I’ll probably lose muscle while not training? Any advice welcome
Clean up your diet, and do what you can, when you can. Be consistent. If walking is what you can do, then walk.
The idea of binging weight loss/building muscle is a sure way to fail. Consistency will get so much farther.
Pretty much just agreeing with the two smart folks above:
Were I in your shoes, I probably wouldn’t change what I was doing now, at all, if I already had a consistent routine. I’d probably overreach a bit (for me, that would be more volume and frequency) maybe 3 weeks before the due date. That way, if you miss sessions when it gets close and you need to be at home, that’s actually a needed deload. Then, when you’re tied to the house and exhausted those first couple baby weeks, it’s “on plan”.
Then set yourself up for success when the limitations come - KBs, bands, calisthenics, etc. are all cool. Just treat that as its own phase is my $0.02.
You might also want to get instructed on how to use kettlebells properly. I thought my swings were alright, and did the month-long 10,000-swings challenge, but I soon after found out that my form was a bit off after getting hooked on KB’s and hired a RKC instructor (first one on Long Island) at my gym to learn the basics (snatch, clean, Turkish getups, and some others).
If you really want to save time, look into KB chains and complexes, especially those designed by Geoff Neupert. You can get a lot of work done in just 20 minutes with them.
Keep in mind you might regress a bit with significantly reduced training time, depending how big and strong you are. What your prioritizing is the right.