Benchmark testing

After 9 months of being pregnant there's some inevitable physiological changes that take place. There are the shrinking parts; non-existent bladder, highly compressed small intestine, and all the muscles which have been working out less. Then there are the growing parts; you can see some of them but there is also a growth in heart and lung size.

This implies some potential fitness benefits, such as increased VO2 max, which I don't have a means of testing right now. Instead I have been subjected to a more simplistic testing protocol: the stair test.

My OB's office is on the 5th floor of her building. I've been assessing my fitness throughout pregnancy based upon my ease for climbing the stairs to her office. I must admit, today I had to take a deep breath at the top of the stairs. Trouble is, this test is flawed since I am currently congested and can not breath well to begin with.

The slightly negative results of today's test are counterbalanced by the fact that I beat another lady who took the elevator to the fifth floor. This (non-pregnant) lady boarded the elevator at the ground floor when I entered the stairwell. I'd already begun signing in at the office when she entered.

Therefore, I have concluded; I am still rating highly on my stair climbing test. If I could just find someone to give me a VO2 max test a month after pregnancy I'd actually have some numbers to analyze.

For those of you who doubted my ability to actually do a pull up on my own, I have no comment on the matter. Instead, I've added a couple pictures taken yesterday morning.



I have no clue why the publishers over at Fit Pregnancy haven't called me for my photo shoot...