I don’t know this for scientific fact, but I’m pretty sure Michelle Bridges sleeps in the plank position.
The super-fit-lady-bot from Biggest Loser is nine months pregnant with her first baby at 45. Which is lovely. In fact, I find it really comforting for my own 28-year-old biological clock that I’ve still got a possible 17 years of sleep-in Sundays ahead of me before I should be stressing about the ticking.
She’s also working out a lot. Because she’s Bridges. It’s her job. She’s lifting weights, she’s growing a six-pack over her baby belly, etc etc bicep etc kettlebells and TRX’s etc.
But why does everyone else feel the need to ‘warn’ her about she’s doing?
Michelle I-do-planks-in-my-sleep Bridges keeps putting photos on her Instagram of herself working out, baby bump and all. And haters are hating alllll over it.
Good, solid training suggestions for pregnant women. Videos of her pumping lightweights and working out on the cross-trainers. And then, a constant barrage of comments (often deleted, from what we can tell) trying to shame Michelle into laziness. “Not sure I’d be doing that.” “Glad you’re having fun, but it’s bad for the baby.” “That’s dangerous.” Blah blah blah pretending to care etc.
Seriously, guys. ARE YOU ACTUALLY SURPRISED?
This is Michelle Bridges. Of course she is lifting weights when she is pregnant. Because that’s what Michelle Bridges does. She gyms. In the same way that I will continue my rigorous macaron-eating schedule when I am eventually pregnant. Because that’s what I do. I macaron.
Bridges says regardless of her routine, she won’t bow to post-baby-body pressure:
Michelle is a smart woman. And a wealthy woman. No doubt, she has a fancy obstetrician talking her through every bloated second of her nine-month journey. She’s also a professional gymmer. And I don’t just mean she works out every day (though she does, obvi), I mean she’s actually qualified with various certificates in health and fitness that involving learning shit like ‘what to do when one is pregnant and still has legs they may want to exercise’.
According to health and fitness experts (i.e. PEOPLE LIKE MICHELLE BRIDGES, not Instagram commenters), it is safe to work out at about 70% of your usual pre-pregnancy routine.
For me, that’s 70% of lifting nothing with zero squats. So I would not be advised to dead-lift a 30kg weight with my baby body. But for Michelle, she could lift 30kg with the little finger of her non-dominant hand while she was asleep. So a casual workout for her body is totally, doctor-approved, obstetrician-stamped fine.
Plus, and this is the most important part, it’s her body. Her body does not belong to Instagram. Her body does not belong to negative commenters on the world wide web. Her body belongs to her, and it’s her business.
If Michelle Bridges wants to work out with a belly full of baby, then that’s her choice. And, just like every pregnant woman, she probably has enough advice weighing on her shoulders from her mother and her partner and her partner’s mother and the local pharmacist and the sister-in-law of the checkout chick at Coles, without needing strangers on the internet shaming her for doing her thang.
Calm your farm, Internet. She got this. Because if anyone knows about exercise, it’s Bridges.
And very, very soon, baby Commando-Bridges will be here. No doubt, doing little push-ups all the way out. Cuuuute.
Click through for a gallery of Michelle Bridges and The Commando…
Michelle Bridges and The Commando.
Did you exercise when you were pregnant?