What’s My Workout: Kate Casey

When it comes to laugh-out-loud, real-life pregnancy stories, humor writer Kate Casey has heard them all. Her new book, You Know You Are Pregnant When…: Funny Quotes From Women Who Have Been There, is proof (example: “You assume everyone wants your urine sample.”) and is also supremely appropriate considering Casey, a mom of three little ones under the age of five-and-a-half, is pregnant with her fourth (a girl, due in mid-September). The Newport Beach, California, resident, who mans a blog called LoveandKnuckles.com, works out six to seven days a week and is in a full-on love affair with Bari Studio, a combination of dance cardio, trampoline and sculpting. We chatted with her about challenging the body, the birth benefits of working out and setting a healthy tone for her entire family.

A: I played field hockey and lacrosse in college so I have always been active. I have always loved running. I started playing tennis a few years before I had my first child and played up until the day before I delivered. While I was pregnant with my second child I took up yoga and practiced right up until the days before delivery. I maintained the same active schedule with my third. For this pregnancy I started going to the Bari Studio in Newport Beach in the months before I found out I was expecting. I rarely take a day off from working out. It helps me stay awake because I am not a coffee drinker.

A: It is a hybrid method that combines dance cardio, trampoline cardio and muscle sculpting. Even though I was running almost every day and was in good cardio shape, the dancing and trampolines got me working in a way that was unfamiliar to my body. The dance cardio is based in athletic movement and set to music that gets me traveling all around the room and the trampoline cardio tones the lower half of my body with 40 percent less impact than running. It has been a great challenge because I do not consider myself very coordinated. Now it feels second nature and I’m able to push myself with new physical challenges because of it.

A: Working out is how I get energy to make it through the day. I’m still running or doing the elliptical six to seven days a week and working out at Bari about three times per week. I started working with Kara there privately before I was pregnant. The private sessions allowed her to tailor the workout to my body and my goals and now that I’m pregnant the same holds true. Some days I’ll walk into the studio with lower energy or some general pregnancy discomfort and Kara alters the workout to what I’m needing that day, while still making sure we’re focused on my general goals and pregnancy needs. I have found on the days that the baby feels pretty high the trampoline workout helps with the discomfort. We also work a lot on core strength so I can keep pressure out of my lower back, middle back and triceps to keep my posture tall and my chest open and balance work that engages many muscles at once while testing my ever-changing center of gravity.

A: Because I have been so active before, during, and after each pregnancy I think I have smooth labors. Every pregnancy has basically felt the same.

A: Consistent. Intervals. Strength.

A: I wanted to eat tacos at every meal. I had to exercise to keep my eyeballs open. I started to dry heave at the sight of mayonnaise.

A: We can do so much more than we think we can! As long as you have a trainer who knows the safe prenatal modifications and contraindications—and they are constantly checking in with how you’re feeling—you can keep the routine you love.

A: I believe the most important thing I can do for my children is make my health a priority. They notice that I make exercise and healthy eating a priority. I make sure they implement exercise into their everyday lives too. I am looking forward to perfecting some of my Bari routines when I don’t have a baby hanging out in my uterus.

A: Stay active! It makes your labor and post-delivery recovery so much easier.