Fit Follow-Up: Samantha Busch

• Name: Samantha Busch
• Child: Brexton Locke, born May 18, 2015
• Claim to Fame: Busch, whose husband is superstar NASCAR driver Kyle Busch, had her son just 24 days ago. But the self-described fitness nut, who stuck to a routine of power walking, weight training and barre workouts during her pregnancy, has already demonstrated the benefits of staying active and eating healthy while expecting. (One week after giving birth, she got plenty of attention for posing in a bikini while holding her new arrival.) “You basically have nine months to prep for the hardest workout of your life!” says the former model, who prior to becoming pregnant openly shared her and her husband’s struggles with infertility on social media and her lifestyle blog, hoping their story would help others facing a similarly challenging road. Here, she chats with us about ignoring excuses when it comes to working out, staying fit on the road (the family travels 38 weeks out of the year) and keeping things in perspective.

A:  My husband and I had to do IVF, after a long time of struggling to get pregnant. So for the first few weeks I was scared to work out for fear I would do something to harm the baby. I know this is completely false and nothing would have happened, but we had been through so much I wanted to be extra careful. After the fear subsided, the morning sickness came and stayed for a number of weeks. But after about 13 weeks I felt fantastic and started working out about four or five days a week again. I took out all plyometric exercising, but I still continued to use the same weights I did pre-pregnancy. I loved power walking, weight training and doing barre workouts. I even worked out for an hour the day before I delivered. I prefer to work out on my own. It’s my time to clear my head and just have me time!

A: I would watch the women in my fitness DVDs that were pregnant and I knew if they could do it I could do it, too! Andrea Orbeck and Suzanne Bowen have the best DVDs on the market. They are for those who really trained hard before pregnancy and want to keep that level of fitness going during pregnancy.

A: No excuses, consistency, safety. That’s four words, but the “no excuses” is important!

A: I had a hard delivery, where I had to push strenuously for three hours and my little guy got stuck because of my pelvis shape and his large shoulders. For three hours, every 45 seconds I would give three big pushes, throw up, get oxygen and go again. I don't think I could have handled that without having trained so hard before.

A: I am still healing from delivery, but, at two and a half weeks, I began doing some arm workouts without weights or with light two-pound weights. Tracy Anderson has some very strenuous arm workouts with no weights that seriously make your arms burn!

A: Being a mom is the best thing in the world! We brought Brexton on the road at ten days old. We figured since we travel 38 weeks out of the year he should get used to it early. We aren’t bringing him out in front of a lot of people until he is older and his immune system builds up, but we have him with us at the motorhome at the track. I will continue to work out in the motorhome and power walk at the tracks, same as I did before. But I will allow myself to heal more before introducing some of my normal pre-pregnancy workout routines.

A: If it makes you feel good, do it—but don’t stress out too much when you can’t. In the beginning, when I was so sick, I really got down on myself for not keeping up with my training, but physically I just couldn’t do it. When I was feeling better, though, I jumped right back in. Eating healthy and working out made me have more energy and feel good. I also think it has helped me bounce back better and heal quicker. My midwife was very happy to see how quickly I was able to get up and moving after such a hard delivery. I credit it to my fitness regimen and clean eating throughout pregnancy.

Photo: Bailey Smith Photography