Pace Health & Fitness

Training while pregnant isn’t just safe for most women — the science says it’s genuinely protective.

Current medical guidelines recommend that women with uncomplicated pregnancies get regular aerobic and strength exercise throughout pregnancy — not just cardio, both. Exercise during pregnancy promotes physical fitness, may prevent excessive weight gain, and can lower the risk of gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and cesarean birth. It’s also linked to faster postpartum recovery and better mood regulation through a huge hormonal transition.

The old fear that lifting or intensity could somehow harm the baby has been walked back by the research. Physical activity in pregnancy has minimal risks and benefits most women, though workouts often need modification as the body changes. That’s the role of good coaching — not stopping training, but adjusting load, positions, and movement selection as pregnancy progresses, watching things like balance, core pressure management, and heat regulation along the way.

Every pregnancy is different, and any program should start with clearance from your OB. But the science is clear: training while pregnant, done thoughtfully, isn’t something to be afraid of. It’s one of the best things you can do for you and your baby.

Love doesn’t always look soft.

Sometimes love looks like a coach who won’t let you skip the last round. Who calls out your form when it would be easier to say nothing. Who pushes you past the point you wanted to stop, because they know you’re capable of more than you think you are.

It’s easy to mistake comfort for care. But real care sometimes means telling you the truth, holding the standard, and refusing to let you settle — not because a coach doesn’t like you, but because they believe in you enough to expect more.

The gentle version of love says “you did great.” The harder version says “you can do better, and I’m not going anywhere while you find out.” Both are love. One just asks more of you.

So if your coach pushed you today, corrected you, made you redo the rep — that’s not them being hard on you. That’s them being in your corner.

Today is National Simplicity Day — and if there’s one thing that defines CrossFit, it’s this: simple works.

The program is built almost entirely on compound, functional movements — squat, deadlift, press, pull, push — done at high intensity, with no wasted motion and no unnecessary complexity. It’s described as an elegant solution in the mathematical sense: marked by simplicity and efficacy. Not simple like “easy,” simple like nothing extra, nothing wasted, every element doing real work.

Even the founding philosophy fits on a page: practice the major lifts, master basic gymnastics, run, row, bike, and swim hard, mix it all constantly, keep workouts short and intense, and never fall into routine. No machines, no isolation work, no gimmicks — just movements the human body was built to do, executed hard.

That’s the whole secret. Not complicated programs, not fancy equipment — just simple, effective work, repeated with intensity over time. Turns out the most powerful fitness system in the world is also one of the simplest.

Happy National Simplicity Day.

You come in for the workout. You stay for the people.

That’s how it goes almost every time. Someone walks through the door looking to get stronger, lose some weight, or just move more — and along the way they end up with something they weren’t expecting: a room full of people who show up for them. People who notice when you’re missing. People who remember your PRs, your bad days, your kid’s name, your birthday.

Nobody signs up thinking “I hope I make a bunch of great friends here.” But that’s exactly what happens. The workout gets you in the door. The community is what keeps you coming back.

Funny how that works.