Fit Your Life

Good morning Mamas! How are you feeling today? Rested? Exhausted? Exhilarated after the weekend? Dreading something upcoming this week? However you currently feel, do you know that by moving for 30 minutes today, you will feel better?! Thank you to Annika, of Born To Be Adventurous , who has asked me to lead this month’s Real Talk Series! Each week, on Monday, I post something related to motherhood and staying fit! Make sure to check out her amazing Born To Be Adventurous Mamas Facebook group where you can read all my posts, share with other adventuring mamas what is keeping you active, and also plan meet-ups in your community! Research shows that up to half of the functional decline we experience between age 30 and 70 is due to lack of physical activity. HALF! Wild. It is also proven that children with active parents are more likely to be active themselves. By increasing our heart rates for a minimum of 2.5 hours per week, we can significantly decrease our risk (and theref...

Just over three years ago, the idea of Fit Your Life bringing specialized fitness classes to the women of Edmonton was born as a result of the desire to combine my passion, curiosity, and interest of the immense physical and emotional changes that occur during the pre- and postnatal periods and how an increased level of fitness can affect this beautiful transformation. When I think about all that I have learned in the last three years, I smile. Welcomed advice from business-savvy friends and support from those who navigate social media with more finesse than I have made this learning curve more enjoyable!  36 months ago, Fit Your Life group fitness classes began by offering a six week pre-registered session for both Mom & Me Fit and Prenatal Fit; with four and seven participants, respectively. Since that time, 400+ women have attended classes, we have welcomed over 100 Fit Babies, and we have inspired so many to find their best self amongst the chaos that can be the ...

I love early morning workouts. Seriously. Yes, I have always been known as a morning person and really prefer to do anything first thing in the morning rather than in the evening! After becoming a mom, my routine had to shift and expectations had to change. As an early riser, I have began raising early risers, so if I want to fully embrace the morning and exercise alone I must wake at 5am! Is this easy? No! do I do this every day? No way! Am I thankful when I do? Heck yes! Exercising first thing in the morning boosts my energy, mood, and patience for the entire day. How does one come to make this a sustainable habit - to get up early and move first thing in the morning? Here are my best tips!! Prepare for success a) Set out your workout and your “regular” outfits the night before. This way you don’t have to think about your clothes in the morning – just get dressed! b) Have your coffee and breakfast ready. We grind our beans and prep our coffee maker at nigh...

We love getting away as much as possible! Whether it is a weekend getaway to the mountains or jet-setting across the border, we look forward to recharging, unplugging, and enjoying quality time with each other. We work hard to move daily and fuel our bodies with nutritious food. We shouldn’t spoil all our hard work even though we are slowing down the pace for a few days! For this re ason, I have put together four tips to help ensure that you maintain your progress even while relaxing and taking some well-deserved time away! 1) Get outside! One of the best ways to be able to slow down and enjoy new areas is to go for a walk or jog through them. You will soak up so much more of your surroundings as opposed to driving by and with all the new things to look at you might even forget about the physical benefits you are achieving! Depending on where you are traveling to, you can search websites, blogs, or check out the local information centre for scenic hikes and trails to enjoy!...

This has been a humbling journey for me. Not only seeing a physiotherapist for assessment and treatment, but also journaling about my journey through this blog series. Writing about my experience has allowed me to reflect and dig deeper into learning about my own body. My last blog post explained my initial assessment with Bounce Back Physical Therapy and diagnoses. If you didn’t read it yet you can find it here ! I want to now take you on my journey through my “homework”, three follow-up visits, and what being “discharged” means to me. Homework At each appointment – the initial and follow-ups – Jillian gave me a series of stretches, exercises, and tips to implement into my daily routine. As the list grew, I would often feel overwhelmed with how to sneak it all in. What made it feel more manageable was when I remembered our discussion about how it’s okay to be imperfect and really that our goal is to have perfect alignment and engagement available to us. I actually came t...

It has been two months since my first appointment at Bounce Back Physical Therapy with Jillian Palmer.  I have had some ups and downs with my recovery but overall I have been loving the experience.  I have loved learning more about how my body functions and being able to apply what I'm learning from a women's health expert to my classes. Over the course of this two month span I have had appointments every two weeks to try to find a solution for the symptoms I was experiencing.   If you want to know more about the beginning part of my journey, my symptoms and diagnoses, or Kellie’s journey, please click here and read the first four posts in our series.   I’m going to take you back to where I left off after my last post and share with you my experience of trying to find better function in my pelvic floor and close the abdominal separation I have.   I feel like Jillian, or any physio therapist for that matter, is like Sherlock Holmes, trying to sol...

Hello! I am starting this post with a huge thank you!! Jamie and I are incredibly humbled by, and grateful for the beautiful messages we have received since opening up about our journeys through this pelvic health blog series. Amongst your notes, we have found joy in knowing that you are becoming more aware of the changes occurring within your body. Many of you have even sought assessment because of our journey and we could not be more proud of you for doing so. Truly! If you have not read our previous posts in the series, please check out Jamie’s first and second installments as we as my first that precedes this post! Also, I wanted to remind all of you that there are so many incredible women’s health physiotherapists in Edmonton and surrounding area. Jamie and I are both seeing Jillian Palmer, from Bounce Back Physical Therapy , because we had started to develop a professional relationship with her through referring clients. We appreciated her approach, and her proximity ...