Fit Your Life

March was a very exciting time around our household. My husband and I talked about having another baby and being 34, we decided to try for another baby relatively quickly after Arlo turned 1. So when I couldn’t quite catch my breath while climbing stairs and teaching Mom & Me Fit classes at Fit Your Life in March, I figured I might be pregnant. It took 4 pregnancy tests, but my suspicious were confirmed towards the end of March – we were expecting baby number 2. Photo Credit: Roughley Originals If you read my previous blog post , you’ll know that I sustained fourth degree tears during my vaginal birth with Arlo. Recovery was long, slow, and at times, really frustrating. But I did recover well with the help of several pelvic floor physiotherapists and some patience. Would I want to or be able to deliver vaginally with a second baby? Could my pelvic floor sustain trauma during pregnancy? What was the best way to preserve the function and strength of my pelvic floor dur...

Becoming a Mom; it is one of the most beautiful, difficult, life altering experiences we can go through as women. It can be a paradoxical existence of the highest of highs and lowest of lows, often simultaneously. Sometimes the lows can become very low. Sometimes feelings of sadness and fear can become so big they begin to obscure the joy and the beauty of motherhood. This became my reality following the birth of my sweet second baby. After the birth of my first, there had been moments of anxiety and sadness, but my second was different. I began having panic attacks frequently, and feared being home alone with my kids. Around the three-month post partum mark I began having terrifying intrusive thoughts. These thoughts were like short movies playing in my head, and most often centered on harming either my children or myself. I was shocked that I could ever think such things. I fought these thoughts with every fiber of my being, but fear that I would somehow lose control began to ...

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...

With the weather changing and the shackles of winter starting to loosen their grip…many women are itching to get outside and go for a jog! One of the hardest things to put a postpartum body through is running. Let me explain: Running is literally jumping off one foot and landing on the other potentially thousands of times in a relatively short period. This prolonged, repetitive, vertical impact on a hard surface challenges the postpartum body in several ways:    1.  It’s jarring for your pelvic organs- organs that have undergone a tremendous amount of anatomical shift during pregnancy and again in the postpartum period. Usually, there are ligaments that firmly tether your organs to their anchor spots inside your body. Under the influence of pregnancy hormones, these ligaments become lax so that your uterus can grow and everything else can get out of the way. Pregnancy hormones take months to be flushed from your body postpartum; and, breastfeeding horm...

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 ...

If you have followed along with our Pelvic Health Series : Our journey to regaining strength, alignment, and function, you will recognize the name Jillian Palmer. Jill is the owner of Bounce Back Physical Therapy . She took the time to answer some of the most common questions we hear about pelvic health physiotherapy while sharing what she loves most about her chosen career! Grab a [hot] cup of coffee or tea and enjoy this fun guest post with Jillian! Who should be assessed by a pelvic health Physiotherapist? Pelvic Physiotherapy is a branch of Physiotherapy that describes the physical (neuro-musculo-skeletal) care of the “lumbo-pelvic-hip” complex and related structures. There are branches that address women’s pelvic health, men’s pelvic health, and children’s and adolescents’ pelvic health. I work specifically with women at this point in my career and so I can’t speak to everyone who should see a pelvic health Physiotherapist (although if you’re a man and you’ve h...

Wow! What a journey this has been! Seriously! The conversations that have been started, the support we have received and the knowledge we have gained has been amazing and more than we could have ever imagined.  We have been inspired by those of you who have sought assessment and began your own journey of increased alignment and function. If you’d like to catch up on how our journeys began, check out our previous posts here .   In Kellie’s last post she discussed “graduating” from physiotherapy.  While I am not at the stage of graduation yet, (I am still working on healing my abdominal separation) I have had some very powerful moments.  Over the course of four months, I have learned so much about myself and my body, through working with Jillian Palmer at Bounce Back Physical Therapy.   This journey to regain strength, function and alignment has been eye opening, powerful, motivating, shocking, humbling, educational and above all empowering. My body awarene...