4 Upgrades I’ve Made to My Health and Fitness After Becoming a Family of Four

A few days after Thanksgiving I was starting to get anxious that we still hadn’t had a foster placement. 

We had been told that there was a high need, and to expect a placement within a week of being licensed. 

Two full weeks later.. crickets 🦗

But I knew God was just waiting to bring us OUR baby 🙏🏼

And finally one snowy day in December we drove to the hospital and picked up our little boy. We felt like we were in a perfect little snowglobe starring in a Hallmark movie as we welcomed this sweet baby boy home. 

While in so many ways this experience has been so picture perfect, we didn’t just “add a baby” to our house. The entire rhythm of our lives shifted. 

The laundry somehow tripled

Dishes pile up twice as fast as they used to

Our house feels a little more cluttered (ok a lot more 😅)

And seasons like this have a way of clarifying things quickly⤵️

What actually supports you?

What only worked when life was predictable?

What was sustainable, and what was actually fragile af?

Long before I ever became a mom a mom, I always coached my clients by building fitness routines that fit their LIVES (not your life revolving around your fitness routine!) and this season has only deepened that belief.

Because here’s the truth:

Moms don’t fail fitness routines.

Routines fail mom’s real lives.

What I’m sharing isn’t just a list of “tips” or simple adjustments for a busy season. 

These are upgrades and shifts toward a more sustainable, intelligent, and supportive approach to health that moms deserve.

1. Intensity 👉🏼 Capacity

I care less about how hard I can push and more about what I can sustain.

Many coaches and trainers in the health and fitness space measure strength by intensity: 

Sore for days. Pushing limits. Hard workouts. Structured splits. Sweating their butt off.

…and I don’t know who needs to hear this but..

Those things likely won’t serve you in motherhood. 

Multitasking. Feeling touched out. Probably dehydrated. Fending off tantrums. Constant decision-making.

All while sleep deprived 🙃

Fitness does not exist in a vacuum. It lives inside your nervous system, your energy, and your capacity.

Strength isn’t about how hard you can go when life is calm👉🏼it’s about what you can sustain when the waters are ROUGH.

Strong moms aren’t the ones that are pushing the hardest. 

They’re the ones who have refined their workouts for motherhood.

2. Rigid Routines 👉🏼Adaptive Structure

Being a mom is dynamic and your fitness NEEDS to be able to move with it.

One of the quickest ways to feel like you’re failing is to follow a plan that assumes your life is predictable.

Motherhood is many amazing things. Predictable is not one of them.

Blowouts Feedings Tantrums Missed naps …and yet we expect to be able to workout on rigid, robotic programs 🤖

Rigid plans break inside dynamic lives 🎬

Adaptive structure on the other hand, creates stability while remaining flexible when life goes bananas 🍌

It allows you to adjust without creating an “all or nothing” dynamic. 

For me this season looks like:

• Deciding to workout or not based on energy levels, not just because it’s Tuesday

• 5-10 minute workouts that the old me would have thought were lame af

• Connecting to my breath and engaging my deep core throughout the day

• Using low intensity yoga, pilates and mobility movements in my workouts

• Keeping a set of dumbbells in the playroom and in the livingroom for plan B if everything goes to you-know-where in a handbasket

Because consistency and rigidity are not the same thing

Consistency means knowing how to return to fitness again and again in different ways depending on what’s going on in your life. 

For busy moms especially, the structure should feel supportive… not suffocating.

3. Sleep Is a Bonus 👉🏼 Protect It Like a Performance Tool

There was a time when sacrificing sleep felt like an admirable sign of discipline or productivity.

Welcoming our second son home quickly reframed that narrative.

Sleep is not time lost.

Sleep is physiological preparation for your day, it is recovery, it is a mood enhancer, it is NECESSARY for function!

It is where:

• muscle repair happens

• hormones regulate

• recovery occurs

• cognitive function restores

• emotional resilience rebuilds

In other words:

Sleep is where the gains happen, sis.

You cannot train hard, recover poorly, and expect your body or your brain to respond well.

Our toddler is a CHAMPION sleeper, so bringing home another baby felt very much like I was being kicked back to square one in the sleep department. And while the sleep deprivation hasn’t been that terrible, there are still days that I need to pivot my plan because sleep just wasn’t there. And that’s just okay in this season.

Moms I promise you: protecting the sleep you can get is one of the highest-return investments in your health (yes, more than any workout will ever benefit you). 

Protecting sleep isn’t indulgent.

It’s strategic.

Scream it from the rooftops 👉🏼Dr. Kelsy said naps>workouts ✅💪🏼

4. Training for Bikinis👉🏼Training for Carrying Babies

I’ve been in the health + fitness industry for over 15 years now, and I’ve heard so many women and moms say that they don’t recognize the woman in the mirror after having kids.

Perhaps the most meaningful upgrade I have made since becoming a mom of 2 has been this:

My body has changed

It made a person

I now use my body everyday to carry, rock, play + tickle two tiny people

My health and fitness is so much more than the good-old-days when I just wanted to look hot naked.

Fitness strengthens my ability to live my life.

While my workouts might look vastly different than they used to in my 20’s, make no mistake: my health is one of the top things on my priority list. I value my health more than ever.

If health and fitness feels like another thing on your never ending to-do-list, it isn’t truly supporting you. It’s competing with you.

Supportive fitness improves your capacity for motherhood, work, relationships, and the mental load you carry daily.

Fitness should help you feel more resourced, not more stretched.

It should reduce pain Decrease fatigue GIVE you energy

Your fitness should FEED you - and if it’s not, then you’re not doing it right mamma (#sorrynotsorry).

Sustainable health for moms depends on building strength in a way that acknowledges the reality of the chaotic life you’re living keeping tiny humans alive!

What This Season Reinforced For Me as a Coach

Becoming a family of four unlocked a new level of motherhood for me. One kiddo felt manageable. I knew how to be a mom of one kid. A mom to two kids? Totally different ball game. 

And becoming a mom of two clarified what real strength actually requires.

Women don’t need more pressure, discipline, motivation or mom guilt.

They need better support.

Support and systems that acknowledge:

• hormone shifts

• capacity limitations

• nervous system health

• recovery

• mental load

• whacky schedules

• sleep deprivation

We don’t need more rigid plans.

We need realistic workouts for moms that flex with real life.

And truthfully 👉🏼this is why I built The Strong Moms Club - the next evolution of my coaching 💪🏼

Because the strongest moms aren’t the ones doing everything perfectly…They’re the ones supported the best.

We can’t operate under the assumption that moms have endless time, energy, or predictability, but from the understanding that strength has to be developed inside real life.

Inside The Strong Moms Club, everything is designed to solve the very challenges most traditional fitness programs ignore.

If capacity is low 👉🏼your training intensity needs to reflect that. If rigid routines don’t work👉🏼your structure needs to adapt. If sleep and recovery are lacking 👉🏼you need to prioritize recovery. If your fitness feels like a weight on your shoulders (no pun intended) 👉🏼 you need to make shifts so that your fitness can support your life.

The Strong Moms Club is not about doing more. It’s about being supported better.

Strong Moms Club provides:

• Strength Training: Completely tailored to your body, experience level, and goals so that you're not wasting your time with a plan that's not appropriate for your specific season of life. 

• Nutrition Guidance: No extremes. No crash dieting. Nutrition goals that are designed for flexibility and to fuel your body for the demands of motherhood.

• Ongoing Coaching: Adjustments based on your progress. Mom life is always moving and your plan needs to be adaptable. 

• Goal Setting + Accountability: So that you stay on track and avoid going weeks and weeks on end without working towards your goals when life gets chaotic.
  

If your capacity changed since becoming a mom If the old way of doing things no longer fits…

If you feel like you should be able to operate the way you once did, but your life tells a different story…

You are not lazy. You don’t need more discipline. You don’t need more motivation.

You need a better framework.

You need better support.

I’d love to support you inside The Strong Moms Club.

Let’s change what strong looks like in this season mamma 💪🏼

Just because you became a mom doesn’t mean you have to lose yourself in the process…

And that’s the truth ✌🏼