55. Mindful Motherhood: Juggling Fitness, Family, and Self-Care with Lindsey Bomgren

Honestly, I think it's just like we get in this like, as moms, like all or nothing and like, you know, and just like 10 minutes a day is better than 0 minutes a day. Like, start where you are. Use what you have. You don't need a full blown home gym with an awesome squat rack. You can use too heavy laundry detergent bottles. Like, as you grow. I think this is like business advice too. Like, as you grow, you just get better, right? Like, if you saw the videos I was putting out when I had 10 followers, no, I would not have as many. Like, you just get better as you go, right? Like, I'm so grateful I had 10 followers when I started.

Motherhood is beautiful, yet challenging. You may be feeling lost in motherhood, but I'm here to tell you that no matter what season of motherhood you find yourself in, every mom has a unique journey that is worth experiencing. So if you are a mom feeling overwhelmed, are struggling with mom guilt, want to be more confident, and are looking for ways to find you again, know that you are not alone. Every mom will come away with connection, knowledge, and tangible tools to integrate into her own motherhood experience. You deserve to be confident in motherhood with all of your experiences that make you who you are. So let's get started on being real vulnerable and step into community with each other. This is Experience Motherhood. Welcome to Experience Motherhood podcast. I'm your host, Elizabeth, and I am really excited for today's episode. It's going to be so, so good. But before we dive into it, I want to give a little podcast review, shout out. And today I want to thank Claire Sweem as she left such a really great, kind review and I know it's going to really inspire all of us. She says, as I was listening to each episode, I just kept saying yes out loud because I felt so understood and like, I'm not the only way feeling this in motherhood. Love the interviews and the nuggets of truth. Thank you, Claire. That's so kind. And yes, I hope that every single one of you just are agreeing and nodding your head. Like I envision that sometimes as we're talking to guests or if I'm doing a solo episode. Yeah, I'm just like, I hope everyone is like, yes, I hear that, or I'm struggling with that, or that's so great about motherhood. I agree. So thank you again so much for the rating and review. And if you haven't rated and reviewed, I would love for you to do so. You can do so on Spotify or Apple or wherever you're listening to podcast. And it just means so much. So thank you so much. Okay, let's get started on today's special episode. Hello and welcome to today's episode. Today my guest Lindsay Baumgren is joining us and she is a mom of three littles, a fitness trainer, and she's the founder of Nourish Move Love, which is a health and fitness website dedicated to sharing free at home workouts for women. And our conversation is just so good because she gives lots of practical tips. She's real and authentic on how she made fitness just fun again and made it a part of her everyday life, even with really busy kids. So you'll want to listen to the whole episode today because she really does give some juicy stuff at the end of just how to change your mindset and how to, yeah, just be a better mom. And her own personal experience of how fitness and her passion for fitness and not only built a very successful business of nourish Move love, but also how it's just impacted her as a mom and as a woman. So let's dive into today's episode and I can't wait for you to hear the conversation. Well, hi Lindsay, thank you so much for being here today. I really am truly excited to hear your story of motherhood, to hear your journey in your business and all of the fitness stuff. So if you could give like a little background, I know a lot of people will know who you are, but in case they don't, can you give us just a little brief like intro of yourself?

Yeah. So I'm Lindsey Baumgren and I founded Nourishment Lab, which is an online resource for health and fitness. Basically, we film free at home workout content for women. So we share free workout plans and free at home workouts that are all like on YouTube or on our website that you can follow along with at home to make the journey of motherhood not so lonely as you're, you know, trying to squeeze in some time for you at home. But I started that in 2015, so we're almost nine years old, which is kind of wild. It feels, feels like I just started yesterday, but. Well, it doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't. It's been a long road, so yeah, so I founded that. So we've just continually grown and obviously throughout those nine years I have experienced myself three pregnancies postpartum. So I now have three littles. I have a seven year old, a four year old and a just turned two year old. Um, so I've been building this business alongside having babies and filming pre and postnatal content. Um, so it's just been a really fun journey of motherhood and life kind of all wrapped up into one, but it's definitely not been an easy journey. Um, so it's been a, you know, as motherhood is, it's not fluid.

No, it's definitely not. Um, well, back us up even more because I always love just hearing kind of those early starts to your motherhood journey for those that are have been on the show. You know, walk us back a little bit. You know, what was that like? Did you. Were you already doing fitness in your background? Did you know you wanted to be a mom? Like, how did the whole business, like, just get us all back and yeah, give us, give us that story so that we can be like, oh, okay, I get to know you a little bit more.

Yes. So I went to school for marketing and communications. I was an athlete my whole life. I played, you know, three sports throughout high school. I went on to play college volleyball. So I played volleyball in college. And then after my college volleyball career was over, it was kind of like a dead end. Like for the first time in my life, no one was really pushing me in my fitness. I had not a lot of goals or motivation, no reason to show up at the gym. It was kind of like a dead stop for me. And then I entered, quote, unquote, the real world. I was sitting at a desk for eight hours a day, you know, working in as a marketing intern. And I was kind of depressed, if I'm totally honest. I was like, this is not what I had intended or not. I've really pictured my life being, I guess. And so I had definitely put on some weight, but more so from the mental perspective, like was not thrilled and I needed a new goal. I'm very goal oriented person. I'm an enneagram3achiever. And so I started running marathons. And so I was living in my by myself in Minneapolis at the time. And so I had extra time and so I spent a lot of time running, started training for marathons, started running a ton of marathons. That's how I kind of spent my weekends, was running races. And it was really fun, but also probably not the best way of training for me. I ended up getting a bunch of stress fractures in my feet and so I had to pivot. And then I got into strength training. So during all of this, I still had a full time job in the marketing space. I eventually transitioned into sales So I was doing medical sales, so I was traveling a lot. And so strength training was probably a little bit better. I had less time. I didn't have as much time to run, but I was traveling. And I do think the best way to explore a new city is to run it. So I would still get out for runs, but I transitioned more to strength training for really got involved in that and kind of fell into the fitness competition world of like, I've always been a how far can I push myself Type of person. And so I was like, I want to do that. I want to see how much muscle I can put on. So as I was training for these fitness competitions, I personally just wanted to get my personal training certifications for myself, like, so I could train myself because I didn't have the funds at the time to like hire a trainer. So I started on the side taking my personal training certification, like getting certified myself. Started digging into nutrition coaching just because I was trying to figure out how to cut in bulk for a fitness competition. So I did a couple of those. Again, probably not the healthiest. I'm kind of an extremist. I would always take things to the extreme and yeah, not the healthiest of lifestyles when you're really trying to just like cut and become super lean. And so kind of fell into the cycle of like being in the gym way more than I should. Fitness became a little bit not fun for me, but then I found the group fitness space and I was like, these people just show up to a workout class, the music is bumping and no one's got their phone on them. And this is like, so fun. Everyone's here to be a better person. No one's looking for a pr Like, I don't have to be a crazy person who spends hours in the gym, tries to put on all this. I can just show up and have fun. And so fitness became fun again when I found the group fitness studio and I loved it. And I looked up to these teachers, they were inspiring. They were awesome. They looked like they were having a blast. And I was like, I want to do that. I want to get up on this stage and have all these people have fun around me. And so I just found a true passion for myself in that group fitness studio. But the reality is I was transitioning from medical sales, which was pretty awesome, pretty lucrative. And then you can't become a full time fitness instructor. Like, physically, you can only teach so many classes a week. Financially, it's not enough to support yourself. And so I was like, how Do I make this a career? And so I kind of knew it was something I always wanted to do. So basically I decided to live off my base salary for sales and set aside all my commission for two years so I could save up enough money to take the group fitness space to the online space. I came from a rural community in Minnesota, and so, so I didn't grow up having a lifetime fitness next to me, which is what I was taking classes at. And so a lot of my friends were like, well, I don't have access to these classes. Like, what do you mean you like group fitness? We don't have those classes around here. And I was like, how cool would it be if I could just share these workouts with everybody and everyone would have access to them and they'd be free. And you know, because like, lifetime's expensive and also not everyone has access to one. So I was like, this would be so cool. And so that was kind of like my long term vision. And it, you know, it's taken a long time. I basically had read this book called Blue Ocean Strategy, which was like looking at other industries and realizing how you can apply it to your industry. And so in that time, everyone in this fitness space, it was like this really sweaty, sick pack selfie. Like you had to be super fit to be a trainer. I had this in my head. Like, I had to do these fitness competitions, I had to be super lean, I had to look a certain way for people to trust me. And I've now learned that is not true. But at a time that was like, I kind of like felt like, but I was like, I want to show up differently and I want to make fitness free and accessible for everybody. I don't want it to be all about how my abs look because that's not the goal of this. It's to make fitness fun again, which was like, my whole purpose was to make it fun again for me and sustainable, where I'm not in the gym for hours at a time. So long story short, I looked at recipe creators and I was like, all these food bloggers are making money just putting out workouts for free. Like, how in the world can I do this for fitness? Not the smartest business model because anybody eats. Not everybody works out. And at the time, recipe creators were just like posting a picture with a recipe. Now we've transitioned into the world of video, but I had to create a video for fitness to show people how to do this. Much more expensive, much more time consuming. Long story short, wasn't the best business Model, but it did end up working out. Nine years later, it has worked out. My business has definitely morphed throughout. But basically I took the food blogger model, applied it to fitness, because everybody in fitness was selling an app or selling an ebook or. At the time I initially started my business, I filmed DVDs, workout DVDs. So that gave me. But yeah, long story short, it has worked out in the end. And so here we are still creating free, accessible fitness content. So hopefully make fitness free and accessible to women through all seasons of life at home. So basically, as I transitioned into motherhood, obviously my, my business model shifted a little bit because it was more so like, going to the gym is a true luxury as a mom, especially in that postpartum period. And so creating content for women so they didn't feel so isolated at home while they were raising their babies so they could feel like. Also, fitness got me through a lot of really dark postpartum seasons. I had really bad postpartum depression, rage and anxiety after my first baby. There's a lot of personal stuff that played into it but ultimately kind of rocked my world. So that definitely fitness was a huge part of that. And so I want to be that for other women. Just like, so you don't feel so isolated and lonely at home as you're raising babies and you can find a little bit of joy and just like to speak life into women and motivation and encouragement and teach them more about just like being strong mentally and physically versus just like you're doing this to get your body back. Yeah.

I mean, you touched on so many different, like, things. I feel like we could go down. But the first thing I feel like really stood out to me is that you, you know, I love hearing that you always had this passion of like, fitness and like you said, you're really goal oriented. But it sounds like even as you, you know, entered that real world, you, you know, you eventually got married, you started having babies. I mean, there is always this pivot or these shifts that have to happen. Yet you still were so passionate about wanting to make it fun, not only for your business, but just for yourself. I mean, it sounds, I mean, maybe it's selfish, but like, I think a lot of, you know, anybody who does a business or entrepreneurship, like, it is kind of starts with like something that is driven for us, something that we feel like is missing or we see a need that we are like, okay, but I think I can help with that or I can do that. And it sounds kind of like you took that and you were like, okay, like there is a need for more fun and fitness and especially once you became a mom, you know, I would love to hear how that was because clearly being goal driven, you are like, probably like in the, like, I'm going to build this business. Like, I got to keep going, going, going. But now you have a little baby and you. It sounds like you had some mental health struggles of your own. Like, how did you keep having that passion to do that work and still be present, be the mom that you wanted to be, that you felt called to be and just. Yeah. How did you do all of that? How. What did that look like?

Yeah, you know, it's funny because they always like, it's like they always say like entrepreneur. Like it truly has to be a passion in order for it to not burn out. Like it really does. And I think, I mean, there's so many times I wanted to quit this business, so many times it didn't feel fun anymore. At the end of the day, my favorite part of my job is still these film days that we get to do like filming workouts. But that is just such a small percentage of the actual job because there's so much, so much more to creating content. The strategy, the SEO, the. I mean, now I have a team hr. Like, there's just so much more. But truly at the end of the day, like fitness is a non negotiable for me and something that has been consistent my whole life. Like I was an athlete. I've loved fitness. It's always been, honestly now as I look at it, it's definitely much more of a mental thing for me than it is even a physical thing. Like, yes, I love being physically fit, I love feeling strong, I love being able to be capable, run with my kids, all these things. But at the end of the day, it is such a mental health consistent thing for me. So like pregnancy, postpartum, all these things you had, you like lose control. And for me, fitness has just been like the study that was just there with me. I did it before kids, I continued to do it after kids. It was the one thing I could control in that sense. But it did change throughout seasons, right? Like it went from like hit training to like low impact, all those things, but basically to kind of go back like I, yeah, it's making it fun, but, but building a business is really, really, really hard. And so I'm so grateful. I started this business before I had kids. So I started in 2015, had my first son in 2017, so I had two years of groundwork I was not paying myself at this time, but I had two years of like building it before he was born. So I was working a ton. As any entrepreneur knows, you quit your nine to five so you can work all the time. But two years of like really solid foundation before I even had my first son. And then in my head I saw all these awesome mom bloggers online and I was like, yes, I'm just during nap time, I will do all these things and I will be great. And I tried that for six months and I went psycho. Like literally needed to see a clinician, was not doing well. And that's when I realized like, I just was. If I wanted to truly build this business, which I did, but also be a good mom, I needed to figure out a different solution. So I did start my son in daycare at, at six months. And that was a game changer for me. It gave me more freedom. I realized that I needed that, you know, space as a working mom. Like if I'm truly going to pursue this and try to not make this. This was not a hobby for me from the beginning. It was a business. And in order for it to be a business, I needed to have my son go to school. So he did go to daycare and that was a helper in building my business. So it's never. I've been a full time working mom, erring on the side of workaholicism. Something I'm still trying to deal with. Like literally like when I'm overwhelmed, what I go to work. Like I don't feel my feelings, I just work more.

Yeah.

And so something I'm still working on and it's starting to build space for. But I am now nine years in my business. Last year was the first time I went part time for summer and then I go back to full time during the school year and I'm going to try going part time again this year. But I have been a full time. My kids have been in daycare, working mom. It's just what's worked for me in order to build this business. But now I'm at a place where I feel like it's sustainable. I have a team of three awesome women. I would love to be more of a part time mom. I'm so glad I've built this business. I'm so glad what I've done. But I would love to stop working nights and evenings and weekends and be more present with my children. Yeah. I mean it's like every day I feel. I don't know if any mom Ever doesn't battle this. But like, I drop my kids off at school and they'll cry or something. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm a terrible mom. I'm making the wrong choice. And then I do something really awesome at work and I'm really proud of myself. But then it's just this constant conflict. I feel like my worlds are constantly in conflict. And then it comes to a head when my, you know, my dad will say to me, one minute, mommy, you know, like, oh, mommy's working again or something. And then it's just like a dagger to the heart. And you're like, oh, yeah. And so it's. I don't. It's not. There is no. When you see people online that are like, oh look. And I'm like, I don't even know how people film stories in front of their children. True fact, all the content you will see on the weekends on my content is pre filmed. That was like what you saw posted on Sunday was pre filmed on Thursday when my children were not around me. I try not to film in front of my children. One, because I don't want them to see me on my phone all the time. But two, I can't think. Like I can't do a lot. Like occasionally I'll see a cooking video of me with my kids. Like that's more real. But like a lot of the content is all pre filmed. Like I don't. The people that you see like fluidly sharing their life every day with their children. I don't know how they do it.

Yeah, I don't either. I feel so awkward in front of anyone ever doing a story or like any kind of anything in public or I don't know, just feels very, very weird. But I think you really touched on a, a big thing that I think so many of us do feel. There's that poll. It's like this push and pull of love my job. You know, if you. Assuming you love your job, not everyone does. And I know that. But if you really love your job, you're working outside of the home. It's like you love it so much, yet you like miss your kids so much. And then when you're with your kids, you're like, oh my gosh, they're driving me insane. I can't wait to like send them to school so I can go back to work. You know, like, it's just this constant battle. And I know for me it's, it's just always learning to how, how to be a little bit More content in the present moment and being grateful, even in the hard stuff. Like, there's hard stuff in business. There's hard stuff being a mom, there's hard stuff being a wife, all of those things. And just learning to be a little more grateful has really helped me, but it is a. Just a constant flow of chest. Like, I want. I want it all, and I want it to be perfect, and it's just never going to be that way, so.

No, it's not. It's so hard because it's like, when I feel like I'm crushing work. We just were, like, we just crushed a really busy season at work. I feel like we did it, and then now I feel like I was being a terrible mom, and that's. I was working late and constantly. One more email, all those things, and now I'm, like, experiencing burnout at work, and I'm not feeling super motivated at work, and I just want to go play with my kids. It's nice out at summer. Like, I'm. It's like my worlds are constantly flipping back and forth, and I'm just like, constantly. Everyone's like, you know, how do you. The constant. How do you do it all? Question is, I don't know.

Don't. Yeah. Yeah. I was recently even feeling that way, too. And you have much more at this stage of your entrepreneurship, a lot more on your plate than I do. I don't have a team or anything like that, but in some ways, that's hard, too, because it is, like, yeah, it's nice out. And especially, you know, we both live in Minnesota, so it's like, when it's nice out, like, I don't want to do anything but be outside. I want to go for a walk, hike, play in the pool or whatever, you know, and it is really hard to have any desire to just, you know, just want to quit. I just want to hang out, just want to be with my kids all day, you know, and then you don't, because then they're bickering and fighting.

Right.

I. I feel you. And I. I think that's refreshing to hear you be so honest about it. Of, like, yeah, I'm. You know, there's seasons where we all feel burnt out and we just don't want to do it anymore. Yeah. I don't know, is there, like, something that drives you a little bit to keep going or to kind of reframe that mindset for you when you're in that space?

Yeah. And, like, you know, for us, it is. I do love my job And I am excited to film workouts, but there's just so much that goes with it. And so for me it is seasons. Like, I know that we have seasons. So like Q4 and Q1 are huge push seasons for us. And now I know, like, I was. We were pushing so hard to film our summer content in April. And now in May, we're going to finish it out so that come June I can be part time. So it's like knowing that there's light at the end of the tunnel. Like, I'm pushing through this so that I can have more time with my kids and be more present with my kids. And you know, it's hard because it's like I said, you build this business or you work so hard to create flexibility. And now it's like, I can finally at a place where I can have. But you just have to rewire my brain and reteach myself how to do this. Like, I'm like trying to actually write down, like, what is my ideal day? Like, I would love to come home from school, drop up and go for a walk and like do. But then I, I'm like, oh, I have so much to do and I just jump right in and I'm sitting all day and I'm at my desk and then I'm grouchy at the end of the day because I didn't move my body. Like trying to figure out like, how to actually, like, I get to design my days. But it's so hard to just not jam pack them and just constantly be a workaholic. It's like, I could go meet a friend for lunch, but I'm like, that stresses me out because I have so much to do. So it's just really.

Yeah.

Trying to. In my world now I have the, the privilege of getting to like, kind of redefine my days and say, like, what does success look like for me? Like, we've not to be like, pat myself on the back. But we've kind of done it. We've done what I set out to do. I have a team. I. We're hitting all of our goals. We're doing all these amazing things. And now it's like, if you're always going to want more in the content creation space is so hard because it's more. Google wants more from you. YouTube wants more from you. Your audience, everybody wants more. And the more followers you get, the more DMs. Like, it's just there's never am like when is. I've always been like, if I hit this goal, then, you know, we've hit all these goals that I set for myself. Like, when is enough? And so I have to sit down. I'm trying to, like, redefine what enough looks like for me in the season. And as the enneagram3 is, like, we just. I just took my strengths finder and it's like, competition, success, achievement, like, like, oh, my gosh, I have no relationship. Like, these words, like, this doesn't define me. Like, I just had friends who had a baby. I want to make a meal for them. I want to do these things and so have to redefine it. And like, I'm trying to. I think you had mentioned this too, but, like, I'm trying to just get really present where my feet are, which is so, so hard for me. I'm always thinking about the next thing. Like, last night we're outside playing in the yard, and I'm like, okay. And then I'm going to scrub out the. The water table after the kids are done playing at it because it's dirty from last year. And then I'm going to clean out the toy bin and then I'm going to start packing and laying out their clothes because we live for California, like, literally. And it's like, why don't you just sit here and swing with your child?

Yeah. Yeah. I feel like it's like maybe it is a mom trait in general, or maybe it's just me and anybody else who feels like they're type A. It's just I'm always planning ahead, always, always, always to try to make it better than it is or was before. And it's like, it's just so hard to turn that. That off, like you said, because I do the same thing, you know, in the moment. I'm always been telling my husband, like, oh, you know, oh, that thing is broken. Like, you, you know, just so, you know, like, you should fix that. You know, like, I'm just always looking for things and not in a criticizing way. I mean, I'm sure it comes off that way at times, but, like, just always thinking outside of the present moment and it is really hard to get back in. And I don't know about you. I mean, we are recording this, Rick, right after Mother's Day. And what I think was so interesting yesterday, I think there's so much of wanting to be productive all the time as a mom. Like, there's just always something to do. And the to do list, it never ends. There's actually never an end to the to do list. You can always add more. And that's true for a business. That's true for balancing so much in your life. And for me, I've really just tried to be like, switching that a little bit. And so, like, not what's on my to do list, but what did I do today? Like, what did I actually get done? And just having that little question flipped and it was like, oh, like today or yesterday for Mother's Day, I, you know, we went for a hike and we got to be outside in nature. I planted some flowers. Like, I did all of this stuff that actually really brought me a lot more joy because I was doing it and being present, not just thinking about, oh my gosh, this work week is going to be so crazy because I am also trying to, like, get ready for not being on the podcast for the summer. And so it's just so much stuff. Yeah. And so I feel you. It's. It can be really, really challenging. One of the most common concerns that parents ask me as a licensed therapist is how do I help my anxious child transition back into school? Between the new routines, endless to do lists, and keeping up with school demands, it can get overwhelming really fast. And it's not uncommon that our brains may feel unsafe in these unpredictable and new circumstances, therefore causing worry for both our kids and us as parents. That's why I created the Back to School Anxiety Guide, a practical, step by step resource to help you manage the stress, keep your cool, and support your kids through the transition. As a licensed therapist and registered play therapist, I have worked with countless kids who struggle with anxiety. This anxiety guide will be a stepping stone to help your kids feel less anxious and in turn help you feel less anxious too. Click the link in the show notes to purchase your anxiety guide today. It's never too late to start implementing strategies to help you and your kids face those worries. Do you feel like there are challenges when it comes to, like, carving out that time to make fitness fun? Like, I know for me, like, I love walking. That's my favorite thing. I'm not a runner. I've always, like, people always think I am because I have like long legs and I'm like, I don't know why you think I'm a runner because I have long legs, but, but I love to walk and I would love to incorporate more the strength stuff in my, you know, day to day. Like, I know my bone density is going down. I'm, you know, not quite 40, but I'm getting there. And you know, how do you find, like, what do you work with in those challenges. Like, because we are all busy moms and you're a busy mom. And how do we really make that a priority of just moving our body or like making it fun again and not feel like this chore or adding to our to do list?

Yeah. People always ask, what is the best workout I can do? And I have like two answers for that because it's like the best workout you could do is one you're actually going to do. So like you said, find what is motivating to you. Because guess what? Motivation is going to come and go and come and go all day long and you are not going to be motivated. I am currently in a so unmotivated season. We just finished filming our summer program and I am so unmotivated to move my body right now. I'm tired, I'm burnt out. I'm done. I'm like, I don't want to pick up. I don't want to do anything. I just want to. Yeah.

Yeah.

Which is not like me. And so weird. And so motivation is going to come and go, but discipline has to show up, right? So it's a discipline, just like a spiritual discipline. I don't always want to show up and read my Bible every morning. Like, you have spiritual disciplines, you have physical disciplines, you have mental disciplines. And honestly, working out for me falls under more of a mental discipline. Like, I know I'm a better wife, mom, all those things when I move my body. So first and foremost, it's finding what you love, whether that's walking, bar, Pilates, strength training, swimming, running, like, whatever it is you like. I don't care what the Internet says as far as, like, results. Do that thing. Like, if it's yoga, if it's. For me, it is strength training. And that's partially because of my achievement. Productivity aholic. I just know it is the most beneficial thing I can do. Like, I. I used to run. I still like to get out once a week for running. Just like, it's like my. My mental clarity. It's like no one talk to me. No, I don't even. I put these AirPods in.

Yeah.

And I don't turn anything on.

Yeah.

I just run to run. And I don't want anyone to talk to me. It's like where I get to think and like, just be. And so I try to run once a week. But then strength training, for me as a productivityaholic, I just know it's more beneficial. I used to teach bar Pilates for a long time. I got into that after strength training as a way to, like, heal my hormones and chill out a little bit. And I love it. It's a great form of movement. It no longer is as appealing to me because I know it's not as effective as picking up heavy weight. That's not saying it's bad. If you like bar Pilates, do bar Pilates. For me, it's like, I could train for marathons. I could do this. I'm like, in 20 minutes, I can pick up heavy weights and be super productive. That's why I like pull ups and push ups and squats and big bodyweight movements because I'm getting the most bang for my buck. And so people are always like, pull ups. Like, oh, it sounds terrible. And I'm like, I'm working my shoulders, my back, my biceps. As a productivityaholic, I can do three sets of 10. And that's more than like picking up like 40 minutes of upper body strength training. So for me, it's like I know too much in my brain of, like, what works and what serves me. But I love strength training. I also love it because it's humbling and because the growth is never ending. Like, people are like, it's gonna make me bulky. Trust me. Like, I am trying to get bulky people, and you can look at my teeny little arms. I am trying and it's not happening. So it takes a ton of work to get bulky. So for me, it's strength training. That's what keeps me coming back for more. And what keeps me coming back for more is having that progress goal so you can have an aesthetic goal that's like, I want to lose 10 pounds. I want my thighs to look better in my swimsuit this summer. Whatever. That's not going to keep you coming back for more. It's not super motivating, actually, because it takes forever to see changes. Just like, to be frank, what keeps me coming back for more is like a pull up goal or a push up goal. Yeah, I had knee surgery. I transitioned to pull up goals. And like, I've always had a pull up 50 pull ups two times a week. Like, that's my goal. Now I'm trying to get up to, like, you know, more. So having a goal as a goal oriented person keeps me coming back for more, but doesn't even have to be a goal if you're not a goal person. Could be a formation. For me, it's like a formation. Like, I want to be able to play football at a very athletic level with my 7 year old, who is now getting super agile and super athletic and super fast. And as someone who's come back from knee surgery, it's really hard for me to keep up with him. And so, like, I have a. That's a formation. Like, I want to be a woman who plays sports with my children. That's not. Doesn't have to be. That's a never ending, lifelong goal that I'm striving for.

Yeah, I like that switch too, because I think it is really common for us to think of, like, oh, I really want to work on my, like, core because I've got the mom pooch or whatever, rather than focus on that, but do more of like, okay, I'm gonna focus on my push ups or I'm gonna focus on more of the actual activity goal, not the look goal or the weight goal. I think that's a really good way to like spin it. You know, if mom's listing, and maybe this is even my own personal question, hence why I'm thinking of it, like, where do you start? So, like, let's just say it's been a while. You're postpartum. Maybe you do things here and there sporadically, but nothing's really like, stuck. Like, where do you start? Like, I know you said find something fun, but like, yeah, what do you, what do you know? What if you don't know what's fun? Like, you might not have time to go try it all out to see what's fun.

Totally. And that is why we created free at home plans. We have hundreds of workout videos. Right. And so you could spend so much time scrolling through them all trying to find one, or you can just show up and press play. That's why we created workout plans. So we have 30 day plans, two week plans, and we have them for prenatal first trimester, second trimester, third trimester, postpartum, heal your diastasis, recti, strength training plans, hit training plans, all of these plans, because you're a busy mom who doesn't have time to think and just wants to show up and press play. And honestly, the best way to follow through, in my opinion, is to have a plan like whether you can commit to the full 30 days, commit to one week at a time, commit to three days at a time. Take that 30 day calendar and commit to something in your head. I think competence for women specifically, we often struggle with confidence, particularly in like, our physical appearance, because we don't do what we said we were going to do. Follow through creates confidence. When I say I'm going to work out three times this week and I work out three times this week. That builds confidence. It just does. Like, that is one of the greatest lessons I want my daughter to learn. Like, confidence is not in my body image. Confidence is doing in what I said I was going to do. I said I was going to work out five times this week to be a better mom, to be a better wife. And I'm going to do that. And when I do it, it builds confidence. When I don't and I only show up three times, I'm down on myself, I'm lacking conf. So set something realistic. If five times is not realistic, three days a week, two days a week, 10 minutes a day, like whatever it is, commit to something and follow through. Build confidence. Like show up for yourself. That self love, that self discipline. And sometimes it's like tough love. Like it really does. But like in order to love yourself, well, you have to show up for yourself and so commit to whatever it is you can commit to. Follow that plan and just carve out that time like you would a dentist appointment, a doctor appointment, a work meeting and just show up for yourself and make it happen. It's like there's no, you know, consistency compound. So it's 10 minutes leads to 20 minutes which can, you know, whatever it has to build. So don't set out like I'm going to crush this 30 day plan. 40 minutes a day, every day. And then you don't, obviously, because that's not realistic to go from 0 to 60 and then you lose all your confidence in yourself.

So yeah, that's a really good point too. I just makes me think of that Atomic Habits book and I feel like I talk about that a lot on this podcast, but I've just been so blown away by the way it was described in that book. Right? Like a habit you build and build and build on habit stacking of what you're already doing or what you love or kind of just what you said. Like it just, you know, we think, oh, like I want that, I want to look good in that swimsuit with my kids. So I'm going to just start working out really hard right now. Well, okay, like that's not specific. It's not, you know, it's just not going to happen. Like, let's be honest, it just won't maybe for, you know, a couple really select few people who are super goal oriented or something. And I, you know, one thing we haven't talked much about too, but I'd love for you to just to touch on, I know you have got some background in the nutrition space as well. How does that play into nourish, move, love your business or how, how has that changed or just morphed as you've been a mom of three.

Yeah. And so we, we often, when we create like our two week challenges, we do partner with some dietitian friends. Because I'm not a dietitian.

Okay.

I mean I got like a couple nutrition certifications, but I am by no means a dietitian. No means a fitness or nutrition expert. I know it works for me personally and I figured that out. But it definitely has transformed. Like I went from, you know, fitness competitions, total restriction, eating tilapia and asparagus meal and then, you know, finishing a competition and just binging and like that was unhealthy to just finding consistency for me. I finally figured out like a good diet. Fortunately, I'm like leftovers and repetition do not bother me. So I'm like a cook in bulk and like cook once, eat three times throughout the week, like rough petition. But I truly have had like high protein, especially in the morning. A big, I'm a big breakfast person. Big I too, breakfast like really satiates me throughout the day. So I'm striving for 30 grams of protein at every meal as a minimum, 30 grams of protein. So I love a good hearty breakfast. I love a good veggie bowl filled with some protein that was grilled. You know, we're coming into grilling season, so for us it's like always just grill extra and I throw that protein on my lunch bowls and then you know, dinner is your typical hanging out. But like, I'm not definitely. No, you know, like I'm in a season right now where it's like some nights I crush it. And yeah, we have like an awesome like shredded chicken, quinoa bowl, whatever. And then the next night it's literally those like Hawaiian bun, hot ham and cheese sandwiches. Like it's, you know, it's an oven flow. There's a veggie at every meal. There's protein and produce. I say at every meal. But it's like I have gotten so much more lenient the more, more children I have. Yeah, it is more lenient and just so much more chill. And that's allowed me to like let go of a lot of those like thoughts that I had. Like, you know, when you're training for a fitness competition, I'd look at a friend eating a banana and be like, you know how much sugar is in that? And now I'M like the exact opposite, you know, now I'm like slamming a peanut butter and jelly and I'm looking at it, I'm like, this is gonna fuel me to be outside with these humans. And it tastes delicious.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I love that.

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Yeah, I think, you know, it's one of those things where I always feel like education is like just a big part of it because it's like if you knew in my, I've always just thought, like, if you knew what drinking seven Diet Cokes a day did to your body, would you truly choose to do that? It's the same thing. Like if you knew the benefits of strength training, I think that would be motivation enough to just like get in there and pick up the weights. And for me it's just like injury prevention, the mental health, like the endorphins, like I need those things as a mom. And the energy, like strength training produces energy. Like literally it releases stuff in your muscles that causes you to have more energy, like just all these great things. So for me it's just like education, but we don't have time for that. So we just, we're not well educated. But honestly, I think it's just like we get in this like as moms, like all or nothing. And like, you know, and just like 10 minutes a day is better than 0 minutes a day. Like, start where you are, use what you have. You don't need a full blown home gym with an awesome squat rack. You can use too heavy laundry detergent bottles. Like, start where you are, use what you have. And like, as you Grow. I think this is like business advice too. Like, as you grow, you just get better, right? Like, if I was putting out the content, I was. Now when I. Like, if you saw the videos I was putting out when I had 10 followers, no, I would not have as many. Like, you just get better as you go, right? Like, I'm so grateful I had 10 followers when I started because my workout was. My videos were very bad. But I've gotten so much better. I've learned so much. So like, you just, you gotta consistency compounds. Just keep showing up for yourself and yeah, just find your. Find your people that will show up with you. I mean, I think you need accountability too, so. But yeah, it's always just like, start where you are with what you have. I think we're always looking for this perfect scenario. When I have more time, when I get the set of dumbbells, you know, when my kids go to school, when I, you know, it's like there's never going to be the perfect scenario. Just like, start where you are. Use what you have. Focus on making yourself the best version of you.

I love that. That's such great advice. Lindsay. Where can people find you? Because I know you mentioned many times about these amazing free videos, which really, truly are good because I've seen done many of them already. But tell us, where can we find them? Where can we get all the resources?

Yeah, so our site nourishmovelove.com has everything you should need, but you can always jump over to our YouTube channel where you can find all of our content as well. But free workout plans, free videos are@nourishmovelove.com also on YouTube. You can follow us on Instagram at nourishmovelove. Those are kind of like the main, main sources of following along.

Amazing. Well, they'll all be linked in the show notes, so make sure you check out Lindsay and, you know, tag us both. If you end up, you know, listening to this episode and trying some of those workout plans, we'd love to hear just how it impacted your motherhood journey and your mental health and. And of course, your physical health. But thank you again so much, Lindsay.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for joining me today. And I hope this episode really brought some. So much value to your experience in motherhood. Please take a minute to rate and review this podcast and make sure that you're subscribed so you don't miss the next new episode. Until next time, go experience motherhood.