Beth Learn

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Scientific research is strongly suggesting key types of exercise are especially beneficial for female bodies during the years leading up to, surrounding, and after menopause. We talk deeply about this in the fitness lesson of our course, ProActive Perimenopause. What I’ve done here is put all of these evidence-based exercise types in one spot, explaining them as we go. Throughout the workout, we will rotate through everything you need to maintain strong bones, help keep your hormones balanced, sleep better, stimulate your fascia to lay down new connective tissue, promote better mental health, improve your lymphatic flow, and more! If you do this routine 1-2 times a week, you’re going to feel so much better in your own skin!

Unlock your exclusive 30% discount by using the code 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝟐𝟒 at checkout!

Woman on Fire

Throwback Thursday to when I spoke at Woman On Fire, a global event for womens health professionals in Brighton UK by @BurrellEducation in April, 2019.

My presentations covered two topics:

Authentic Puberty: Raising Girls Who Get It, based on my research and efforts in putting together the Fit2B Girls Course.

Exploring Diastasis Aware Fitness: Post-Rehab Considerations For Exercising With Diastasis Recti, based on my specialized training and experience with running Fit2B, the world’s largest, longest-running provider of diastasis-aware workout videos.

https://fit2b.us/presenting-tummysafe-fitness/

Workout while travelling

During flights, you can bet I don’t sit still the whole time. I see seats as opportunities for different arm and leg positions + lymphatic drainage work!

Traveling can disrupt the most avid exerciser’s routine. I enjoy finding creative ways to exercise on the road (or in the air) on my way to various events, and I’d love to teach you how to do this with 4 tips and 2 free videos:

T — Try new positions

I — Integrate more motion

P — Plan ahead

S - Savor long stretches

To read & watch my insights on sneaking in fitness while traveling, please click this link https://fit2b.us/work-out-while-traveling/

#travelworkout#fit2b#momfitnessjourney

I clearly remember being shown the cords of both of my babies before they were cut so I would know they were no longer pulsing, and then a rush of happy pain meds and the tug of stitching. Most of all, the feel of my babies against my chest smelling perfect and warm and wet, like me and their daddy and themselves all at once.

Like all mothers, I could write a book about my births, but I’ll stop there. I’ve written more details down for myself, and I encourage you to do the same. Processing your births in writing is one more way to grow from them. As empowering as mine were, I still had to heal physically and emotionally from the experiences because they were hard. No birth is totally easy. No birth leaves us unchanged.

Perhaps that’s why I work so hard to help mamas recover their cores a bit faster: So much about birth we cannot control, but we can take charge of our recovery. We can help our fellow sisters minimize at least a few impacts of the long list of things that we want to “go back to normal” after a baby comes - things like diastasis recti, leaking and prolapse.

Message us with the words BIRTH PODCAST and you’ll get the link to my guest episode on @birthful

My amazing birth-expert friend Lisa is a Lamaze certified childbirth educator (LCCE) and an International board-certified lactation consultant (IBCLC). Lisa has made some interesting observations that fly in the face of modern thought about giving young girls IUD’s or putting them on the pill for the sake of controlling their cycles so they can compete or avoid pain. Lisa also has an M.A. in Human Development with a specialization in Lactation Consulting and Natural Family Planning – Sympto Thermal Method Trained. She works for a local hospital here in my area.

To read her insights on our blog, please message us with the word BIRTH CONTROL because Instagram is still restricting our ability to initiate messages due to our discussion of 🐝 M 👁️ from last week 🙄

I’m telling you, friends, no matter what kind of birth you’re planning, you’ll need to be physically prepared to change positions. You’ll be sitting, standing, squatting, or kneeling on all fours to work with your body and baby as the rushes (that’s a nicer word for bone shifting contractions) move your baby through your pelvis.

If you have a C-section, your abdominals will be cut through, and the stronger they are before that surgery, the faster you’ll recover.

Yeah, even if you’re planning to get an epidural, you’ll still need to work with your body and keep your labor progressing up until the time you get the medical pain relief … Unless you’re like my friend who was on her way to the hospital where she was hoping to get an epidural and ended up having her baby in the elevator. Then there are all my friends for whom the epidurals didn’t work, and they told me later they wished they’d paid better attention to the natural pain relief part of their childbirth class.

Here on Fit2B we have beautiful prenatal and postnatal fitness courses that will help your prepare for and recover from birth. but let me introduce you to the following 3 exercises. They are my faves when it comes to helping you have a stronger birth and recovery, whether your birth is medicated or unmedicated, surgical or vaginal, breech or sunny-side-up (like my daughter).

Comment BIRTH EXERCISES for the link to be messaged to you!

A moment please for the birth of my son 16 years ago, but also for his big sister who was told in this very moment that he’d want to share her toys 😂

I remember both of my births in such vivid detail, but I don’t remember a single nurse or doctor talking to me about my core, offering me a splint for my abs, or discussing pelvic floor therapy with me despite a 3rd degree tear.

It would be YEARS before I’d discover that information and begin educating myself on those topics. Now, I do my best every day to reach more women with the truths that our bodies can heal stronger after birth. Our abs can come back together. Our bladders don’t have to leak. Our workouts can help not hurt our bodies.

What do you remember most about your births?

My son was born 16 years ago today, so I want to do a throwback to this older blog I wrote that compares birth to a workout.

Most of my members come to me hurting and injured. They are recovering from birth or being beat up in bootcamps – military and gym style – and they realize they need to start at the beginning because they are finally tuning into what their body really needs: progression.

Just like labor starts with a tiny twinge, a braxton hicks tightening of the transverse, then a tenseness that wraps around the belly and into the back, and then a menstrual cramping feeling in the low belly, and all of that builds and fades, builds and fades, builds bigger and comes quicker, over and over… So a workout routine must start small. Fit mamas know this: You don’t get pregnant and give birth the next day. There is progression, development, growth, adaption, and then you’re ready for the biggest workout of your life.

Comment BIRTHDAY for the link to read it and, by the way, that’s my sister supporting me through my second unmedicated birth and about an hour before I pushed my him out. He takes his drivers test tomorrow 😝 😢 🤯

Fat feeds your brain and cushions your bits. It’s the richest source of fuel for workouts, and it’s the base for making estrogen + a jillion other things.

Fat is NOT the enemy!!

It doesn’t work that way, friends. We are talking weight loss this week, and I really REALLY want you to read this article I wrote about belly fat and why you need to keep eating fat while also addressing the root causes.

Here's article link:

https://fit2b.us/reasons-need-fat/

Hear me out: I’m very strong, fairly lean, and I can race walk faster than most people jog. My blood pressure is low. My cholesterol is fabulous. My body composition of lean mass vs. fat mass is in a fit range… yet my BMI indicates that I’m one number away away from being “overweight.”

I can shrug that off. I can also shrug off how it labels my son “below normal” because he’s a bundle of muscle and fiber right now despite eating everything in sight. We aren’t facing any medical discrimination over these numbers, but other people are – especially women – and it needs to stop.

It’s an outdated formula made by a mathematician not a physician. Yep, it was produced in the early 19th century by a Belgian mathematician – not a physician – name Lambert Quetelet to help the government allocate resources based on obesity measurements in the general population in the 19th century. Also, it’s based on white male bodies.

fit2b.us/reasons-hate-bmi

Today we are offering this free walking meditation. It’s a great way to take yourself for a walk when you can’t get outside. But how does it work?

When I was on a track and field team in high school, our coaches had us practice visualization to improve our athletic performance. Before big meets, we’d lay in the grass, and they’d guide us through visualizing our technique. I was a shot-putter, so I would sit and imagine everything about my event: my warm-up, my approach, the feel of the metal ball against my cheek, my spin, and the thrust of my arm.

I remember peeking at the other athletes, noticing them twitch as they visualized their events. I also remember how many seemed to approach their events with more calmness, and they proceeded to perform better.

Listen here:

Racewalking

Want to walk more and enjoy it? Well, while Fit2B provides hundreds of workout videos, I’m also a competitive race walker as well as an avid hiker and relaxed walker-with-friends. I like to walk fast, but I like to stroll slowly, too. I like a good gabbing gait, and I love a hilly hike.

According to biomechanist Katy Bowman, author of Move Your DNA, walking naturally lengthens and strengthens every muscle in your core. It’s great for your heart, lungs, abs, pelvic floor, legs, and more!

So - out of my love for walking and my ever increasing knowledge of its benefits - I have created a lot of resources like a free audio walking workout, a routine for warming up before your walk, additional walking workouts, plus several articles, a free yearly #walkthankful challenge, and even a “Walking As A Workout” course!

Once a week, I place myself on a mat to be taught and trained by someone else. I bare my belly so I can see what it’s truly doing as I go through poses that challenge me. It’s hard. It’s good for me. It forces me out of my comfort zone. It helps me be a better teacher.

When I teach you in my workout videos, I keep myself more covered, because you are inviting me into your living room, and I wouldn’t presume to show up half-clothed in your actual living room.

But you? Right there in your home? You can dress how you want so you can see and connect to your body in the comfort and privacy of your home.

I feel safe in my home and at this studio where we all move and breathe on our mats, striving to improve together.

May we all feel comfortable in our own skin.

Throwback to my first half marathon as a racewalker. I hardly ever see any other race-walkers in half-marathons, but a lot of runners end up walking and commenting to me that they should learn some racewalking form to help their overall time be faster. I agreed with them.

When runners stop to walk as a means of resting, but they’re just strolling, they really slow down. If they were able to race-walk during those active rests, their overall race times would be a lot faster.

Want to read about how I got into racewalking, get some tips, and see more pictures of this race?

https://fit2b.us/racewalking-my-first-half-marathon/

It's here!!! The first installment of our NEW series that we're calling "Barbell Basics" for those who want to learn how to lift heavy things besides kettlebells.

https://fit2b.us/barbell-basics

You've seen those muscle-bound weightlifters shoving bars over their heads. They're loaded with all kinds of plates on the ends, and they grimace as they drop into squats or lunge positions, pressing the weight straight up then slamming it down on the ground. I'm guess your goals are different than theirs, but they had to start were you are to get where they are. Their original goal was to get stronger and look better - guaranteed - and we can all relate to that.

So, how about we slow down what they're doing, dial down the load (by a lot) and just focus on learning, focus on the mobility, focus on the strategies?

Because if you can utilize proper technique with lighter weights, then you can add a little more. Then maybe a little more, and as you keep showing up for your weight workouts just twice a week you'll get stronger and stronger as time passes.

It really is that simple.

Equipment Needed: To begin, a wooden dowel or any manageable rod will serve. Ideally, you'll use a barbell which is at least 5' long and work toward one that's 7' long. Add bumper plates weighing 5-10lbs that get the bar off the ground, placing it at shin-level when it's resting on the ground.

Twice a month, I lead exercise classes for women in early recovery from substance use disorder. They are still in detox from alcohol and/or drugs like methamphetamines, heroine, cocaine, fentanyl, and more. I’ll often have several pregnant mamas in my workout classes, because pregnancy can be a motivating factor in getting clean and sober.

Recently, I noticed one young pregnant addict in my session struggling with the most basic cues and movements. Through her shirt, I could see a kumquat-sized bulge at her navel, so after the class was over, I asked her if I could see her tummy. She willingly hiked up her shirt, and I saw a large umbilical hernia.

“We’ve been to her appointments with her, and she asked about that lump on her abs, and her doctors told her it’s normal, just part of pregnancy sometimes.”

That’s what her caseworker said as I had this 27-weeks-along mama take a breath and draw her abs in as she exhaled. Then I pinched the skin on either side of the hernia, pulling the edges closer together, and band-aided it in place. I felt furious because HERNIATION IS NOT NORMAL during pregnancy – even if it’s common – and abdominal hernias always come with Diastasis Recti AND both are very treatable!!!

Despite her history of substance use, she’s still a person who deserves care and compassion. Yet her valid concerns had been invalidated by her doctor. She had been brushed aside, leaving her to deal with yet another trauma – this time one to her tummy.

I’m no doctor or physical therapist, but I had her permission and that of her case worker to do what I could.

As soon as that bandaid went on, she said, “OoooohhhMYgawwwwdd! That feels so much better,” and she relaxed. She stopped stimming and fidgeting like addicts in detox tend to do. She took a big beautiful breath. Her shoulders dropped away from her ears. She made eye contact with me and smiled. She ran both hands across her belly and talked to her baby. Her sponsor and case worker were amazed at the instant change.

Great deals on fitness items that we use in the Fit2B exercise videos plus some of my fave supplements during Amazon PRIME day!

Hurry, Prime Day ends tonight, July 17th!!

throwback pic from 2014 - lots of bands and dumbbells on sale!