On this show, I welcome guests to chat about parenting and parental health, especially maternal physical and mental health. Taking care of ourselves is just as important as caring for our children. On this episode, I welcome sisters Amy Kiefer and Krystle Howald, founders and creators of Expecting and Empowered. They join me to discuss:

 

• Why strength training is important in various stages of our life
• Mindset shifts and reframing to approaching strength training and working out during pregnancy and postpartum
• How to build strength training into our busy lives

 

Connect with Amy and Krystle on Instagram @expectingandempowered. For more resources, visit expectingandempowered.com.

 

We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on the PedsDocTalk Podcast Sponsors page of the website.

00;00;01;02 – 00;00;24;19
Krystle Howald
So really, if we’re supporting our body, it’s going to help decrease those aches and pains. And then also to add one thing that we don’t talk a lot about either sometimes is on the flip side, when we’re talking about recovering postpartum, like think about when we’re out of the gate, it’s quicker, you know, like if we did less things to our body or if we exercise during pregnancy, that’s going to help us recover on the other side of that postpartum period.

00;00;24;21 – 00;00;44;00
Dr. Mona
Additionally, it helps you prepare for labor and delivery. Welcome to the PedsDocTalk Podcast. This show success is largely due to you and the way you share the show with others and leave reviews. So thank you so much and please continue to do so. I’m so grateful to have the most amazing guest to guide you in your parenting journey.

00;00;44;05 – 00;01;10;28
Dr. Mona
Topics about all things parenting, child health, child development, and also parental mental health and physical health. Today’s guests are helping me with that conversation, talking about why strength training is important in pregnancy and beyond. They are sisters. Amy Kieffer, who is a personal trainer and a registered nurse, and Dewar and Krystal Howard, who is a orthopedic and physical health therapist, and they are co-founders of Expecting and Empowered.

00;01;11;01 – 00;01;22;18
Dr. Mona
And I have learned so much from them that I wanted to have them on to talk about strength training in pregnancy and beyond, and why it’s so important. Thank you so much for joining us today.

00;01;22;20 – 00;01;24;24
Amy Kiefer
Thank you so much for having us.

00;01;24;26 – 00;01;47;08
Dr. Mona
Yes. And so I love this conversation because this topic is really important to me too. I, I believe not only in pregnancy, but like we said, beyond how important strength training is for women, also that I think we tend to focus on cardio versus strength, which I think is, is something we should talk about. But before we get started, tell us more about yourself and why you both started expecting and empowered.

00;01;47;10 – 00;02;12;28
Amy Kiefer
Yeah. So Crystal is my sister. And when we went through pregnancy ourselves, much to what you just alluded to, we both tended towards cardio. We have run our whole lives. We love running, you know, we love that heart pumping cardio. But what we realized when we were pregnant ourselves is how demanding it was on the body. And Krystal is trained as a physical therapist.

00;02;12;28 – 00;02;32;15
Amy Kiefer
I was a personal trainer at the time training pregnant people, but it really gave us that personal experience of like, wow, I think that this could be better for people if they had a clear path. Because we were trained. We both had prenatal certifications, but even we were tending towards cardio. So we’re like, wait, what does it look like?

00;02;32;22 – 00;02;50;03
Amy Kiefer
If women have a very clear path of what they should do? And a lot of women worry about what is safe? So like, if we could take the worry out of it for them and just give them a really clear guide to do their pregnancy workout, what does that look like? I called Crystal one day. I’ll never forget it.

00;02;50;03 – 00;03;12;00
Amy Kiefer
I was on the way home from the gym. I pitched her this idea that we should make something together, using her physical therapy experience and my personal training experience, and she said yes very quickly and easily. And we still both laugh at that because it has been so much work to put this business together. But it was a very simple yes, from her from the start.

00;03;12;00 – 00;03;14;23
Amy Kiefer
So I’ll let her talk a little bit about her experience too.

00;03;15;01 – 00;03;31;25
Dr. Mona
Yeah. I just love the piece that in the clinic we see all these like aches and pains that people experience, and it affects them both physically and mentally. So I just feel like, you know, a lot of times I’ll have patients in the clinic and I’ll honestly be like, you’re just like, I need to do this exercise program.

00;03;31;25 – 00;03;50;04
Dr. Mona
Like I can like fix a couple quick things for you and you’re going to feel better. But what you really need is something that’s going to help support your body during pregnancy and in that postpartum period. And so expecting and empowered, a lot of the stuff is honestly born out of the clinic, out of actually working with pregnancy and postpartum patients.

00;03;50;06 – 00;04;05;17
Dr. Mona
And you will have I mean, I follow your Instagram. I know you have obviously the app as well with exercises is you know, through for women, how late do we go postpartum? Is it like for a pretty much like forever, or do you guys have like an endpoint on your resources?

00;04;05;17 – 00;04;33;28
Amy Kiefer
Yeah, yeah. So when we developed the postpartum guide, it was literally our pregnant customers being like, we loved that so much. Can you please tell us what to do postpartum. So using crystals, education, her knowledge, we felt like we could create a really awesome resource. So the first postpartum guide goes to 33 weeks postpartum. And then we just developed a new advanced postpartum guide.

00;04;33;28 – 00;04;52;27
Amy Kiefer
Because what we know is women need to heal and recover first. Right. And so you can’t just go back to whatever you were doing before you are pregnant. And there’s a progression that you need to take. So then once we took them through that 33 weeks, we have 20 weeks of an advanced guide where you’re ready to jump.

00;04;52;27 – 00;05;14;04
Amy Kiefer
You’re ready to do these things that have higher impact in that it’s a pretty challenging workout. And so, for example, for myself, I’ve repeated that three times in a row because it’s they’re such good workout. And for Chris and I, we really wanted to make something where women could do it at home. Right before we started talking, you were talking about how challenging it is to get your workout in.

00;05;14;08 – 00;05;22;04
Amy Kiefer
So we both have three children ourselves. So we knew that part of this piece is to be to make it super doable for women.

00;05;22;07 – 00;05;42;22
Dr. Mona
Well, I love your work and I love the resources you provide because, you know, there’s a culture out there that this is not about getting back to a weight. This is about health. And I think when we talk about strength training and talk about working out, that’s what it’s about. You just said it perfectly. We have to heal our body first, which I had a C-section with my first, and I’m going to have a C-section again.

00;05;42;29 – 00;06;03;09
Dr. Mona
The time that this is coming out, this episode, I’ll probably the baby, maybe a year skinny, maybe like six months by now. We’ll see where I’m at. But, yeah, as we know, whether it’s vaginal or C-section, there is healing that needs to happen. But then for me, I love weight training and I love working out for the benefits mentally and physically that it gives me.

00;06;03;09 – 00;06;23;26
Dr. Mona
Not so much weight loss, right? Not so much. Like, well, I want to get back to, you know, the snap back of like my body. It’s so much more for me that I just feel so much more like myself, like I cannot wait. Like my husband’s like, what can’t you wait for? Like when you. The baby’s here? I’m like, I really can’t wait to just get back to a working out regimen without being pregnant.

00;06;23;26 – 00;06;41;24
Dr. Mona
Like, and I, I love a mix of weights and kickboxing, and so I’m like, I just can’t kick box right now. So I’m like, I can’t wait to get back to boxing. But also like exercising and the resources that you have with like building it into a busy woman’s life or busy person’s life is like the key because you can’t do the stuff.

00;06;41;24 – 00;07;00;27
Dr. Mona
You just have to find out, okay, where am I going to do it? How can I fit it into nap time? Or maybe after my baby goes to bed and starting slow and building up to have that health factor? And so the first question I have is for you all, why is strength training so important for you all to educate people on during pregnancy and beyond as well?

00;07;01;00 – 00;07;27;07
Dr. Mona
Well, strength training can really help support somebody’s body during pregnancy. So we hear of like all these aches and pains or, you know, like towards the end, like you are right now, it gets really hard to be pregnant. But a lot of those aches and pains could be prevented if we’re doing the right type of movement. My first pregnancy before we developed Expecting and Empowered, I was very fit, but I feel like I was doing a lot of the wrong type of movement.

00;07;27;07 – 00;07;48;20
Dr. Mona
You know, like some things better than nothing, right? So I still was being healthy, but I just wasn’t supporting my body in that time period. I had like the worst pubic synthesis pain other people have prolapse or diocese’s recti. So really if we’re supporting our body, it’s going to help decrease those aches and pains. And then also do one thing that we don’t talk a lot about either.

00;07;48;20 – 00;08;08;04
Dr. Mona
Sometimes is on the flip side, when we’re talking about recovering postpartum, like think about when we’re out of the gates quicker, you know, like if we did less things to our body or if we exercise during pregnancy, that’s going to help us recover on the other side of that postpartum period. Additionally, it helps you prepare for labor and delivery.

00;08;08;07 – 00;08;30;21
Dr. Mona
So like in our guides at the last trimester, is really working on getting flexibility because actually our pelvic floor needs to get out of the way. We need to have great pelvic motion. A lot of athletes to have really tight pelvic floor is research studies shows that some of our fittest people are the ones that need the more mobility, pelvic floor mobility.

00;08;30;26 – 00;08;52;08
Dr. Mona
And so to when we’re athletes, when you were talking before, a lot of it is shifting our mindset. So being able to be okay with working out 30 minutes instead of the hour or everything looks exactly right. So really giving your body what it needs for labor and delivery, even though maybe that might not be like what you love and crave mentally as an athlete.

00;08;52;08 – 00;09;13;11
Dr. Mona
And then additionally, just all those strength benefits of being a mother is so physical. So people when they’re nursing or bottle feeding their kids like we’re in that forward flex position and like I can remember my first two, my like back would burn where it honestly dried feeding my first because it was just so painful and so tight in my upper back.

00;09;13;13 – 00;09;23;14
Dr. Mona
And then so we’re really working on strength training those muscles that are going to help support you in motherhood. Now let’s take a break to hear from our sponsors.

00;09;23;16 – 00;09;42;16
Amy Kiefer
Yeah, I was thinking when Krista was talking, one of the things I love when she shares on expecting an empowered on our Instagram page is this idea of do you have enough strength to pick up the double stroller that you have to pick up and put it into your SUV? Because if you don’t, you could run into things like pelvic floor issues because you don’t have the strength.

00;09;42;16 – 00;10;01;25
Amy Kiefer
And so it creates more pressure. So it’s this idea of life takes strength. And as moms, you’re going to be carrying around your newborn. You know how heavy that carseat gets when you’re lugging that around. And then you have everything that comes. So people that haven’t worked out for a while, I’m like, one way to think about it is life takes strength.

00;10;01;27 – 00;10;22;16
Amy Kiefer
And so if we can strength train, you’re just more better prepared. And to Krystal’s point too, mentally it’s really hard when you’re in pain. Like she was talking about. My neck was so sore from that forward position of breastfeeding and so I was constantly thinking about it. I’m like, this hurts so much and mentally it impacts you.

00;10;22;18 – 00;10;40;07
Dr. Mona
Oh, I remember like being completely candid here. So with my son, I worked out I did a lot of, weight, like a lot of weights while I was pregnant with him, like I did cardio as well, but, you know, not super high, obviously. Went to my comfort and it was wonderful. But yes, I think I was also doing things incorrectly.

00;10;40;12 – 00;10;58;16
Dr. Mona
I developed really bad sacrum pain. Like I was in tears sometimes. And you know, even with all that, even know what I did, I had a really healthy quote unquote pregnancy postpartum, like a C-section. Recovery was really demanding on me. And I had a, you know, had a C-section. I had a repeat surgery a week after for complications.

00;10;58;22 – 00;11;17;13
Dr. Mona
So I took domino surgeries within a week. It took me 2 to 3 months to physically recover. Given what I went through when other women could take six weeks, you know, a little longer than that, if a C-section. But it is extremely demanding. And, you know, you said, Krystal, that you were also very active before, becoming pregnant and all that.

00;11;17;13 – 00;11;34;27
Dr. Mona
And you’re very physically active. So is I, and like you said, pregnancy, but also that postpartum period and having a newborn while healing, it was a a shock, you know, and you’re kind of like, oh my gosh. Like I can’t do a lot of this stuff. But giving yourself some grace and putting into perspective of, it’s not like I’m not going to get there again.

00;11;34;27 – 00;11;52;16
Dr. Mona
Like I’ll be okay, but I got to take it easy on my body and this stuff is important, and I do believe it. I do believe that working out, eating right, all of the things that we hear is vital. Is there things that besides for our body, which I agree that it’s so important with what you just mentioned, any benefits for the baby?

00;11;52;22 – 00;12;18;23
Dr. Mona
Like obviously like for a mother to be strength trained. I know obviously for the care afterwards and it takes a lot to care for a baby, but in utero or anything like that, that we’ve seen strength training be a benefit. Yes. There are so many benefits to baby so and I think too, when we go through these when we’ve been on other podcast, two people can feel really guilty if they haven’t worked out because, you know, like we’ll say the benefits for mom and they’re like, oh yeah, cool, cool, cool.

00;12;18;23 – 00;12;41;03
Dr. Mona
And then we’ll get to the benefits for a baby. And they’re like, wow, I feel like really bad that I haven’t been working out. So if you have it, take a breath and then you can get to a some type of movement because it’s going to really help. But some of the benefits include zero are it decreases that risk of premature delivery and also decreases the risk of going too far past your due date.

00;12;41;03 – 00;13;09;22
Dr. Mona
I know that can be really hard for other people as well, and then it’s going to decrease the incidence of the cord entanglement. So any health concerns to the baby with the cord and also improves your baby’s health condition. So one of the things that they’re looking at when baby comes out as an app guard score, it just kind of tells you how healthy the baby is when they come on out, whether it’s C-section or vaginally and baby is that have moms that have worked out have a higher Apgar score.

00;13;09;28 – 00;13;31;25
Dr. Mona
Also. This is where I feel like it gets really interesting. But if a baby had a mom that worked out, they tend to sleep through the night earlier. They’re also easier to self quieting, so they’re easier to calming themselves down and to. I can remember in the clinic when I would have really stressful days, I could really feel some of the babies, like my three kids like that moving.

00;13;31;25 – 00;14;01;14
Dr. Mona
Like I just feel like they really do pick up on like exercising is a way to kind of self quiet self-regulate. So they kind of pick up on what we’re doing on the outside and also improves the baby’s heart health. So unborn baby is had better benefits with heart flow, their nervous system. And then at even age one they show that babies have better belly skill and infant development scores so they have less body fat.

00;14;01;15 – 00;14;26;17
Dr. Mona
They generally have higher intelligence scores even from ages 1 to 5. I also love this because for this pregnancy I have not done nearly as much working out. So for anyone listening, that’s like feeling guilty. I totally have not and I don’t feel guilty. I understand that that is such important information, but also there’s a question of whether a lot of this is what the families like afterwards too, right?

00;14;26;17 – 00;14;46;19
Dr. Mona
Like the stress levels in the home, like it’s a woman was more likely to work out in pregnancy. There’s a chance that she’s more likely to work out postpartum, which can also affect the stress in the home. Also for, you know, in the intelligence scores and all of that, is there stuff that’s confounding variables there? But I love it because isn’t there also something about motor skills like the advanced?

00;14;46;19 – 00;14;57;10
Dr. Mona
Like there’s a study about women, babies who were born to women who were working out more, had more like advanced motor milestones afterwards. I think I read something, I don’t know if that’s true.

00;14;57;12 – 00;15;09;09
Amy Kiefer
I was just going to say also, I think just having Grace with yourself, like we’re all saying, like in your situation, you have a toddler and Ryan who is probably keeping you busy and you think I’m.

00;15;09;09 – 00;15;11;03
Dr. Mona
Very straight training with.

00;15;11;05 – 00;15;30;15
Amy Kiefer
My partner. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like our gold standard, of course we wish that everyone with strength training. But like, give yourself the credit. Like I was saying before, like, yes, life takes strength. And if you are entertaining toddlers and going to the park and walking and, you know, walking alongside their bike like there is still movement happening.

00;15;30;18 – 00;15;48;19
Dr. Mona
Oh, and carrying the bike and him when he refuses to get back on the bike. Yeah, that’s like, what if I have another like 10 pounds. Yeah. And then going up and down the stairs. Yeah I agree there is definitely some, some strength. And I’m not just like sitting on my couch all day. But yeah, I love that because I feel like the stuff is important to talk about.

00;15;48;19 – 00;16;06;02
Dr. Mona
And I also believe that it is important that we stay active. Like I said, an eat a very diet. Like I said to. But then the flip side, people would be like, well, I’m not doing that. And my kid is going to be X, Y, and Z. That’s all we’re saying. And even as a pediatrician, it’s just we know that this stuff is important, not just for our baby, but like our health in general.

00;16;06;02 – 00;16;24;09
Dr. Mona
Like I want us to move and I want us to eat well and it’s just good for everybody. I love the disclaimer because it does help. Yeah, yeah. And then in terms of so I know when when we’re thinking about strength training, when should like what should the patient clear with their doctor, whether it’s strength training in pregnancy or postpartum.

00;16;24;14 – 00;16;47;03
Dr. Mona
Is there any things that, you know they have to clear with their clinician to just make sure that they’re okay to to do this sort of physical activity? So usually in pregnancy, there’s very few things that really need to be cleared. The biggest thing would probably be pre-eclampsia, which is that high blood pressure. And again this can be in moms that have normal blood pressure, regular early.

00;16;47;09 – 00;17;14;22
Dr. Mona
But it’s usually seen after 20 weeks of pregnancy. So we’re just monitoring for that. And two of the doctors are usually monitoring at those checkups for those. So as long as you’ve cleared for those little check ups, most everybody should be cleared to exercise. I do think postpartum it gets a little bit harder to clear for exercise. I feel like what typically happens is when we check at that six week mark, we’re checking for big things, right?

00;17;14;27 – 00;17;44;00
Dr. Mona
A physician whose job is to keep you and the baby healthy and alive and be looking for a big things. What people don’t know is like their job isn’t to look for if you regulate your pressure correctly, if your C-section scar, if you’re doing well with that, or if you’d like, totally compensated through back muscles. It’s interesting because in foreign countries you have to go in and see a physical therapist and they actually are the ones that clear you for activity and returning to sex.

00;17;44;01 – 00;18;13;05
Dr. Mona
And we just don’t have that set up in America. So in the postpartum period, I do think it’s a little bit more important to be clearing for the right things. And so what those look like is any types of symptoms that you think are not normal are probably not normal. So any leaking of urine even during pregnancy and postpartum, because we do know that women that leak in pregnancy, even if they stop leaking postpartum, they’re more likely 15 years down the road to have stress urinary incontinence.

00;18;13;05 – 00;18;36;22
Dr. Mona
And I always think about it as like a yellow flag, you know, like my body telling me that I had pubic symphysis pain that first pregnancy, that’s like a yellow flag that I have actually a dress sense. So to just because that went away doesn’t mean that I’m like all the way out of the clear. Other things in that postpartum period that it would be really looking for before we’re returning to exercise is this pressure feeling.

00;18;36;29 – 00;19;04;12
Dr. Mona
And so what that feels like for some women is that you actually have like a golf ball in your underwear, like it feels like there’s heavy pressure or you know, how it feels like right before your period where there’s like a lot of pressure down in the pelvic floor. All of those things could be prolapse. And the great thing is, even if it was prolapse, there’s so many things that we can do to like regulate our pressure down there and to not have those problems.

00;19;04;17 – 00;19;28;04
Dr. Mona
So I think instead of talking these problems up as just like common conditions or the norm, because I had a baby, that there’s so many preventative and healing things that we can do on that back. And but the doctors will clear for physical activity. But like Amy alluded to, we really should have this progression. So to we like love runners and we are runners.

00;19;28;04 – 00;19;48;16
Dr. Mona
So we literally totally get it. But we know like it’s hard because mentally I like want to get back out to the trails and I want to like pound the trails like I am a person that doesn’t need to train to like usually run 5 or 6 miles, you know, like so it’s hard as an athlete to slow yourself down and do the right progression.

00;19;48;21 – 00;20;19;17
Dr. Mona
But what I’ve seen clinically is it pays off for people and dividends. You know, like we have people that go through our running program inside the app because that has a progression to it, to you who are running faster than they were before they had kids because they did the right progression and took the baby steps back because it we do know that if we hurry back to activities or to sometimes like, you know, you want to be inside a community, inside a gym, but they might be doing things that your body can’t handle yet.

00;20;19;19 – 00;20;42;12
Dr. Mona
So just taking those slow steps to make sure that your body is going back up to speed and but to if you’re returning to exercise postpartum and you’re seeing this increase and hemorrhage, you’re just going too fast. So we want to back that off. If we’re seeing excessive blood when your blood is slowly tapering off. That’s great advice because like I said, the taking it slow.

00;20;42;12 – 00;21;03;01
Dr. Mona
I think some of us, especially what people who are used to being so active content to overdo it and then deal with more of the issues from overdoing. So, this advice is so vital for so many listening today and to it. Like, I can remember my first just that pressure that I put on myself because I’ve never had a time period that my body had changed so much.

00;21;03;06 – 00;21;24;16
Dr. Mona
So I like wanted to lose weight, if I’m being frank about it. Like, I just wanted to be back to my normal set weight and I wanted that to happen as quick as I could possibly happen. And I remember strapping my baby into, like, my chest and just getting on the elliptical and like, honestly, my only reason for being there is like, how quick can I get my body back to normal?

00;21;24;16 – 00;21;44;10
Dr. Mona
And just so realizing that the older I get and the markets I’ve had, I realize everything comes in seasons, right? So the season will pass. Like now my youngest is four and I like feels so much stronger than I did before and so much healthier. But like you guys, that’s yeah, three years of like, not feeling like myself.

00;21;44;10 – 00;22;04;00
Dr. Mona
So it’s not like a quick turnaround. It seems like for so many people there’s so many other factors. Genetics, you know, like what we have going on inside the household, stress levels, other activities that we do in life. So kind of taking that piece out for a little bit I think can be so helpful. The weight loss piece.

00;22;04;02 – 00;22;07;18
Dr. Mona
Now let’s take a break to hear from our sponsors.

00;22;07;20 – 00;22;24;07
Amy Kiefer
Yeah. And we’ve tried to be just really mindful and like a safe place for women to find information like you’re never going to see before and after pictures on any of our content, because we just believe really the focus is health and getting to feel like yourself again.

00;22;24;09 – 00;22;41;23
Dr. Mona
I love that I don’t love before and after pictures. Well, I don’t think people understand even as the person putting up a before and after picture, what that can do for you psychologically getting all that validation. I was like, oh my gosh, you look so great. And then you gain the weight back because life happens and that’s okay.

00;22;41;29 – 00;22;58;02
Dr. Mona
And then you feel, well, what did I do all that for like I’ve seen. And there’s a whole psychology behind before and after pictures. Why like the show’s like The Biggest Loser. That show that was on for a while about weight loss, obviously unrelated to pregnancy, how that can negatively impact a lot of the people on that show and just in general.

00;22;58;02 – 00;23;19;04
Dr. Mona
So I love that you don’t do that on your page. And like I said, going from what I mentioned at the beginning, this is so much about listening to your body and the baby steps and why we do this for our strength and getting back into, you know, being able to just handle being a mom, you know, the physical and emotional demands, having straight training not only is good for physical strength, but mental strength too.

00;23;19;04 – 00;23;38;17
Dr. Mona
So speaking openly, I do regret not doing as much weight training and strength training and working out as I did with my son, but I know it’s going to be fine. I know, like you said Amy, that there is so much physical activity happening with my three year old, very active little boy, and so if anyone’s listening feels the same way, I want you to also know that I feel the same way.

00;23;38;17 – 00;23;58;15
Dr. Mona
But I know it’s going to be okay, and I know that I’m going to get back to it, you know, postpartum. Which brings me to my last question about I know you have this in your your apps and your resources, but just maybe 1 or 2 tips on where to begin to fit this all in postpartum. I know obviously once you already mentioned getting like, baby steps in to not overdo.

00;23;58;18 – 00;24;07;23
Dr. Mona
But how can you kind of fit this into a busy life schedule? People listening that are like, I have a baby and I have two other kids, like, what do you mean, I gotta work out? Where do we start from there?

00;24;07;25 – 00;24;30;01
Amy Kiefer
Yeah, Chris and I have both been there. We totally understand it. At a deep level. It is a really hard time to fit workouts and just plainly said, so what we like to say is also give it the reframe of anything that you do. Like a lot of the women that are listening, like they’re used to going to the gym, getting an uninterrupted 45 minute workout in.

00;24;30;03 – 00;24;56;01
Amy Kiefer
And so they’re really hard on themselves when they can’t finish one of our app workouts. And we’re like, no, no, no, no, no. If you did 20 minutes, all their credit to you, instead of feeling like you didn’t do enough, you have to really validate that you did do something and you showed up for yourself. Nice. So that first we added a pause button into our app because we were getting the feedback that people were like, well, I want to finish, but I just, you know, my baby woke up, I didn’t have the time.

00;24;56;05 – 00;25;17;26
Amy Kiefer
Things that worked really well for both Krystal and I were, we would workout during that time and we allowed ourselves to prioritize movement, eating. As funny as it sounds, peeing, filling our water bottles up like those things to take care of yourself before you go and do all the dishes. At the end of the day, we’re like, that’s our priority.

00;25;17;26 – 00;25;43;25
Amy Kiefer
Like, I’m working so hard to take care of the baby. I also have to take care of myself, and that pays dividends. A lot of the work of the house can be done later, and if you have a partner, it can be done as a team. It doesn’t all fall on you. I really love utilizing weekend, so I knew I had the built in support of my partner and so he could take over on kid duty, and I would allow myself that hour that I could go downstairs and do my workout.

00;25;43;28 – 00;26;05;28
Amy Kiefer
That worked really well for a long time. Like if I could count on Saturday and Sunday. That’s already two workouts spoken for. Plus, it gives you a break when you’re parenting. You know if it’s your first baby, it’s hard. If you have two babies, you’re going to be demanded at a level that it’s only going to benefit your mental health if you allow yourself a break.

00;26;05;28 – 00;26;26;13
Amy Kiefer
And so one of the really cool things about our business is we really looked at it from a physical lens when we started, you know, here’s the physical therapist, here’s the personal trainer. But the biggest feedback that we’ve gotten back is how beneficial it is to women’s mental health. They’ll finish one of our accountability challenges that we run our customers through.

00;26;26;13 – 00;26;50;29
Amy Kiefer
And they’re like, I just can’t believe how well I feel, or I feel like myself again. And so Crystal and I were really taken aback. We’re like, wow. We thought we were doing something to improve their physical health, and we split in the back door and really helped with their mental health. And it just makes us so happy because as all three of us know, like the demand and the challenge of raising kids is really difficult.

00;26;50;29 – 00;26;55;23
Amy Kiefer
And so being able to feel like yourself is a huge goal for a lot of us.

00;26;55;26 – 00;27;11;13
Dr. Mona
Oh, and I think that’s like the mental health piece to me is way more important than the physical. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I know you all are. You know, like but there is but it drives like, yeah, yeah, better mental health. You sleep better. I know you’re not going to get a lot of sleep with the newborn, but get better sleep quality.

00;27;11;18 – 00;27;30;26
Dr. Mona
You’re more likely to make better choices with the foods that you eat, which again going back to you can eat stuff. But we want to lean on diversity of food. And then also you’re more likely to feel motivated to work out. So it is something really important to me. And even as a pediatrician having you all on, I can speak to the benefits of being physically strong and being able to do all the things that we’re doing.

00;27;30;26 – 00;27;53;07
Dr. Mona
But so much of it is that mental strength that I can handle this, that I’m in a difficult space right now. Krystal, you mentioned the seasons of being a mom or seasons of being a parent that yes, postpartum, the first six months, the first year it could be tough, but I’m going to be able to handle this. I can carve out this little moments that are for me, and I love that you both mentioned that reframing piece, that not putting guilt on.

00;27;53;11 – 00;28;10;10
Dr. Mona
You used to do an hour workout, and I love that you have evolved your app also to kind of say, okay, here’s a pause button. Take the pause. You can break up the workout. You’re still moving. Congratulations. Because that helps that mindset reshaping of like, no, you’re doing this. Like don’t look at what you’re not doing. Look at what you are doing.

00;28;10;10 – 00;28;15;02
Dr. Mona
Like, this is what we should look at as moms as well, which we tend to not. So I love that, right?

00;28;15;02 – 00;28;32;20
Amy Kiefer
We also made our love it more time efficient because we were hearing from postpartum moms like, I can’t fit 50 minutes in and we take whatever our community is saying, and if we keep hearing it, we’re not going to ignore them like we heard that and we’re like, okay, perfect, okay. You wanted a running progression. Okay, here it is.

00;28;32;27 – 00;28;47;17
Amy Kiefer
You wanted prenatal yoga because some days that’s all you want to do is just like, really have a slow movement, like, okay, we can build that. So like we’re always listening to our customer because at the end of the day, it’s everything for us to support her.

00;28;47;21 – 00;28;57;02
Dr. Mona
I love this conversation and I love chatting with you. I really love following you in your account. What would be your final message for everyone listening today? Go ahead. Amy.

00;28;57;05 – 00;29;21;29
Amy Kiefer
Okay, as the theme of this podcast has kind of been is, I really think that women have to give themselves grace during this season. And so whatever you’re doing, whatever transition you’re going through, that’s your first time going through it. So I love to tell Second Time Moms it’s your first time being a mom to two. So giving yourself the grace to transition to that.

00;29;22;01 – 00;29;38;28
Amy Kiefer
And how does that look. And maybe right away you don’t have the perfect system for how you’re going to get your workouts in. But don’t believe that where you are is where you have to stay. So like, make really small changes to be able to get to a place where you feel really good, beautiful.

00;29;39;00 – 00;29;59;17
Dr. Mona
I also think to just like taking time for yourself, and I know that sounds like a big thing in this time period, but I think as women we tend to put everybody else first. But to if you’re not feeling like I feel like the gold standard, I wish that everybody would go to physical therapy. I wish that everybody like, would use the app all the time.

00;29;59;23 – 00;30;31;22
Dr. Mona
So just making sure that you’re like taking time for yourself or to like with your toddler, like what do it look like the best workout to work out with them? No, I don’t love that. But still, is it a way to like, maybe get in ten minutes of movement? So sometimes instead of prioritizing, like what you want to do with the kids for the day or whatever, just taking that little piece out for you or making that appointment to go see a physical therapist when you’re schedules are already so full and like you feel like you need to run in and out of target, like that might be the thing that you need to do.

00;30;31;22 – 00;30;50;29
Dr. Mona
But I do think people really need a push to take time for themselves. Oh, Amy, Krystal, thank you both so much. This was such a great time chatting with you. Where can people find your resources? I know we already mentioned, the app and stuff, but where can we direct them to so that if they want to learn more and be motivated both emotionally and physically?

00;30;51;02 – 00;31;12;12
Amy Kiefer
Yeah, you can find us at expecting them powered.com. That’s our website. Everything’s there. We have all the equipment you need, blog posts, freebies. Like we pride ourselves. We give more free information than I think anyone else. It’s so important to us. So you can find so many things there. We’re also expecting and empowered on Instagram. We’re very, very active there.

00;31;12;16 – 00;31;31;08
Amy Kiefer
We have a podcast called The Expecting an Empowered podcast. We are all over the place just trying to make this season a little bit easier on women. And I also wanted to mention, because we talked about it a couple times during this episode, is that we have a postpartum guide for C-section moms, because that is a little bit different of a recovery.

00;31;31;08 – 00;31;59;21
Amy Kiefer
You know, you want to consider your scar and the things that you should do to set yourself up for success. So Krystal’s had three C-sections herself. She’s worked with probably hundreds of women at this point that have had C-sections. And so sometimes, although they’re very common, I feel like it’s kind of the lost recovery. And so we wanted to make sure that we helped people like yourself recover from a C-section in a way where they’re getting all the attention and care that they need to.

00;31;59;23 – 00;32;15;05
Dr. Mona
Well, we’re recording this episode when I’m in this 36 weeks is when I’m recording. We’re probably, like I said, going to go live with this episode later in the year. But I’m in this process of gathering all the information and no joke, I put that on my to do list. I’m like C-section recovery tips from expecting and empowered.

00;32;15;05 – 00;32;35;06
Dr. Mona
I need to get that information because I didn’t have that for my first right and I was expecting a vaginal. I had a C-section and I had a traumatic C-section as well. And postpartum, I was in such a fog that I actually think that this time I have a physical therapist lined up postpartum, like a pelvic floor physical therapist.

00;32;35;12 – 00;32;55;19
Dr. Mona
I’m very privileged and very happy that I could do this, but it was something really important for me. And then also getting your tips and stuff and your resources, because I don’t want that same experience postpartum that I did for my son. And I want to empower myself, you know, no pun. Your title of your company there empower myself to be better, as you know, in those postpartum months.

00;32;55;19 – 00;33;01;29
Dr. Mona
So thank you so much for all of those free and paid resources. It’s so nice that you all are doing this for the world. I appreciate it.

00;33;02;02 – 00;33;12;27
Amy Kiefer
Of course, we are going to sign you up for the app immediately after this episode, because you’re putting so much good information into the world. And like, we would be so honored to support your postpartum journey.

00;33;12;29 – 00;33;23;13
Dr. Mona
Thank you so much. And I again, I’ve already shared all this stuff that you know, I love, and I can’t wait to share more about your resources postpartum and how they’ve helped me. And thank you for this amazing conversation today.

00;33;23;15 – 00;33;24;22
Amy Kiefer
Thank you so much.

00;33;24;24 – 00;33;43;23
Dr. Mona
Yeah. And for everyone listening. I hope you love this conversation. Like I said, I love inviting guests not only to chat about parenting, but also parental women health. I know a lot of you listening are women, and as a woman mother myself, it’s so important that I get this information out there. If you love this conversation, of course, make sure to follow Expecting and Empowered.

00;33;43;24 – 00;33;51;23
Dr. Mona
Leave a review. Call Amy and Krystle out on the amazing information that they provided today, and I can’t wait to chat with another guest next time.

00;33;51;24 – 00;34;07;15
Dr. Mona
Thank you for tuning in for this week’s episode. As always, please leave a review. Share this episode with a friend. Share it on your social media. Make sure to follow me at PedsDocTalk on Instagram and subscribe to my YouTube channel. PedsDocTalk TV. We’ll talk to you soon.