FIT4MOM: Get Fit While Connecting with Other Moms

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Fit4Mom: Get Fit While Connecting with Other Moms with Lisa Druxman

This episode of Talk Fitness is in partnership with The Vitamin Shoppe where knowledgeable health enthusiasts are standing by to help you thrive every day.

Lisa Davis (Host): I did yoga every day of my pregnancy and it was pretty darn cool. I have to say it made the delivery easier. I stayed in really good shape and then I kind of fell off – the baby came, and the yoga went out the window and it’s a lot to juggle. So, I really admire our guest today. She’s fabulous. Lisa Druxman. She has done so many cool things in her career. She is Fit 4 Mom and I absolutely love the stuff that she has done and encouraging moms to get out there and exercise and also to take great care of ourselves. She has got a wonderful book that I also love. The Empowered Mama How to Reclaim Your Time and Yourself While Raising a Happy, Healthy Family. Heh Lisa.

Lisa Druxman (Guest): Heh, thanks for having me.

Lisa: It is so great to have you on. So, like I said, yoga was going great until the baby came.

Lisa D: That happens.

Lisa: Right. So, let’s talk about this, because I know from reading about you, you had a baby and you felt like where’s my community, and this is really hard, and I need some women around me, so you started a group with what you and three other moms and you take it from there. I don’t want to tell you whole story.

Lisa D: No, it’s all good. Yeah, it has been a while now, so I started Stroller Strides when my little one was just three months old and that was 16 years ago. And I was a fitness professional, so I knew how to get back in shape, but I needed a community. I needed connection. I had so many questions about motherhood. I had questions about nursing and sleeping and all the things and, so I decided to start a stroller based workout. I figured I could help us all get back in shape and they could help me with everything I needed to know about motherhood. And apparently, I wasn’t the only one looking for that connection and that community because long story short, it took off and we are now a nationwide program.

Lisa: See that is so exciting. So, you have Stollers Strides, Fit 4 Baby and Body Back and these are all part of the Fit For Mom family. So, is this something that now other trainers, they learn how to do what you are doing, and they do it? Is it a franchise as in it’s an actual place you go? Talk to us about this.

Lisa D: Yeah, so as my kids grew up, the program grew up. We added more programs. We added Fit 4 Baby which is our prenatal program, we added Body Back which is our transformational program that includes nutrition coaching and it is just for moms only to kind of regain themselves and we did franchise the business. Not only was I not the only one looking to connect, I also wasn’t the only one looking to have a career that was supportive of motherhood. And I felt so blessed to have this amazing career in San Diego where I could be home with my baby and teaching these amazing classes and contributing in my community. So, we franchised the business and, so we now have 300 franchisees nationwide. We have almost 2000 class locations and it really does give women who have a passion for fitness and motherhood, this opportunity to contribute both to their home and into their community.

Lisa: I think that’s awesome. And it really does help to have the group of women around you. Because you’re not just getting fit together, but you’re sharing life experiences and the ups and downs and the tiredness and everything that comes in it and then you feel more encouraged to go, I would think because oh I haven’t seen Susie and I get to talk to her. You know, it’s that comradery right and I bet there is some really great friendships that come out of that.

Lisa D: My original group from 16 years ago, they are still all friends. And I think that women today are missing that sense of community. You think about past generations or even other cultures today where you are surrounded by a village, you are surrounded by your family, but here in America, we tend to bring up baby alone and we feel very isolated and we might stay home, but husband might go back to work or maybe we have to go back to work and still feel alone, because we are at work and then we just we are home alone with this baby and so, by creating our own village, it really does give us a chance to lean in on each other in motherhood.

Lisa: I think so too. You know I want to jump into your wonderful book The Empowered Mama. I was just wow, when I was reading the introduction, I was so taken aback and like wow that story that you describe about being 13 and with your dad in a dark parking lot and a man came out of the darkness and he put a gun right to you and how you talked about your life passing and you more thought about the things that you weren’t going to have because you were 13. So, talk to us about that moment.

Lisa D: Yeah, so, a lot of people don’t know this story, but I did have kind of one of those life changing experiences as a young teenager where my dad and I were held up and luckily nobody was hurt but at that moment, I definitely thought my life was passing before me and at 13, I already had a life of regret. I was a kid who was not very social. I didn’t do very well in school. And I just really didn’t try anything. So, this was my opportunity, because I walked away from that, to turn things around and I really started to try in my life and guess what. You know putting energy and effort into something even if you are not a natural, absolutely works. And so, I look back at that as really a life changing moment where I now take anything that I think I can’t do and turn it into a possible opportunity that I can turn it around.

Lisa: I think that is so great that you were able to do that. It’s funny, when I was reading about the doing terrible in school and then you found out later you had ADD and being socially awkward and very few friends and terrible in sports. I’m like wait, did I write this? Because, that sounds just like me. And then all my listeners go oh my God, there she goes again. But not only was I picked last every time in gym, they fought over who got stuck with me when I was the last one standing. And it was very difficult. So, I completely gave up and I didn’t do anything athletic until I was 17 and I started swimming and I’m like wow, I have a knack for this because I’m 5’10”, I’m all arms and legs. And I was really good, and I thought damn if I had just tried earlier. I always quit everything and it’s so funny because if someone and then I started working in aquatic therapy and in the fitness field and I became a personal trainer. And it is funny because for me, I was so interested in health and healthy living even though I was like I don’t know if I can do this, I’m just going to try, but all through school, I didn’t and so I’m glad. I mean I hate that it took such a traumatic event, but it is nice that you were able to go after things that you liked.

Lisa D: Well it is so funny, for both of us that we ended up working in the fitness industry. I mean people always are like what, you’re not – you were not athletic, but I was not at all and you’re lucky you at least found your thing with swimming. I never found anything. I have never to this day at 47 years old, ever been a natural at anything. I have had to work towards anything and that’s alright. Like that’s my thing and I’ll just keep on working on whatever it is, and I got into fitness because I figured I could lift some weights and I could do what was a group exercise at the time was aerobics at the time and not take anybody down and nobody had to depend on me. It was something I could just do for myself. So, I don’t know I definitely have found my competitive spirit since then and I might not be a natural, but I’ll go for it. So, so much of it is just perspective and what energy we put toward something.

Lisa: That is true. I have to say what I’m definitely not a natural at Lisa, is teaching aerobics. I was terrible. Because my arms are so long, that everyone else’s arms were already back down like I could even keep up with myself or the class and it was just horrendous, so that was not for me. But lifting weights and doing and I love Pilates. I love yoga. There’s other things that are – I want to jump into this book. So, this is so important because I talk about this all the time. I am so big on self-care. I think it is huge and we need it, right because it’s that whole I know everyone knows this but put on the facemask first, right. Otherwise you’re just going to crumble, and you are not going to be able to take care of everybody else.

Lisa D: Well, everybody knows that we should. I think all moms have heard that metaphor, but nobody knows how to do it. They’re like yeah that sounds great and all, but I’m so busy and like you talk to any mom and you ask her how she is, and everybody is like oh my God, I’m so busy, it’s so chaotic and so overwhelmed. And so, the idea of putting an oxygen mask on us well how? So, that’s really why I wanted to write this book was because I do meet women across the country and I don’t think that it should be a badge of honor for us to be crazy and overwhelmed. I want to see moms living as they one day want their kids to live. So, if you want your kids to stress less, have more fun, exercise more, eat better, our best chance is they are going to learn it from us and so, it’s a gift for them but It’s a gift for us. And so, I kind of turn the self-care priority list upside down to say we need to actually take care of you first and figure out how to get that on the schedule and then if something falls off, well you know it is maybe Facebook or a reality television show, but we have least gotten your self-care in at least a minimum dose.

Lisa: Oh, it is so key. You know, my daughter, she’s on the autism spectrum. She has ADD and dyslexia and a couple of other things, so her babyhood was – I mean heard doesn’t even begin to describe it. She would only sleep on top of me. Literally. And I’m not going to bore everybody, but the point is that that there are certain situations that are so incredibly hard, and I did not do any self-care and every week, my husband would sit me down. I lost like 30 pounds. I was 5’10” 124 pounds and it was not pretty. I was just depressed, it was horrible. And I remember him saying it’s okay, so she wont sleep on you today, and she will be up more tonight. But I’m like no, but I can’t, I was in this horrible cycle of like I have to be here every second because if she doesn’t sleep, I’m never going to sleep again. It was very difficult, and I couldn’t get myself out of that and I didn’t do any self-care for the first few years and it really took a toll on me. So, I love to say, even if you are in the thick of it gals, even if it is that bad, just do what you can. Now she’s thirteen and I get a facial once a month and I exercise every day. We still have challenges, but I look back and that almost seems like somebody else’s life. I’m like that was so hard and yet I survived. And so, for people out there, if you’re in it, I don’t know if you ever work with special needs moms, but it’s kind of different ballgame. I mean it definitely changes things.

Lisa D: And I think those moms need it more. I think impossible but I think those moms need it more, so it’s like find somebody, whether it is your spouse or a childcare provider or another parent that you can do child share with like that mom needs a chance to go get a chance to go a run in or a walk or something, even more and it’s like it might not be a lot, but I talk a lot about like what’s your minimum effective dose to make you at least feel well. Like, so whether it is how many vegetables you need to get in and how much movement you need each day. It might not be perfect, where you get to go to the gym and do an hour workout, but what’s the minimum that you need to get in, so you feel healthy? That’s what we need to get in for all moms.

Lisa: Yeah, I think so too. You know I remember a few times I would go to a restaurant and meet a friend for maybe an hour and they were just like what happened to you. Like you’re not even you anymore. You just lose yourself and I think it’s so important that we don’t do that, and we get the help that we need. Let’s jump into some of these things. I love this. Focus on yourself. Find your purpose. Make more time. Alright Lisa, let’s talk about that. Because that’s the biggest thing. I don’t have time, I don’t have time.

Lisa D: Well, yeah, if I’m going to tell you that we need to now fit in self-care on your already full schedule, we have to figure out how can we create more time for you. You know I always say to moms, that if I were to give you a 25th hour in the day, do you really think anything would change? And the truth is, it wouldn’t. Nothing would change. We would be just as full, we would fill it the same way we already are. So, the first thing is to be very purposeful in how we use our hours. And I do a variety of activities in the book to help you figure that out. We have something called the ideal week and ideal day schedule, so we are actually creating a budget for our time just like we would create a budget for our money. It’s not about being perfect. But it’s about planning in the things that are important to you and then we have to figure out how do we make more time? How can we create space in your life? And it’s a variety of things. I mean I’ll just give a few ideas. But you don’t have to have a personal assistant to be able to delegate. Delegating could look like I buy the roasted chicken and the precut vegetables at the market. Delegating could mean that I have my small kids helping me with some chores, even if they don’t do it as well as I would, they are still eventually helping me. And they do get it, train them well. My kids do all the laundry, walk the dog, feed the dog, they are definitely a big help. Start thinking about what are the things you can shop for online. You know there is Instacart, Amazon Fresh, like are there ways to save yourself time so you are not the one having to go to the market. Are there ways to meal plan so that you actually know what you need for the week, so you don’t have to go to the market fives times in one week. Can you buy your clothes online? Like using a company like Stitch Fix or Le Tote. So, we just look at all these different areas and we start to go okay, you know what, that would save me twenty minutes here or that might save me an hour there. And those times do add up.

Lisa: Yeah, they really do. You know I’m actually – I love second hand clothes so I love eBay. A lot of times they are not even second hand. It’s crazy. It’s like people buy stuff and I love Pronta, and Athleta and I have no connection with them, I wish I did. People buy this stuff and they maybe wear it once or they don’t wear it at all and I’m like this is great. I just spent like an eighth of what I would have spent. It’s awesome.

Lisa D: I think another one today is Posh Mart. I haven’t bought from there, but someone just told me that like you can buy amazing brands on there from somebody like they are just cleaning out their closet and like yeah, I never wore this, or it didn’t fit me. You think about, we are in a world where that’s available that never was. When my kids were born, this was not all available, but you could literally order anything from your groceries to your household goods. It’s almost like you don’t have to leave the house. But leaving the house to go shopping does take time and so that’s just one of the many things that you can delegate, and we have a whole chapter on all the things that we can take off of your schedule. Thinking about being more efficient with even your mom’s nights out. Like how many times do you see your friends. Like is there a way that you get multiple friends together and just go out one time instead of going out multiple times. Is there a way you can do a phone meeting instead of an in-person meeting which would cause driving? So, I’m just very, very careful about what I say yes to. Because every time I say yes to something, it means I’m saying no to something else. Because my life was already really full, there was no time that I was sitting around eating bon bons and watching Ellen. I used to say Oprah, but then I realized how dated that was. I never get to sit around, and I don’t know anyone who eats bon bons, but or if they even eat those anymore. But, yes, so your life is already busy so every time you are saying yes to something, you are saying no to something else. And so, it might be like when I started my podcast, I realized alright how am I going to do podcast once a week when I’m already really full? So, I turned down some of my blogging opportunities and I’m like well that takes time and so thinking about – it’s got to be a trade. You can’t keep adding more clothes in the closet without ever taking anything out.

Lisa: Oh, I love that. And that is so true. And I regularly get rid of stuff in my closet. So. Big bags of stuff.

Lisa D: Now you need to get rid of stuff on your calendar.

Lisa: Exactly. Alright, so being that this is a Talk Fitness Today, let’s talk about some of the fitness things we can do at home. I mean and maybe with friends like you were talking about, or joining the programs that you have, the Fit 4 Mom. Talk to us about that.

Lisa D: Yeah, I mean I love going and taking classes and the reason is why I started it. I started this for myself, right, I love going and taking a class because it keeps me motivated, it holds me accountable. There should be a good instructor who is putting me through a purposeful workout and that is awesome. And so, I actually do, I actually take not only do I teach my Body Back classes, I take the classes. But on the days, that I don’t have time for that, I do a workout in my garage. Like and we have this in the book as well, like a baby step workout. Pick five or six core moves that you are like – and I don’t mean core as in your abs, core as in like some all over functional moves that you are like you know what, this would help me feel fit and that I would like to progress on. And so just as an example, we have got in the book a squat, a pushup, a plank, a lunge and a pullup. I’m a big fan of pullups. If you can get a pullup bar and we give you a download that you can grab that is the baby step workout where you see how many can you do of each one of those things and for plank it is how long can you plank. And you write it down. And I don’t care if you can’t do any. Like it is whatever you are at and then a few days a week, redo that workout and just keep pushing yourself for one percent more. So, often in fitness we try to do too much, too hard, too fast. The idea is very much ties in which is just constant never-ending improvement. Just keep making a step forward. You will get to wherever you want to go, and can you imagine if you did that three days a week, where you would be a year from right now? It’s amazing. And you can put in different exercises, if there is something else that you are working on or want to do. Right now, I have two challenge exercises – I should say three, for myself. But I’m like, these are the things I can’t do, and I want to be able to say I can. So, I’m working on crow pose for yoga, I’m working on a handstand and for me it is like that pullup is my nemesis, but I’m going to be able to do it. And so, to just move forward and so I think doing a baby step workout. I am all about HIT workout, which is high intensity interval training. You can only do it a couple of days a week. But the idea is, that if you don’t have a lot of time, get in a quick HIT workout and that’s what our Body Back workouts are based on HIT as well. And so, you get the chance to really work on your endurance, you work on burning fat and it is just really efficient.

Lisa: That’s so cool. And you know my husband’s really into that and he’ll be gone, he’ll be like okay I’m going to go workout. He’s back ten minutes later and he is like drenched in sweat. Because he did that.

Lisa D: Yeah, totally. It’s amazing what you can do.

Lisa: I know I need to do that. I don’t focus enough on cardio. I focus a lot on the strength training, so I need to do that as well. And of course, stretching is so important. Let’s talk about fuel for you and your family, especially getting our kids to eat healthy.

Lisa D: Yeah, you know it’s so funny, I have – over the years of doing this, and I’ve been in the fitness industry for 25 years, so it even goes back to before Fit 4 Mom; I have had so many moms call me and say I’m really concerned about the way my daughter’s eating or I’m concerned about the way my family is eating. And I always ask them for a food diary of themselves and they are like no, no, no, I’m not talking about me, I’m talking about my kids. And I say no, let’s see what you’re eating. And nine times out of ten, when they have done this, the mom is on some diet. The mom is eating some – doing some cleanse. The mom is trying some latest packaged food product whatever it might be and the thing is, again, they are learning from us and so, I think us sharing food and food is fuel and realizing that it’s a wonderful way to bring us all together is a gift to our family and so, I have never eaten healthier than when I got pregnant. And when I became a mom. Because I knew that every single thing I ate, was creating and building my baby. And then I continued with that once my kids were born because I wanted them to see this is how I want you to eat. And so, I didn’t want packaged and processed foods in the house. And I didn’t want artificial ingredients and chemicals that could hurt us and so again, for me so much of motherhood is a gift not only for our family but ourselves. Because it gives us the opportunity to be model moms. It gives us the opportunity to be role models for them. And so, we are such a generation of looking for the latest cleanse and diet and goodness if any of those things worked, we would all be on it, like it’s never going to work long-term. Like just I know it doesn’t sound sexy, but just eat good food. Just eat real food. Eat whole foods. And so, I think that this is a gift that we can give not only to our family but as next generation of teaching our kids that eat good foods and you are going to feel good.

Lisa: It is so true. And I’m constantly talking about that. Just eat whole foods and you will feel much better. We only like a minute or two left Lisa so let’s talk about the last chapter Celebrate because I don’t think we celebrate enough. We kind of just oh this is hard. There is so much to do but, da, da, da, right?

Lisa D: I agree with you which is why I made a whole chapter about celebration. I don’t think we celebrate enough. At the end of the day, when your head hits the pillow, and I’m speaking to everybody, not just moms. You have done so much. You might not check off all of these boxes, but chances are, that you have been a cook, and a driver and a worker and a lover and a friend and a nurse and a teacher and a – it just keeps going on an on. But we don’t give ourselves any celebration for any of that. In fact, all we do is should on ourselves. S-H-O-U-L-D. That we should have done more. We didn’t get to things, but you did a lot and success begets success. Start paying attention to what you did do. Like, okay you know what, did you wake up early and get in a ten-minute workout? Or did you go for a walk during your lunch break? Like what did you do and really celebrate that. Focus on what you did right, and it will be something that will be repeated.

Lisa: That is so awesome. Lisa, tell us how we can hear your podcast?

Lisa D: Oh, it’s called the Motivating Mom podcast and, so you can find it on iTunes and you can find out anything about me or Fit 4 Mom at Fit4mom.com or feel free to find me at lisadruxman.com.

Lisa: Awesome. And the book is The Empowered Mama How to Reclaim Your Time and Yourself While Raising a Happy, Healthy Family. I want to thank everyone for listening to Talk Fitness Today. You can check us out on Twitter at talkfitness2day and on Snapchat, also on Facebook Talk Fitness Today podcast and you can check me out at healthmediagal1. Thanks for listening and stay well.

This episode of Talk Fitness was produced by The Vitamin Shoppe where trusted health enthusiasts help you thrive every day. Visit one of 800 stores across the country or head to www.Vitaminshoppe.com for all your wellness needs.