Latest / Mama Making Podcast / Bronwyn Barry | Functional Fitness for Real Life: How to Stop Chasing Fads and Start Moving for the Life You Actually Have

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Bronwyn Barry | Functional Fitness for Real Life: How to Stop Chasing Fads and Start Moving for the Life You Actually Have · Mama Making Podcast

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to the Mama Making Podcast, where we share stories of moms making impact in their own lives and in the world around them.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Jessica, and each week I sit down with women for building businesses, leading communities, shaping culture, and redefining what success looks like inside of motherhood.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Because motherhood does not have to stop your ambition, it can transform it.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now let's get into it.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Hello everyone, and welcome to the Mama Making Podcast.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Jessica.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: If you're new, welcome.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: If you're not new, then welcome back.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Today I am so excited to have Bronwyn Berry on the podcast.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: She is the founder of BU Fitness and Nutrition, a functional fitness and nutrition practice that helps people move better, feel more in control of their health, and stop chasing fads that were never going to work anyway.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Bronwyn is making impact by rewriting the fitness narrative for people in the wellness industry that completely leaves people behind.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: New parents, people in life transition, women over 35.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for being here, Bronwyn.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the podcast.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: It is a pleasure to be here today.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: So tell us a little bit more about you, who you are, where you're from, whatever you're comfortable sharing.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I am Bronwyn, as you heard.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: I currently live in a county called Cork in a country called Ireland.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: I moved here six years ago.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Literally, I'm pretty sure I was like the third to last flight into the country before COVID locked us down.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that was fun.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Moved country, like recently engaged, ready to make friends, ready to help people on this side of the Atlantic, and then to sit in our houses for six months was really tough.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: But I met my husband, who is Irish, working on cruise ships.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: I used to be a professional dancer and aerialist.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I worked on cruise ships, I worked in theme parks, I trained in classical modern dance when I was in college.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so my lifestyle largely weighed on me being fit enough for my job.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: And when I started working in that industry, it was a lot of fitting into certain things, fitting into costumes, fitting into partnering tracks.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I was working so hard to fit into stuff that actually I wasn't fit enough for my job.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it wasn't until I changed my mindset around what fitting into my job meant that I was actually able to see success.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: And when I was on cruise ships, I was able to travel the world doing what I loved.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: I met this guy that I thought was really cute, couldn't really understand his accent because he was from a different country, and didn't realize until I was too late in the game that, okay, screwed, and I'm moving, moving to Ireland.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: But when we were working on ships, I I myself encountered a lot of digestion issues.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: We were traveling country a lot.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Our food was always coming from different places.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't say what I wanted to eat when I wanted to eat it, and that was really hard.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it it showed like my gut just wasn't happy.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so my stint on cruise ships is what led me to go back to school to get a bachelor's in nutrition science and therapeutic.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I combine that with personal training in my work today, and it's largely geared towards women in their 30s, their mid-30s, and onwards, because when you're in your 20s, you've got all the energy and all the voomph and all the determination and the goodwill.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: But when you're in your 30s, 40s, and 50s, you've got things that easily stand in your way, like work, taking care of family, dealing with big moves, big losses, big wins.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just thought, hang on, these are the people we need to be taking care of here.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's where my work is focused today.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the work that you're doing is seems so impactful to me just because we're we're focused on this ideal of health and wellness and what it looks like or should look like for everybody.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, it's a big societal and cultural pressure, and what fitness looks like for everybody is different.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so what I like about the work that you're doing is that you're really taking people where they're at, with their lifestyle circumstances.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think one of the things that we struggle with as a society is that we are if we're on a fitness journey, we have a plan, we have a meal plan, we have a fitness routine, but then the second something in our life goes awry or out of plan.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: I know speaking speaking from my own experience, I'm like off the rails and don't know how to get back on.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think we really need to, we really lack taking into life circumstances that come up and how to address our goals and kind of adjust based on what's happening for us.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why I really love the work that you're doing and excited to get into it.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I think too, there's a big, you know, you have the big goal in certain areas of life, like say again, if we're if you're reflecting on yourself, just starting in your workplace, just meeting people in your community, maybe just starting to build a family, those goals are meant to evolve.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I think as a society as well, all of the health and wellness waffle, as I call it, that we deal with on a daily, weekly, monthly basis, all that waffle is designed to keep us focusing on a goal set that might have served a version of you five years ago or three years ago, but the version of you now is constantly needing to update your goals and to alter them, like you say, because of circumstances, whether they're in your control or out of them.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to go back to your early start because I think what people don't realize until they're in it is the mental gymnastics we do when it comes to health and fitness.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: And that I think there's a lot of like behavior and like story rewriting that we have to do.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to hear what your process was going from this like high, how do I want to say it?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like this high need position or job that you had to focus on your body and then realizing wait, the the way I'm supposed to look versus the way I need to feel in my body to do my job well are different.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: What was that mental stuff that you had to do?
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how did you have to rewrite that story for yourself?
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: I know a lot of people were like like speaking from my own experience.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was a dancer.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: I danced competitively when I was younger, and I was so lucky to be part of a dance community that was size inclusive.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: We never talked about our bodies in a way that was harmful to us.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: We were always taught about eating well and fueling our bodies.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that not everyone has that experience and was able to see firsthand competing with the same groups of people and competing with other studios that that was not the case.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: What was it like for you?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: And how did you have to make that mental shift when focusing more on being functional in your health and wellness?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I had so it's a high-intensity career for sure.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's high intensity.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually had two instances where I needed to reframe my mindset or reframe the way that I was treating myself.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: The first was when I was actually graduating from college.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: I had an experience with disordered eating, total transparency, and was just ignoring it for lack of a better word.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I went straight from graduation in Fairfax, Virginia, to living in New York City and paying my own rent, working a hostess job late into the night.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: I worked at an athleta location in Flatiron for a time as well.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: So those mornings were early and trying to juggle, taking class and auditions in between.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I didn't have a lot of control of my time and my circumstances when I moved to the city.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: It was like fly by the seat of your pants, do what you need to do to make it, because that's what I was taught when I was in college.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas when I was in college, I had the space to have control.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I lost control and I didn't actually realize until I wasn't booking work.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I was sitting differently in my clothes, and some underlying health issues were being worked through.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And at the time, I was just thinking, what's going on?
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: How have I snowballed like this?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And where has my sense of discipline gone?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, in hindsight, that was an area where I could have paused and said, Okay, Bronwyn, you're working 20 hours in the day, you're getting three hours of sleep, and you are running, running, running, running, running.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: But instead, what I was doing was panicking because my body was changing shape at a really rapid pace in a healthy way.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: But I had no control over it.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I needed to just give in.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: And at that time when I realized just give in to what your body's doing because something is happening and it's good.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: I got hired for my first paid performing gig at a theme park.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I went into a very athletic show.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: And for anyone who isn't familiar with theme park performances, the people you see in the shows are the same people who are doing that same show about six times a day.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, it's like like the morning marathon of getting yourself up and out of the door with your kids before 8:30 in the morning.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like picture doing that marathon six times in your day.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: You're just oh wow, brain explosion.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: But I went to work in theme parks and very athletic show, and I had a body that was working for it.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: College Bronwyn would not have made it through the shows because you could have blown at her and she would have fallen over.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas now I had more behind me.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so that theme park job transitioned into cruise ship job, which is where my next downfall, if you can say, was.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that was that at the end of that first contract, all of my castmates were getting rehired and I was not.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so I immediately went into the past version of myself, which said, okay, you don't look the part.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: You look wrong.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: You don't look like you should or like you could.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: And went back to theme parks after that first since on a ship because I had bills to pay and I wanted to perform and got injured.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: I broke a toe.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Most inconvenient.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the only thing that I could do to heal that injury as fast as I wanted to so I could get back to doing what I love was focusing on my nutrition and how I was strengthening the parts of my body that I could use.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't bear weight for a few weeks.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: I was in a boot, so I couldn't keep up with the high intensity work that was keeping me athletically conditioned.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: I had to focus on ulterior, alternative, excuse me, ways of strengthening my body.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I really honed in on how I was fueling myself.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really where I saw the mindset shift, which has stayed true today to myself and to my clients.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: Treating myself as well as I can is enabling me to show up better.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: For me, that was showing up better in my workplace.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: But I've applied the same principles to showing up better as a bride to be, showing up better as a mom to be and a new mom and a, you know, a mom of an almost one-year-old.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's a big thing where you're saying, okay, you've only got one kid.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's easy to do with one kid.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: I understand I'm very blessed at the moment I've only got one child.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: But the big picture moment for me and the big picture moment that I always ask clients to tap into is treating yourself well so that you can be the well person that is expected of you in whatever capacity or whatever space you're showing up in.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that was that was a big thing for me when I had the foot injury and I still needed to show up for work.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: I know the moment I get cleared for work, I'm expected to be at the level that I used to be at.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: I had to be ready.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's where my biggest shift in health and well-being happened.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: And that I always refer back to that with clients when they're going through things.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love I love utilizing fitness or like wellness in general.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, to me, wellness means so many different things.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: But I think using like fitness and nutrition together as a tool as you hit these kinds of transitions in your life.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's primarily the the uh the your ideal client, if you will, people who are going through transitions.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: What does that look like for you in terms of I would I would just love to know more about what that looks like in in real time navigating life transitions of any kind, like you just mentioned, becoming a mom or being a business owner now or having any kind of life transition?
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: How do you help people work through maintain fitness journey or maintaining a nutrition challenge or whatever it might be?
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: What does that look like for you working with your clients?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Start with drilling into clients' heads that any plan that you have, whether you're downloading a fitness app or you're working with a personal trainer or you're working with an online coach, you are given an opportunity to show up for yourself.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's always what I ask clients to work the hardest on first, because we are in such a place in 2026 where it's so easy to say, I don't have time.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have time to drive to the gym.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have the 10 minutes to work out right now because I haven't had enough of a break between meetings, I don't have five minutes to make my breakfast for the next morning because I need to make the kids' lunches.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always, always, always, always asking clients to understand that whatever you invest in, whatever service or program or goods that you invest in, you are giving yourself, you're creating opportunity for yourself to put yourself first.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that in and itself can be pretty powerful.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: I do have a client at the moment who is a dancer in New York City.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: She is constantly bouncing between going home to get out of the city, coming back and working a weekend job, heading straight into her working week at another job, and things can get chaotic.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: And the biggest thing that I'm working on with this person is releasing, like releasing the expectation that if a workout doesn't happen at 5 a.m., it's not happening because my day is too chaotic.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, we reframe that mindset and we say, okay, 5 a.m.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: is the time that you can get a 45-minute workout in.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: 10 a.m.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: is the time that you can get a 20-minute workout in.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: 3 p.m.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: could be the time that you could get a 20-minute workout in, or 8 p.m., you could get a 10-minute workout in.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: Either way, you've got four windows in your day to do something active, to do something that works on your strength building specifically.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that's another thing that I use with clients in their toolkit when they're going from pre prenatal to postnatal, for dancing to behind the desk, or working on ships to taking some time off on land.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: You need to have intention behind what you're doing.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that's another thing that I'd say that's the thing that actually frustrates me about the health and wellness advice and saturation on social media at the moment.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Just move.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, just move.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: But if you want to move, if you want to be stronger, if you want to be more toned, if you want to be more powerful, just moving needs a bit more refinement.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: So having intention behind what you're doing in your window of opportunity is vital.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the next thing that I work on with clients is okay, identifying your opportunity window and getting used to seeing it as a window of opportunity, not a window of if I don't get it done, might as well throw myself over the edge into the river.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: But getting clients to understand what to do in that opportunity.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that surrounds their goals.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: And everyone's goals are different, but having a goal is helpful because it creates purpose behind your movement.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: And behind your movement, we need strength training fundamentals.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: And you can strength train for 45 minutes three times a week, you can strength train for 10 minutes five times a week.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Either option is just as beneficial as the other.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's just understanding which opportunity is going to serve you better in the long term.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: So we look at opportunity windows, we look at creating strategy into what you're doing in those windows of opportunity.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then I get specific with the support that clients need.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: So then we get down to the nitty-gritty of okay, have three windows of 45 minutes opportunities in your week, this is how you're strength training.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: If you have five windows, 10 minutes each in your week, this is how you're strength training.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: And another thing as well is when we're getting specific and when I'm supporting people, I'm supporting you and remembering that your opportunity windows are there.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm supporting you by giving you the programming, but also I'm supporting you when things don't go to plan because we have, thanks to health and wellness these days, we have an image where consistency means doing something perfectly every day.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: We can't do that.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's physically not possible.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: I wish it were because I'm that kind of person.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: But we cannot do perfect seven days a week.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: You might do perfect two days a week, one week, the next week.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: You might do perfect four days a week.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: The week after that, you might be back down to two days of perfect.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: But that actually is what's building consistency over the long term.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: So opportunity, strategy, system and support, and looking at consistency from like a bigger scheme versus the week to week or the day to day, like looking at it at a more broader perspective over the course of a month.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love the idea of having a specific goal, but it's more like a specific motivation.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think we in the world we're in today, I feel like it's either very oversimplified, like you said, like just do something or just move, which is great advice, but like not really anything concrete.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Or we're like, I'm doing this regimen, it's it's definitely a we're gonna be quiet.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's it's this this many times a week, this many hours, I need to do all these.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like there's no in-between.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I love about what you're doing.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: I totally identify with being like, well, I don't have the time to do XIP.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: I have an abundance of opportunity.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: We have a home gym, my husband has a profit gym and a high-intensity training gym.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: I have more than enough opportunity.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: But if I'm in a week where I'm like, it's I own my own business, we have a three-year-old, I am like slammed all week.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: I love the idea of windows of opportunity because I think for me, if I I've I've gotten the advice, and I know it works for some people to just pencil it in and make sure it's in your day, which is how my husband does it.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: But for me, it's like, okay, but if I don't get to it that day, or like I have something really pressing, or that time no longer works for me that day, it's a failure for me.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: I see it as I have failed to do this thing rather than identifying here the pockets of time in my day or my week to fit in these workouts or to fit in meal prepping or whatever it might be.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: I love that idea of being uh adaptive just because as moms and women, I think we are doing so much all the time that being able to pivot and adapt is something that is a strong suit for us.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: But when it comes to us and making time to adjust and manage the things that we have going on and putting ourselves first is a challenge.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I love the idea of pockets or windows of time that you can take when things get a little chaotic and out of your schedule or routine or plan.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think you touched on an interesting point there too, Jessica, about how say you're a business owner, you have a three-year-old, your your partner, your husband has his own gym and his own CrossFit space.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so he he is very fortunate in that he steps into that space and he's in it already.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's actually the biggest barrier that most people deal with is getting into your training space or getting into your food prep space.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you've got a three-year-old, I have an almost one-year-old, I'm exhausted from making his food.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like I am, I'm just over it.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: By the time I've done his lunch for the next day and I know what he's having for dinner, I don't want to put any thought into what I'm eating.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: I need something that is brainless, but also I need it to have, you know, I need my day to have upwards of a hundred grams of protein.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: I need to be getting my 25 grams of fiber.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: I can't be forfeiting my iron and my zinc because I need my immune function to work.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: So you're just like, what how do I do this?
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: How do I do this?
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: And asking for help, asking for guidance is the best way to do it.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: But it all starts with you just the the biggest barrier is going from A to B.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: Putting yourself in your workout space or your food prep space after you've spent time food prepping somebody else.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: You're just like, this takes a lot of effort here.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard mentally.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, totally.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's what's so important about I think the work that you're doing with like First step is deciding or making the choice to prioritize ourselves.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: I think as moms and women, we're always the last on our list, which is obviously a culture that needs to change we'd all love to do it differently.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: But I think making the choice to say I'm going to make the choice to say I'm going to prioritize myself and share the pockets of time that I can do it.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot I know me specifically and like just tell me what to do.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: I've I'll I'll figure out the time to do it, or we'll work together to figure out a pocket of time that I can do.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: I am tired of making decisions, I'm tired of thinking through things.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: And if I were to go to the gym, I think that's exactly what I need to do.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: I have I have 20 minutes to run into my home gym and do a quick strength training workout, but I need someone to tell me what to do.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like this is a barrier a lot of moms and women probably experience that we have a decision fatigue, we have that mental load.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of advice do you have for women when they're searching for a program or searching for something, trying to figure out something that works for them in terms of a system or a program for fitness and nutrition?
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Look for flexibility.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and I mean look for flexibility from the person offering the service or the program.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: So putting myself in my shoes with a coach, I'm looking for someone who can give me a split, like a training split that is going to cater to three days a week.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's my ideal.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's my ideal for strength training.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: At the same time, I need to know that in my back pocket, I've got a backup plan of two days a week, which can be more realistic depending on the week that I have as a business owner, as a parent, you know, whatever have you.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: I need to make sure there's something in my back pocket.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I have something concrete, just as concrete as the main program.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: I need something concrete as my fallback program should things hit advance.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: Flexibility and understanding that I'm a working parent and that, like you say, very important to identify that that decision fatigue is very real by about 9.35 a.m.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't want to be making decisions of you can have this for lunch or you can have that for lunch.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: You need something that says, okay, this is a quick meal for you to go to.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is a quick meal for you to go to, and this is a quick meal for you to go to.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: I need minimal choices.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: I don't need a laundry list of things.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: I need minimal choices, and I can say, okay, I have those ingredients in my fridge right now.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's my lunch.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Boom, done, sorted.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: You also want flexibility in your programming, in your structure, fitness, nutrition, mindset, whatever it may be, to have to take artistic liberty.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes inspiration does strike, and you do fancy whipping up your own gourmet meal prep for all five days of your work week because you just on a whim decided, yeah, I'm gonna do that.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: And you also need something for the times when you're saying, nope, I'm flying by the seat of my pants right now, and I just need to know instinctively how to make random things come together to meet my needs.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because every week is different, every day is different.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I think when you're inundated with a really strict, like you have to do it this way, and this is the only way you can progress.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you don't start here, you can't collect all your coins on the way, and and then you're really screwed and you're trying to catch up the rest of the week.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: When you're inundated with programming like that, especially programs that are very slow investments, they're not getting you results because there's nothing there that's helping you understand, okay, this week, here's what went really well, and here's what might be able to go better to help you reach your goals.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: All of those lower ticket, and I don't mean to bash them, some people don't have the financial resources to invest in a private coach, private chef, private nanny.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Some of us don't have those resources, but the lower ticket programs typically don't have space around them for flexibility in meeting your needs.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas if you go for something more midline, maybe kind of at the top end of whatever your budget would be, you're increasing your chances of having that flexibility provided for you.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a more supportive environment, it's more opportunities, whether you take them or not.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think that's a really great breakdown.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think you could go for the and and good transparency, I think too, that higher ticket programming or coaching is going to afford you a little bit more flexibility.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe you can only afford that lower ticket not so customizable programming.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: But be if that's where you're at, being able to still change your mind frame to say, okay, here's what I have and kind of be able to work with it, still find those those windows of time, give yourself some grace and flexibility, I think uh is a great idea of how you can implement it based on wherever you're at in your life.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I like when I was on my first ship contract, I did invest in a trainer.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: I because at that point, all my castmates had been rehired in our company and I still didn't have my contract.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I was I was panicking because I was just like, I I need work, like, and this is this is gut-wrenching that I haven't been rehired.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: And this trainer sent me a program and I also got a meal plan, as you typically do with a personal trainer.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Okay, this is gonna help me, keep me on the straight and narrow, it's gonna work well.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, the trainer obviously didn't ask what equipment I had available to me because some of the exercises I couldn't do because we didn't have that equipment on the ship.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: The meal plan, also not great, because I didn't realize that I had a food intolerance, and a lot of food on that meal plan was was using my intolerance as like its mainstay.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it also was just like, okay, I can't eat that for dinner because tonight in crew mess we don't have chicken, rice, and broccoli.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: We have lentils, some weird fish stew, and a salad bar.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what do I do here?
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it was frustrating because I'd I'd spent money, you know, nobody likes parting with money and feeling like it's gonna be a waste.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'd spent money that I kind of felt like it was a waste, and I was annoyed because I'd spent that money to try and get myself rehired to keep earning money.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just, it was such a letdown.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not something that I want for any person anywhere mom, business owner, family carer.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want that for you.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to be investing the money that you feel comfortable investing in, something that's going to create that window of opportunity for you.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's something that I take a lot of pride in.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually have a lot of conversations on Instagram and via email with people who said, saw this on Instagram or read your article on some stack.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: Can you help me?
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how do I, how do I get a fitness plan for free?
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and I'm helping people troubleshoot.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that's something as well when you're looking at the services that you need for yourself.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: You want somebody who is transparent.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want somebody who says, you can have a five-minute consultation and that five minutes is just that person informing you about their packages specifically.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: You'd want to have a 15-minute conversation, ideally.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know that time is valuable, but a 15-minute conversation where you said, look, I have$10 a month to allocate to a workout program.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: What can I do?
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that person will either say, I have a$10 program and this is what it's like, or I don't have a$10 program.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: My program is$500, but here's how you can get the$10 program instead.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: You want that transparency.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I totally agree.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's, I mean, a a bigger conversation about like quality of services and the health and wellness industry that we could we could have a whole nother episode about.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: But I think part two, part two, Jessica.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go with part two.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: But I think at the end of the day, it's finding people who you align with that you like to follow, that you like know would be invested in, making sure you get what you need wherever you're at.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I think going back to the topic of like motivation or goals.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: I one of the things that I like that you talk about is being proud of the space that you take up as a mom or a woman or a professional, whatever it is.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I would love to talk a little bit more with you about that side of things.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: Purely came from the fact that when I was studying for a career that I was very passionate about, I was trying to shrink myself.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: But the shrinking didn't get me hired.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: It was the strength building that did it and taking pride in how my body operates versus how my body appeared or how my body fit into certain things.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you have like a pride for yourself, a pride for what your body can do, that is a lot easier to build off of versus shrink myself down, dumb myself down, put myself in my little box because you get really tired of being in that tiny box.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas when you actually set out with the goal to take up as much space as you can in the world, that's when things start coming for you.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: Things start coming for you.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that can be said the same pride in taking up space can be said when you're in really challenging situations.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: I work with a client right now who is the carer for an elderly parent.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: This client lives with the parent and does have some home help, but the home help isn't there 24-7.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I can tell when I'm working with this person on a private personal training capacity.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: So when I'm working with this person, I can tell this is the this is the sanity time.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is the sanity time, this is the structure for the day, and this is the strength building that she's undertaking so that she can step out of her bedroom in her family home and go help her older parent.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that's frustrating because a lot of times we will spend some time up her session discussing what's gone on recently, how challenging things are with this parent, and how she is just wanting, you know, she like we all do, she's having days where she's fed up.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: She wants a break.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: She needs help.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: The home help's not there until tomorrow, and so on and so forth.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: So taking up space, this person, this woman is taking up space in her day for herself so that she doesn't totally lose it the rest of the day.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're caring for an older parent, that older parent could be up at 6 a.m.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine your day starts at 6 a.m.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: and doesn't end until 8 p.m.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: That whole day of dealing with an older parent, it's much different than dealing with a child.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: It is much different than dealing with a child.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: And because you love that child and you are so used to caring for that child, we love our parents.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: We're not used to caring for them.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: We're used to them caring for us.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: So being in that position of I need to show up as my best self for my parent, there's a lot of pressure on it.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: But taking the time to strength train has helped this individual in particular.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's helped this woman understand that, okay, there's pressure and I can only do the best with what I have.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it's helped this person's mental health a lot in being in this situation.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: And she's been in this situation for a while.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's been an extended period of time.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: How great that her parent is living well into older years, but it's hard.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of pressure.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so she feels this client feels literally strong enough to handle the pressure of taking care of that parent by strength training and by showing up for herself in her windows of opportunity in the week.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I love the term functional fitness.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, I come from a previous CrossFitter world where functional fitness is like the key term in the CrossFit world because you're strength training and doing all these workouts that are able to run around with your kids or do your job better, whatever it might be.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, this individual that you're working with is getting the benefit of strength training to be able to health care for this their elder parent.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_01: But on the other hand, they're getting the functional part of being able to decompress their body and talk about what's going on for them.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: And it's more than just fitness.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's more than just working out your body and getting fitter.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: There's more to it of that.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I I love that piece of functional fitness that it's not just the movement, it's also, it's like every part of your life.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine stepping into, I mean, you're yourself.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine stepping into a gym and just closing your eyes, unplugging your brain and saying, okay, do a clean and jerk.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: You your brain and body have to be connected.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: And that's I think that's so important in your fitness journey and your nutrition journey as well.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: Your brain and body have to be connected because they they just do.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: I said so, they just do.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: But that connection that connection stays with you.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a connection that's that's been there from a very, very, very early age.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: You can't just detach the two.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: The two are literally physically connected, and there's no point in not using that connection as your strength.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like literally having a well-integrated body can be a massive strength, a massive strength asset to you, whether it be a physical strength, a mental strength, or an emotional strength.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: But understanding yourself and understanding how you move in space and understanding what you need internally for energy makes a huge difference in just getting by or thriving.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I love that.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_01: Last thing that I want to ask you about.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, in the beginning, you said that you now live in Ireland.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to know more about what the differences are that you see in culture for health and wellness in Ireland than you saw here living in the States.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the biggest difference is when the sun's out, nobody is doing anything indoors.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: We do not take the sun for granted here.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're currently experiencing a little bit of a mini heat wave.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I any Irish client that I've spoken to this week has said, Yeah, I haven't been in the gym at all.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Don't blame you.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: Be out in the sun.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: We do not take the sun for granted.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: What other differences are there?
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's very, it feels very not boring, but it feels very safe in the gym.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: You're safe, you're doing your strength training.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: Crossfit wouldn't be the biggest thing here.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: Exercise classes and recreational sports are huge.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we were talking earlier about how that's helped.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like that is a big community aspect.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: And from a very young age, children are playing sports here, and not just one sport.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Children are playing a myriad of sports in a week.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: My child is 11 months old.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: My husband already wants to get him sports equipment that he won't need until he's four or five.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it translates into adulthood here.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so team sport, recreational sport, recreational competitive sport is massive because that's how they've grown up in staying active.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, now with adults, adults are competing on team sports or adults are training on team sports and they are then stepping into the gym to accessorize or enhance what they're doing for the team sports.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of like a it's a positive feedback loop.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: People start being active, or people have always been active because that's what they've known it from childhood.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: Then they step into the gym so that they can keep doing what they've always enjoyed doing since childhood better.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's so cool.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: My my husband also does jujitsu.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the things that his his coach talks about is like, as adults, we never get the opportunity to play anymore.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: And like whatever that looks like for you is different.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: But I think, like you said, that positive feedback, this is what brought me joy as a kid.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm continuing to do it now as an adult.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_01: I might need a little, like I said, a little bit more accessorizing to the fitness routine to be able to continue to do that at whatever level you would like to be.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: But it's very cool to hear that you guys are really sticking with those activities and keeping being active, not necessarily competitive or whatever it might be, but that that's ingrained in the culture.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it was something that I was so thankful to embrace when COVID finally eased up and we could actually resume teen sports again.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: I I didn't realize how much of a a social aspect it was here until I joined the swim team.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: And these are these are friends.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: We've all gone to each other's weddings.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: We go to swim meets on the weekends and we have no problem sharing rooms.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just, I didn't realize how fun being athletic could be, actually, until I was here, because so much of my life had been, okay, you must be athletic for work.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: So being able to tap into the social community aspect of it has been amazing.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because I love going swimming.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now, even if I'm if I know I don't like the coach, I don't like the set that's there, my friends are gonna be there.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just gonna go for the laugh anyway, as they say over here, go for the laugh.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's nice to be wanting to treat my body well and to move my body well and to have friends in the process.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that can be really motivating.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, on the days where you don't like the workout that's planned, or you don't like the fact that training is at 8 p.m.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: after all the kids have gone to bed and all you want to do is sit down on the couch with a glass of wine.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's nice because you're like, you know what, I'm gonna show up because all my friends are going anyway from the team and we're all just gonna have a great time.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love that.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, in wrapping up, is there any last words of advice that you have for moms and women wanting to start prioritizing themselves and focus on getting themselves in a health and wellness routine and prioritizing themselves?
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: Before you get into the fitness and nutrition, make sure you understand where your mindset is.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: Meet yourself where you are.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: Don't don't try and change yourself.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: Don't try and say, okay, I need to have a mindset shift and I need that mindset shift first before I do anything.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: Just look at where your mindset is and then say, okay, how does fitness apply in this mindset?
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: Or how does nutrition apply in this mindset?
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: And at least you know where to start so that you know how you can progress.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's great advice.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, tell people where they can find you website, social media, and then anything exciting you have coming up or things to offer.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you can find me on Instagram at B E.u Fitness and Nutrition.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: You can also find me on Substack under Braunman Barry, and you can head to my website, BEU Fitnessandrition.com, to learn more about my services and yeah, learn more about me and my journey.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: I have a very exciting summer coming up, a summer of solo parenting.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_00: My husband is a seafarer and he's heading back to work soon.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: So it'll be me and my little guy for a few weeks until the husband comes home.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_00: But I am opening enrollment or I have opened enrollment for a six-month fitness program called Function, helping tired humans function better is what I do best.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a six-month program giving you as many windows of opportunity as you need at this moment in time to prioritize your physical strength specifically.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a periodized program.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: So you're not doing the same workouts for six months.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: You get new workouts every six weeks.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: They are scalable for equipment or non-equipment users, and they're also scalable for beginner movers, intermediate exercisers, and advanced athletes.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_00: So that's open for enrollment now, which is very exciting because if people start now or start in June, it takes care of your fitness plan for the rest of the year, which I think is really helpful when you get into the summer holidays and the kids have all the activities, you get back into the school term and you've got to take care of all the school supplies, and then all of a sudden it's Christmas and you need to buy all the price.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's great.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_01: We'll put all of that in the show notes.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but thank you so much for being here.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_01: This is really great to chat about you and what you're doing.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me, Jessica.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: You're so welcome.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_01: If this conversation resonated with you, I'd love for you to follow the podcast wherever you listen and share it with another mom building something meaningful.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: If you want deeper behind the scenes reflections that I don't share anywhere else, join my email list at the Mama Making Podcast.com.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for being here, and I'll see you next time.