B I R T H F I T
BIRTHFIT ::
“ What is it and how it can benefit you whether you are in the preconception, prenatal or postpartum part of the motherhood transition ”
_ by Whitney Briggs
MMW is grateful to have a cooperative of incredible birth workers and health practitioners to share the journey of womne’s health. I {Irina} feel especially excited about this BLOG contribution by the lovely Whitney Briggs, the Regional Director of BIRTHFIT West Palm Beach.
Whitney is a birth educator, doula and mother of two beautiful daughters Nova and Sloane. She owns and operates her own Functional Fitness Gym with her husband Mac. I have had the great pleasure of getting to know this amazing woman and I am thrilled she has taken time out to tell us more about Birthfit! Enjoy!
BIRTHFIT began in California in 2011 and was created by Chiropractor, Doula, Coach, and Yoga Instructor, Dr. Lindsey Mathews. Fast forward 8 years and we’ve got 118 Regional Directors around the globe. BIRTHFIT focuses on four main pillars when it comes to how we encourage everyone - not just mamas - to approach life. If you’re someone looking for quality and optimal living, and looking to thrive, our four pillars are fitness, nutrition, mindset and connection.
Fitness:
When it comes to fitness, we say move, and move well. What does this mean? It means a fitter mom equaling a fitter baby. It means mama having more tools in her tool box for labor and the postpartum. It means being intuitive and listening to those maternal instincts. What this doesn’t mean is attempting to get your “body back” post baby in an unhealthy attempt to meet the standards of some social media paradigm. It doesn’t mean finding your one rep max squat at 38 weeks pregnant, or doing burpees until you go into labor. It means talking the real stuff like diastasis recti abdominis (DRA), how to identify it, and how to rehabilitate it. We discuss what it means to have a healthy pelvic floor, and how to breathe to aid in healing and stimulating the vagus nerve (hello rest and digest!). It means learning what professionals you can go see to support you in this time period within your community (along with your BIRTHFIT Regional Director of course!).
We believe that just because you’ve been cleared to workout and have sex at 6 weeks postpartum, does not mean that that looks like 20 year old you doing a sprint triathalon and having sexy time like you ate a plate of aphrodisiacs. It means honoring yourself, here and now, taking a slow is fast approach to this new transition, and giving your queen-self grace and love, like you deserve.
Nutrition:
We want you to be nourished, not calorie restricted. Eat foods that serve you. Ask yourself before you take a bite of something if that food is going to serve your highest and best self. Eat real food. Eat quality fats, and don’t be afraid of them. Fats support hormones in an immense way, therefore supporting mama in conception, pregnancy, and postpartum. Fats support a growing baby’s brain, therefore supporting your growing babe’s cognitive function. Fats support mama’s milk supply coming in and staying strong, as well as being more nutritionally dense and satiating for babe. Fat aids in the healing and balance of mama’s system that is attempting to regulate now that baby is no longer being housed in your body. Eat greens. Eat quality protein that is grassfed, organic, and free-range when possible. Eat wild caught fish. Eat eggs. The whole-dang-egg. Get that yolk into you because that choline within that yolk is magic for your developing baby. If meat isn’t your jam, be sure to get in quality protein, aminos, and omega 3’s from a nutritious source like red marine algae. Lastly, let’s talk carbs. Carbs are not always the enemy, just hold the reins on the pop tarts and mac and cheese as much as possible and eat quality carbs like sweet potato, yams, and rice. Always supplement with a quality prenatal vitamin that has folate in it, (from methylfolate, NOT folic acid) and make sure you keep your omega 3 fatty acid intake on the up and up! Oh, and HYDRATE! South Florida is a doozie especially in the summer months while pregnant and breastfeeding.
Mindset:
This one is simple, and to the point, yet in my opinion, the most difficult to achieve: “working to create space between a stimulus and a response.” What does that mean? Working to be less reactionary and emotional in our responses, taking a moment to get present, reflect, and then respond with intent and love. Always working to find a balance, and choosing love when both fear and love are on the forefront.
Connection:
Connection with self. Connection with those around us. Connection with baby. Connection with your body. Connection with your partner. Connection with your community. If you don’t have a community, we are here for you and supply you with tools to help you create one (insert BIRTHFIT Postpartum Series here!). Connection with the providers in your community that are ready and willing to serve you. In doing this, I find mamas tend to have a better connection with themselves on an emotional level and a physical one. I’m talking massage therapists, pelvic floor physical therapists, chiropractors, midwives, OBs, your family doctor. I’m talking being able to trust them, be open with them, and be heard by them. That, my friends, is connection.
More about West Palm Birthfit & Offerings
Here’s what I offer as a BIRTHFIT Regional Director and how I spread the magic of BIRTHFIT within this community and would love to spread to you:
I offer one on one consults.
We talk about the four Pillars. I talk DRA; if you’ve already had a baby or babies, we talk about your births. I teach your proper mechanics of breathwork, I go over functional progressions based on developmental kinesiology to properly support you in strengthening your core effectively while pregnant or postpartum. We talk about what to avoid and what to include as far as movement goes in the prenatal and postpartum period. This session is 1.5-2 hours long.
I host workshops.
Maybe you’re at a local gym and your pregnant and some of your other mama friends are looking to conceive or are pregnant also, or are postpartum and want some guidance/support in this big ol’ journey. Maybe your coach is looking to grow more in his/her coaching skills and wants to learn more to fill their tool box. Boom, a BIRTHFIT Workshop then takes place! This is a 3-4 hour long afternoon and is generally filled with lots of eye opening conversations, high fives, and minds being blown when we talk about babies and their primal movements, developmental kinesiology, and how it all ties together like a beautifully wrapped Christmas gift with a puppy in it, sitting under your tree. Yup - as good as a puppy.
I host the BIRTHFIT Prenatal Series.
This is childbirth education at it’s finest. It’s an all encompassing, (in my opinion) mind-blowing, and engaging series that will teach families the ins and outs of pregnancy, birth, and equally important - postpartum. You’ll come out feeling like you yourself were reborn, for lack of a better term, in the sense that you came in not knowing what you didn’t know and you leave with an impressively full birth tool box, postpartum tool box, and connection in a divine way with your partner.
I host two versions of BIRTHFIT Postpartum Series.
One is once a week, four weeks long, and this is the Postpartum Series: Breath and Flow. This one is gentle, lovely, integrative, intentional, and pure gold. It is for mamas 4 weeks postpartum on (if mama had a surgical birth we recommend she wait until 6 weeks) who are looking to gently reconnect with their core, pelvic floor, and movement in general. We are familiarizing with this gorgeous new canvas and we learn about the ins and outs of core stability, breath, pelvic floor dysfunction, and what it means to apply the four pillars into this juicy thing called the motherhood transition.
The other mother-of-all series is the BIRTHFIT Postpartum Series. This one encompasses the same principles as the Postpartum Series: Breath and Flow, but also with a functional fitness piece included. This is to help encourage smart, supported fitness in the postpartum period that’s going to support the rehabilitation of your beautiful body as it heals (yes, it’s still healing at 6 weeks postpartum). We connect with the mamas in the class. We discuss, we support, we move, we breathe. This series meets twice per week for four weeks, and we recommend mamas are at least 6 weeks postpartum and cleared by their provider to take part in physical activity. That being said, BIRTHFIT is for ANY postpartum mama. I’ve had mamas 11 years post baby in my series, reaping the benefits of the magic. As always in these series, non-mobile babies are welcomed.
Lastly, BIRTHFIT Fitness.
This is offered twice per week in my gym in West Palm Beach. This is for mamas who have either consulted with me and learned the functional progressions and have a fitness background, or they have taken a full postpartum series with me. I incorporate the functional progressions within the programming of your workout, and I don’t put any movements within the construct that can jeopardize your journey to fully rehabilitate and strengthen your canvas. This series is for women looking to conceive, pregnant mamas, and postpartum mamas.
So that’s that. The smallest nutshell I could put it all in. It’s magic. It’s gold. It’s divine.
It’s connection like we don’t see in our culture anymore.
So please join me. Join us. Come see what it’s all about.
Much Love Always,
Your BIRTHFIT West Palm Beach Regional Director,
Whitney Briggs
