We’re back for day two of our blogger edit with Amy Kiefer. Check out our last post to learn all about her and read on to find out about her fitness program designed specifically for mamas-to-be, Expecting and Empowered. And get excited – next week we jump into a pre-natal workout routine!

Motherhood: What led you and your sister to start Expecting and Empowered?

Amy: Expecting and Empowered is our passion project.  There were so many women around us asking, “What can I do during pregnancy? What is safe?” We knew smart women who would believe the old lies that working out can cause a miscarriage. We also saw people doing dangerous things to the other extreme and not making proper pregnancy modifications. We knew that together we had the knowledge, experience and drive to produce something really special. My sister Krystle holds a doctorate in physical therapy and has taken specialty courses in obstetrics and pelvic floor health. As a personal trainer and nurse myself, we just knew we had all the tools and resources to make the best pregnancy guide possible.

I called her one day on my way home from the gym and pitched her the idea. It was easier than I thought to get her on board and we just started working! Little did we know how much work it would be, but we are thankful our business baby was born in October.

Motherhood: How does your program work and how does it differ from any traditional fitness regimen? What makes it pregnancy-friendly?

Amy: Expecting and Empowered is an instantly downloadable PDF. A really fun detail is that we were both pregnant during the creation, so we were able to model for our own guide! You will see me in my first and second trimester and Krystle as the third trimester model. Our pregnancy guide consists of three guided days of pelvic floor, flexibility and strength training exercises. There is a lower body day, upper body day and full body day. We also suggest two days of cardiovascular training and give you our recommendations for those days. All in all, we are hoping women get five days of exercises in a week to reap all the benefits.

Expecting and Empowered makes all the proper pregnancy modifications when necessary. For example, women should not be on their backs for an extended amount of time after the first trimester. Women should not be doing planks after the first trimester. Women should not be doing unilateral movements (lunges) later in pregnancy. E and E (as we affectionately call Expecting and Empowered) makes it easy, because we have only safe workouts ready to go for women. Because Krystle is a women’s health physical therapist, one element that makes our guide very unique is having an emphasis placed on pelvic floor health. This under-talked about subject can mean big issues postpartum for women, including incontinence and inability to return to a normal sex life. Krystle is incredibly passionate about preventative health and helping women avoid these common issues, so there are pelvic floor exercises included in every single day of the guide.

Motherhood: Beyond the actual exercises, what kind of community are you hoping to build?

Amy: So glad you asked, because this has been a favorite part of our business. When we were dreaming up this business, this was a pillar of it. We knew we wanted a place where women could connect and share experiences. We created a private Facebook group for customers. The women have made it their own! They share everything from positive pregnancy tests (some women start E and E before conception) to recipes, to energy tips, to morning sickness advice. It is a really awesome thing to be a part of and I look forward to meeting and cheering on more women. 

Motherhood: It’s hard staying motivated to work out. What is some advice you would give to women who want to work out while pregnant? And maybe more importantly, post-partum when time and energy is even harder to find?

Amy: I love this question! It is counterintuitive, but working out gives you a huge boost in energy and mood. One of my very favorite experiences as a personal trainer was to see someone START a workout journey and quickly become hooked and excited. At first, they were dragging themselves to the gym, but once they established a routine and experienced the positive benefits…they became hooked. I was able to see their confidence, fitness and dedication soar.

Take it slow postpartum! You are not supposed to be able to jump right back into it and most of your energy will go toward taking care of your newborn and recovering yourself. When you are a little bit further out, you can return to a regular fitness routine. The Expecting and Empowered postpartum guide that is currently being created really picks up at six weeks postpartum. Prior to that, we are just giving women exercises that will help them heal.

Motherhood: Since it is the first week of January, we can’t let you go without asking if you have any resolutions for 2018?

Amy: I am not a huge resolution gal, rather I love to continuously work on improvement. Most of the audiobooks and podcasts I listen to would fall into the self-improvement and positivity category. That way, I am always inspired.

Expecting and Empowered will launch a postpartum guide early this year. We are excited because we know that women have a lot of questions and make mistakes in this period. Krystle and I are excited to give women a guide that shows them how to safely return to a place where they are comfortable. Essentially, we will have women covered the whole way through their mamahood journey.

Stay tuned all month for specific workout tips and tricks from Amy! And as always, show us your 2018 workout goals with #thisisgoingtobefun @motherhoodmaternity – Happy New You!

To kick off 2018, we’ve partnered with full-time mama and co-founder of Expecting and Empowered, Amy Kiefer. With years of fitness training under her belt, Amy and her sister saw a lack of exercise programs dedicated to expecting and new moms. Seeing a need in the market to cater to and empower women during a physically and emotionally challenging time, they decided to answer the call themselves! We can’t think of a more perfect fit than Amy to guide our Motherhood mamas on a fitness journey this month. We’ll be coming to you with perinatal workouts, activewear and new mom/nursing style posts, Facebook live interviews and much more! To start, read on to find out how Amy balances this crazy life we call motherhood!

Motherhood: Congratulations; we heard you just had your baby! Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from and what do you do?

Amy: Thank you and first let me say that I am really honored to be January’s featured contributor for Motherhood Maternity. My husband Drew and I just welcomed our second little boy, Trey, on November 11th. Maxwell, our firstborn, was seventeen and a half months old when Trey arrived. Our hearts and hands are full.

I was born and raised in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. I moved around a little bit after college, but landed in Madison, Wisconsin. My husband and I absolutely love it here and enjoy raising our babies in this beautiful Midwestern city. I work at the Carbone Cancer Center, one of the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics. I am a registered nurse and work three days a week. I also launched a pregnancy fitness business with my sister called Expecting and Empowered. Finally, I blog about mamahood, positivity and fitness over at BalancedAmes.com.

Motherhood: What inspired your fitness journey? What road(s) did you take to pursue your passion?

Amy: I grew up playing outside and participating in sports. In high school I became interested in improving my performance through nutrition and strength training. Additionally, I wanted to help other people become healthier. That led me to pursue a degree in exercise science at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where I also ran cross country and track. After graduating, I worked as a personal trainer in Chicago for 2 years.

While training clients one-on-one, I noticed that there were a lot of women that needed guidance through pregnancy. I decided to take a specialty course in perinatal fitness (fitness before, during and after pregnancy) through a company called Healthy Moms. There I learned an enormous amount about what women go through during their pregnancy and postpartum journey. My mind was pretty blown, and I wanted to help spread the knowledge to expecting mamas.

Motherhood: As a nurse, mom and blogger… can you walk us through a “typical” day?

Amy: I will return to my nursing job in February from my maternity leave. First, I will run through what a typical two-parent work day looks like in our household. My husband wakes up at 4:30am to workout. I wake up as he is leaving for the gym at 5am. I work on my blog or business until one of our little ones wakes up. We have learned to get ourselves as ready as possible the night before including packing pumping parts, setting our clothes out and making lunches. We get both the little guys ready for daycare. My husband does daycare drop off because it works better with his schedule. I LOVE my nursing job, but I work at a busy, busy clinic. I make sure I get two pump breaks in, no matter how busy the day is.

After work, we all meet back at home. It is really important to Drew and I that we all eat dinner together. Sometimes we both have a baby in our lap, but it is our time to connect as a family. Next is bath time. Our very favorite part of the day is from 7-8pm because our toddler Max is in the best mood ever and we all play until it is his bedtime. I take the nighttime workout slot and will head straight into the basement to do that once Max is down. This really works to de-stress me and boost my mood before bed. Blogging and managing Expecting and Empowered are squeezed somewhere in all that too. If everyone is well fed, loved and alive at the end of the day I consider it a great success. If they nap at the same time, that is my window to work on my blog or business.

Motherhood: Can you tell us a little bit about how you fit fitness into your daily life – before kids, after your first child and now with your second?

Amy: Before children, I figured out the time that worked best for me and STUCK to it. When I was a nightshift nurse, working out when I first woke up worked best. “Morning” to a nightshift nurse is in the afternoon. I thought of it as a non-negotiable meeting with myself and was disciplined about sticking to my plan.

After we had our first babe Maxwell, we quickly learned that we had to be more flexible

Here are some of my suggestions for working out after becoming first time parents:

1. I have had stretches of morning workouts, naptime workouts and after bedtime workouts, instead of nixing it from my schedule.
2. If you are using naptime, workout as soon as you put the little person down. This way, you are more likely to be able to get it in and not be interrupted.

After our second baby, it seems easiest for me to work out after toddler bedtime. This means I am heading to the basement at 8pm. I am the type of gal that can go to sleep right after working out and showering. I always tell myself I am better for getting it in and it always rings true.

Stay tuned tomorrow to find out more about Amy’s fitness program designed specifically for moms-to-be and new moms!  Tell us [and show us] how you work out with #thisisgoingtobefun @motherhoodmaternity.