This is the time of year when all the new years resolutions start coming out, and as a trainer I am required to say something inspiring about getting fit in the new year. But the slew of posts like these make me cringe. So here's my best attempt at articulating my honest aesthetic goals after having a baby and moving into the new year (although it's really just a coincidence that the new year falls on this stage of my postpartum journey). I am not where I want to be. I a

I used to think that a C-section was a worst-case scenario. I was totally enamored by the idea of a natural, unmedicated birth, and coming away from mine, I felt totally robbed of that experience. I almost felt a sense of grief and loss over "the birth I didn't have". Late in my pregnancy I was very keen to surround myself by positive birth stories and I got SO angry when women dumped their traumatic birth story on me. I'm so glad I blocked the scary stories out, set bounda

There are a few things that are MORE important than training your core during pregnancy

Women are obsessed with doing "core" exercises, and I get asked almost daily what exercises you should do for your core during pre

Now that I'm postpartum I want to share with you a retrospective view of my training through pregnancy. I write "programme" in inverted commas, because it wasn't as structured as you might think – I did set out with a plan, and I adjusted the plan each month, but I never really stuck to it. I adapted it to how I was feeling (sometimes I didn't, I pushed myself against my better judgement, and those are the workouts I regret). There were 3 major elements to the exercise that I

There are a million different ways to put together an effective glute circuit. Here's a nice little banded glute activation warm-up for leg day. Pregnancy and postpartum friendly. (Many of my trainees will recognize these). - I did the following with a "extra heavy" band (from Ali Express) . 🍑 Airsquat X 12 🍑Monster Walk, backwards and forwards 🍑 Hip Thrust x 12 with a 10 second hold at the end A few great things about this kind of circuit: ✔ Requires very little equip

Q: Hi Jen, I'm looking for some advice... My post natal yoga teacher said that whilst breast feeding the pregnancy hormones remain in your system and as a result if you push yourself too hard you can still end up with diastasis recti and joint problems even if you didn't have them after the birth. Because of this I've only been doing gentle-ish exercise but I really want to get stronger, I have noticed my knees ache if I run for over 12km but don't know if that's the hormones