Brianna Battles  00:01

Welcome to the Practice Brave Podcast. I am the host Brianna Battles, founder of Pregnancy and Postpartum Athleticism, and CEO of Everyday Battles. I’m a career strength and conditioning coach, entrepreneur, mom of two wild little boys and a lifelong athlete. I believe that athleticism does not end when motherhood begins, and this podcast is dedicated to coaching you by providing meaningful conversations, insights and interview topics related to fitness, mindset, parenting and of course, all the nuances of pregnancy and postpartum, from expert interviews to engaging conversations and reflections. This podcast is your trustworthy, relatable resource for learning how to practice brave through every season in your life. Everyone, welcome back to the Practice Brave Podcast. Today, I’m here with Mallory Holmes, and I’m really excited to share her story. She is a pregnancy and postpartum athleticism coach, and she I met her gosh this last September, September 2024 when we did the coach course live event in Boise. And after meeting her, I was like, Whoa, you are doing so much and have such a powerful story. And it’s only gotten crazier since September so and like crazy in a really good way, and in a way that I think is going to be really impactful for coaches to hear, because I think you are very relatable. People can see themselves in you, and I would love for you to share with people like who you are, what you’re about. And yeah, thank you for being here.

Mallory Holmes  01:42

Thanks for having me. I am super excited. I’ve been listening to you for a long time, obviously, so to be on it as a guest is surreal. But yeah, so like you said, I’m Mallory. I started as a pregnancy and postpartum athleticism coach. I took the course when I was, like, two weeks postpartum with my last baby, I am a full send human type, a personality through and through. Can’t relate, yeah. So as soon as I had my last baby, I knew that I wanted to approach my postpartum season as well as my pregnancy season, but especially the postpartum. I knew I wanted to come at it from a different angle, because I have always been like that full send brain of, I have a baby, I’m just gonna go right back to what I was doing that athlete brain takeover of, I was lifting that before so I can lift it now. I was doing those pull ups before I can do them now. And I was always finding myself injured. So four babies later, I decided there’s probably a different way to do this, and then a friend recommended you, and I dived into everything you were about, and loved it and felt so seen that I jumped on the course, like I said. I was two weeks postpartum with them, and yeah, and then I took that course, and it kind of just snowballed from there. So I don’t know where you want me to start.

Brianna Battles  03:03

Well, for you, what kind of fitness were you doing? Like, this was your fourth baby, so you didn’t find me till four babies later, which that’s a lot of babies on your on your system and on your brain and on your life. So what was your exercise like? Where and where do you live?

Mallory Holmes  03:19

Right? So I live in Ontario, Canada. I’m in a little town called I’m actually outside, so there’s this town called kempville, and then I’m just outside a tiny village of like 500 people. So very rural community. And I started in CrossFit, because that’s kind of my drug of choice. So I was in CrossFit. I started in 2018 after having my second baby, and actually, before that, I was not athletic at all. I never played sports as a kid. I thought I was too clumsy, but I was always that very driven, competitive person in other areas of my life. And then I found CrossFit, and it kind of just highlighted what I loved about myself, which is that competitive drive and and the full send. So I started after my second baby, and fell in love with the sport and with the community, and I continued with it until we moved so COVID, when the pandemic hit, we moved across the province, so I used to live about six hours from where we are now. So we moved here, packed up all our babies, came here, and then I started at the CrossFit gym here, because that’s how I knew to meet people. So started there, and then it snowballed into getting my CrossFit l1 and starting to coach, and then realizing that I had a real passion for helping women, specifically in the gym, feel seen and heard, and help them take up space. And then from there, I got my l2 and then kind of what I felt was I got derailed by a surprise pregnancy, and I was so upset originally, which is something I think people don’t talk about, is when you’re not. Expecting to get pregnant, and you’re at the height of what you feel your athletic career is, and then I got pregnant and felt like, oh shit, it’s over. That’s it. But it actually, looking back in hindsight, it is what started my momentum for wanting to do more for women, especially in that prenatal, postpartum season. And that’s how I went into

Brianna Battles  05:21

it, yeah. And that was your surprise baby. Was your fourth baby, yeah, okay, yeah. Big submit. And then here we are. And then you found P and P A who had mentioned that you were, like, always injured. And do you feel like I had, like, a tweet, not a tweet, I guess we don’t call them tweets anymore, but like I posted on threads and said something like, most postpartum athletes don’t realize that their orthopedic injuries are so incredibly tied to how they returned to fitness. Postpartum. Do you feel like that’s your story, or maybe an associated, adjacent story?

Mallory Holmes  05:58

Oh, absolutely. And I think also because I found athleticism, and especially CrossFit, I found that after I had already had two babies and had already been dealing with lingering, you know, back pain and pelvic floor symptoms, but that was not I didn’t even know what the pelvic floor was up until my third baby, and then this crazy flight blows my mind. Babies

Brianna Battles  06:21

come out of your body. And like, we didn’t know. No one told us what a pelvic floor was, yet, like, that’s no, Isn’t that wild? To think about it

Mallory Holmes  06:32

floors me. And there’s still people that when I bring up the pelvic floor, they’re like, Well, what is that? And it still floors me. But I’m like, I was there and not that long ago when I had zero idea of what was happening, and then every coach I had would say the same thing, which and not to any fault of their own. It’s just not a well studied or it’s starting to become, but it wasn’t a well studied population. So I was told to listen to my body, and, you know, keep going until it didn’t feel good, especially when I was pregnant. And then in the postpartum season, it was like, Hey, welcome back. And you know, let’s get going. Pick up the skipping rope. And I feel like, especially with that athlete brain that I have and that full send, it was just like, Okay, listen to my body. Well, my brain is going to tell me that my body is just being weak, so push through it. And then I was just injury after injury.

Brianna Battles  07:20

Yeah, what kind of injuries did you have? I

Mallory Holmes  07:24

had a lot of low back related injuries. So I had a herniated disc right after my second baby. Sorry, that’s making a weird noise. I had herniated desk disk after my second baby, and then I had just kind of like lingering pain after that, but never went away. And then I saw multiple professionals who all told me I had mummy hip, was what I was diagnosed with. So it was mummy hip, and then scoliosis,

Brianna Battles  07:55

like your mom, yeah, so let’s blame it on this injury or this pain, on being a mom,

Mallory Holmes  08:02

right? And then nobody ever looked into the fact that I had had multiple babies, and I had never been asked about my birth experience. None of that, yeah. And then it started transferring into my knee, so my knee was all out of whack. I dealt with that injury. Then my hip was out of whack. And now looking back and in this postpartum season that I’ve been through, and how much core work I’ve done, and breathing and down training and all of those things, I mean, I’m like, 80% back to where I was pre babies. So, yeah, crazy

Brianna Battles  08:37

like and when? How far postpartum

Mallory Holmes  08:39

Are you now from your four years two now? Just two,

Brianna Battles  08:43

yeah. So I met you when you were like, I guess about a year postpartum, just about Yeah. And even then, we had some breakthroughs, because, like, I still consider when you’re postpartum, like you’re so early postpartum, like you have an infant, like, even if they’re like, a year, they’re still, they’re still a baby, like, they’re still very dependent on you. And before we, like, get into the business stuff, I just, like, kind of want to highlight the athlete experience, because I think that part is so relatable. And so many people become P and P A coaches because of their own experience as an athlete slash coach. You know, like, one kind of heavily influences the other. Yeah, so you had a lot of back pain, hip pain, knee pain, which now looking back, is all very much associated with, like postpartum recovery, what birth was like and what your fitness process was postpartum now, with your force baby, when I met you, you were still experiencing some incontinence with double unders, right? Yeah, and running, yes or no, yeah, just and so at the live event, I like to throw people into the trenches and sometimes pick on them, and you were one of them. Thank you for being such a good support. Hope. Right? I think, I do think it was worth it being picked on a little bit, yeah, but I’m you were doing double unders, and we were watching, and we made some small tweaks, small tweaks from the outside in, which we talk about in the coach course, but it’s so hard to coach yourself like it’s a totally different beast. And we were able to get to a point where your symptoms improved on the spot, and also, just like your overall movement mechanics were, like, dramatically improved on the spot. Can you talk to me about that moment? And also just being, like, experiencing incontinence and being frustrated and knowing a lot, but not always knowing how to, like, help yourself like that part is always so hard for us as COVID us as coaches.

Mallory Holmes  10:43

Yeah, that moment it was, I almost like was life changing for me, because it was that moment of, oh, there’s a way that I can manage this. This isn’t, you know, because I always just hid the fact that I still pee when I do double unders, because unless I was talking to somebody who I felt could relate to it. It was always like, I shouldn’t be peeing. I’m a coach. I should be able to do this. And then when you tweaked how I was doing it, and it was nothing crazy. It was just positioning and breathing, just literally take a breath. It just changed the way it didn’t just change the way I do double and under does it change the way I approach all movement, like if I’m having symptoms, my first go to is, are my shoulders up by my ears? Am I breathing? Are you know, am I completely upright, or can I lean a little bit? And it also translates into how I help others now, because I can more easily recognize it in them when I know that that’s something I do, right? Yeah,

Brianna Battles  11:43

spotting those tendencies. And again, it’s so hard to do that for yourself. Like we can know these things as coaches, but we don’t always watch ourselves train, and even if we’re like, videoing what we’re doing at like our first set, or on whatever particular rep that we have captured might not necessarily be what’s happening on the fourth round or on rep 50, or whatever it might be. Yeah. So it’s so hard, but having that breakthrough moment was just really impactful, and no pun intended, but, and then ultimately, for so many coaches to see that too, because it doesn’t have to be. I think there’s so much. Either we have no idea what the pelvic floor is, or it’s taboo, or, Oh, I don’t coach that. I’m like, well, like, neither do I. I’m coaching movement mechanics that then have that byproduct effect on pelvic floor function, which influences performance, and, of course, this long term quality of life, because we have pelvic floors, and that’s going to be important as we age, as our bodies change. So, I mean, it all really has that top down effect. But that was a that was a pretty cool moment for you as an athlete and for all the coaches to to witness. And I think it’s such a testament to like improvements don’t necessarily have to be this result of like, you know, these six particular exercises performed over a period of time. And, you know, like, just Kegels, or whatever it might be, sometimes it really is just watching these tendencies that contribute to how the pelvic floor is able to show up in that particular movement or demand. And you’re just a really great

Mallory Holmes  13:19

example of that. No thank you. It was a light bulb moment that I’ve carried through now, yeah, well,

Brianna Battles  13:27

we had some other light bulb moments when, when you were there. That was a big weekend for me, girls and again, like, why I was, like, I have to, like, bring you on the podcast to talk about some of this, because, like, fast forward. So that was September 2024 and we are now in March 2025 what month or what year is it? It’s kind of a blur, but at that point in time, you had started coaching, right? Like you had been involved coaching CrossFit, you knew you’re inclined to want to be working with women. You had had your fourth baby. So you were coaching, but then, after you took this cert, and then when you came to Idaho, I want to talk about, like, what your coaching evolution has been like,

Mallory Holmes  14:11

yeah, it has been like a rocket. So I’m gonna, right before I went to Idaho, I had already been doing about a year of running prenatal and postpartum classes within local CrossFit boxes. So I started at my own CrossFit gym running like a simple one time a week postpartum fitness class, and then another CrossFit gym approached me about running it there. So I was running it in two gyms, and I had multiple other gyms asking if I would go out to their gym as well. And then it was in Idaho when I was talking about it, because you had me on the hot seat. So not a person to be on the hot seat, but that’s okay. And when I was talking about it and saying it out loud, and you just ask really pointed questions about why, like, why? Are you doing this? And why are you driving this much? And why are you giving away clientele? Because people would come to my program and then sign up for the gyms, and then I would get

Brianna Battles  15:09

quick time out because you live in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, you were muting pretty far to these gyms, right? So give us some context that because, not because some people do, like, live really rural, and trying to figure out, like, how do I do this?

Mallory Holmes  15:23

So I was driving, on average, every day, like two to three hours of just commuting back and forth to different gyms, and then also trying to make pickup and drop off for my own kids, because they go to two different schools, and then I have daycare drop off. And it was just I was burning myself out. And then on top of it, feeling like, Well, I had this really great group of women, and they were coming to me multiple times, like I was seeing the same people four or five sessions, because there’s nothing else like that so and because I live so rurally, there’s gyms around us, for sure, but there was no, there was no service where people were feeling they were seen within their postpartum days, right? Like they were going to these big box gyms or to other gyms, but they weren’t. They were being told to listen to their bodies, which made them nervous. And then they found me, and that’s awesome. But then in Idaho, when you were asking these really pointed questions, and I thought, I don’t have answers, like, no, this doesn’t make sense when I say it out loud, but I think I was just too scared to believe in myself to make that jump into doing something more on my own terms. And then my husband tagged along on that trip, so we had, like, a nice dinner that night after, and we were sitting and talking, and he said, so what did she say? Like, what did Brianna say? Tell me more about that. And when I was telling him, he was like, let’s go. Like, let’s do it. We can do this. And it just lit a fire under me. And then He’s my rock and, like my biggest cheerleader, so under him as well. And then when I landed back in Canada, it was full send like, I am gonna build my own gym, because we had a we have a really nice property with a large garage, so I’m gonna build my own gym. I’m going to start these programs from my own space, which was concerning, because I live in the middle of nowhere, but I thought we’ll see if people come out this way, and if they do like, maybe this could work. And then I just opened live it wellness. So yeah,

Brianna Battles  17:14

so you went from commuting a couple hours a day to all these gyms as a mom of four, living in the middle of nowhere, and then you came to Idaho, and your bossy friend here was, like, doing more like Enneagram eight where, like, I have I genuinely care so much, but like, my filter is just so direct, like, That doesn’t even make sense. Like, why are you doing that? How are you doing that? Also like, because you’re not going to stay like that. It will get to a point where you you’re like, I cannot sustain this anymore. Maybe it serves you during a very particular season of life. But if you zoom out, you’re like, what does it look like a year from now, or two years from now, or three years or your kids are in different grades, or whatever it might be, and so, like, it’s getting coaches to kind of look at that bigger picture of, like, what do I What are some potential barriers? And so by, like, presenting some of those questions now to at least start thinking about you went, like, you said, full send into I’m going to address that right now, because maybe this just exposed a yellow flag.

Mallory Holmes  18:20

Yeah, it did, yeah.

Brianna Battles  18:23

So, okay, what has it looked like? So you came home from Idaho in September 2024 with a fire lit under your ass, and you were like, I have this garage space. I live in the middle of nowhere. I don’t know if people are actually going to show up because of that. That might be a barrier, but I’m gonna do it anyway.

Mallory Holmes  18:42

Yeah. Okay, so we got back. It was September by. I was like, a week later, my husband had a massive truck show up with a bunch of building materials and gym mats, and he every time I get nervous, he says, Be brave. But he picked up on that he was you need to be brave like you’re scared because you’re excited, you’re scared because you’re passionate. And so I went full send with him. We built the gym together, so it literally like blood, sweat and tears went into that gym, but we built it together, and then I opened the doors in November for the first group of women, and I did kind of like a soft launch to see if people would come out this way. And I was overwhelmed by the people that followed me, not only from the next town over, but I have people driving now to me from, like an hour and a half away. So instead of me driving and trying to make all of this work, now people can come to me if they can make that work, which has been a huge game changer in my family life balance.

Brianna Battles  19:47

That is wild, that people are commuting that far. And that’s not to discredit what you’re offering, but I think that’s to highlight what you’re offering, that they’re willing to say, I’m i. I will drive this far, what, two days a week. More

Mallory Holmes  20:03

than that, I have some people coming three days a week. Yeah, commuting that

Brianna Battles  20:07

far because of what you’re offering in the middle of nowhere. And I don’t know my anti geography that well, but I imagine it’s not easy to drive through the winter months either.

Mallory Holmes  20:20

No, it’s not no. And I’m a terrible winter driver, like the nerves that I get about driving, whereas other people are not as nervous. So when they come to me, they’re like, Oh, the roads aren’t bad, whereas it would have been a day I would have canceled, right? Yeah. So it’s it works better for everybody. But yeah, people are commuting to come to me. My classes are full. I have wait lists for workshops. I’ve added more programming, and I’m now launching into, like, more general fitness classes. Because the ladies that were coming to me for the past year for postpartum, while they’re going back to work, but they still want to come. So now it’s kind of transitioning with them, which is kind of cool, like my business is growing alongside this first cohort of parents I have. So, yeah,

Brianna Battles  21:08

it’s me amazing. Okay, you’re running it out of your, like, garage, essentially, yeah, yep. How big is your garage? Shit? I’m terrible

Mallory Holmes  21:16

at measurements. It’s large. It’s like a detached two car garage with like, 15 foot ceilings. It’s a full, like, barn looking thing on my property.

Brianna Battles  21:28

So, like, it’s a pretty decent sized space for you to run these classes on. How many like clients do you have in your classes at one time?

Mallory Holmes  21:34

So when I run the babies program, I have five, just because the babies take up space with all their toys and snacks. But then when I run my general fitness classes, I have eight.

Brianna Battles  21:44

Okay, yeah, that’s awesome. So I really saw like, small group cohorts, like you said that are coming through and and what is your coaching schedule like?

Mallory Holmes  21:54

So right now it’s a little hectic, and I keep telling myself, this is just the way of building a new business is I’m really heavy into, like, the work side of it right now, and so the family life balance is getting a little thrown off, but we’ll get there. It’s because right now I coach five to six days a week, okay, yeah, and I try to keep it within, like, business hours, but I do have at least one class every night for the parents that are for moms that are working, or I also run like a small girls program for youth, so that one’s after school.

Brianna Battles  22:27

Okay, so you have, like, morning and they’re all group fitness classes.

Mallory Holmes  22:31

Yeah, I do offer PT as well. So I do have PT clients in there too.

Brianna Battles  22:37

Okay, so you’re running, like, a full gym experience. It sounds like you have, like, your Gen, Gen pop, I guess, population group fitness, you have your postpartum class. And do you run that as a six week program? Or how do you run your post? Or is it ongoing postpartum class? What’s that? So

Mallory Holmes  22:57

the postpartum and prenatal programs I run, I run in a six week block, and then they happen once a

Brianna Battles  23:04

week, okay? And that’s what helps fill that wait list, is because it’s just that six week block of time. So get on the wait list for the next period.

Mallory Holmes  23:12

Yeah, exactly, and I think right now. So the next session I have up, I have four classes running that are full. So, yeah, that’s

Brianna Battles  23:20

so awesome. And I just asked I had interviewed Katie right before this podcast episode that we’re recording. And I like to just ask this really candidly, because, you know, being in the trenches of being a new coach, there’s so much around. What do I charge? What do I do? What are the best timeframes? What is this? And it is like Trial by Fire trying to figure that out. And she lives in Michigan. You know, I’ve done this in California. I imagine living in rural Canada, price points are different. So can you give coaches an idea of what your pricing structure

Mallory Holmes  23:59

looks like, yeah, so I’m gonna say it now. I know I undercharge. I know,

Brianna Battles  24:06

okay, and I remember, yes, I can’t bitch at you that much because, like, you totally overhauled your entire business model, but I guess, I guess I’ll bitch at you after this. You can still bitch at me. It’s fine.

Mallory Holmes  24:19

I so I charge 150 for six weeks, like the specialty programming, which is relatively cheap, but I do live in that like a more rural, a little less affluent area, and I’m trying to keep it affordable for the moms that are on one income. That’s always been my biggest thing is I want it to be accessible for the parents that are down to one income, and that’s a struggle. And then for my general fitness classes, this is new to me, so I’ve started a trial of 10 pack classes that are around 150 to 180 I haven’t quite said it yet for 10 pack and then they have to use it within four months. And that will be like reoccurring classes. So I know I undercharge, but I’m also in that point of, like, I’m just trying to get a base of clients and trying to understand the vibe out here, and especially because I literally am in the middle of nowhere, so they’re having to drive minimum half an hour to come totally

Brianna Battles  25:18

and I, actually, I love that we’ve highlighted this because it’s all absolutely relative to the situation, to the person, to the location, and to what makes sense in your given circumstance. And I don’t necessarily think that like you’re under charging. I think you’re charging and you’re gathering info like it has not even been a year since you’ve been doing this, like you’ve really only been doing this business model for a few consistent months, I would say. And so ultimately, this gives you a great foundation and great baseline that you can scale off of, like you can build from here. But sometimes you just have to establish that foundation and make sure that you have stability there first and then kind of scale, what you charge or whatnot as time goes on, but you’re still in the infancy of this particular business model, and I think it’s really powerful to share that,

Mallory Holmes  26:08

yeah, I’m definitely still in the beginning. Like it feels like, when you say the trenches, that’s where I feel I’m at, like I’m really just trying to figure out what’s the right balance. And then, you know, how many classes do I want to have versus how much time do I want with my kids? It’s just Yeah,

Brianna Battles  26:23

by error, yeah. And I think like, you can always, like, scale up in some ways, like, if you’re in terms of, like, what you charge, but then you can also scale back and almost, like, focus on the quality more than the quantity of classes. But that’s all part of that entrepreneurial, like, growth trajectory and like, you’ll and you start to get, you start to get clues. As time goes on, you’re like, all right, I think it’s time that I raise prices, or I don’t offer this class anymore, but I just really focus on X, Y and Z and like, make that your bread and butter. And, you know, but all of that evolves and shows itself over time. It’s crazy. You’ve done all of this in such a short period of time, to the point where you have such a high amount of clientele that are consistently coming to you?

Mallory Holmes  27:07

Yeah, I think it was. It’s also been like, a huge Eye Opener when I’m getting women that are coming from other gyms for what they’re calling top up sessions. So they’re coming to me because they feel like I’m addressing symptoms that they’re having, or they feel comfortable to come into this space, because I have a network of women that are nothing’s TMI in my gym, nothing’s gonna get weird looks from anyone, because we’ve all been there and that babies are welcome and kids are welcome, and they play with my kids, and it’s become like kind of this nice little village. But I think it’s cool to see women that come for like these top up sessions because they want to address the things that they weren’t taught or that they didn’t know. So they could be people that have been doing CrossFit or other gyms for 10 plus years, but they had no idea that their low back pain and peeing themselves when they row was a symptom of pelvic floor. So I’m loving that aspect too, where I get to geek out and nerd out with people so that they feel better going, you know, into other competitive spaces and knowing their body a little bit better.

Brianna Battles  28:14

Yeah, I love that, and I think that’s why, like, there’s so much power in just being, like, collaborative and really complimentary to whatever sport and fitness activity that these women want to do, like, even if you have a CrossFit background, like, we are able to work with so many different types of fitness and people and experience levels, whether it’s like a really high level or at a really, like, rudimentary level of fitness, and really improve that Quality of Life, like our our scope of practice in terms of who we can help and how we can go about helping them is actually really, really broad. So you have different CrossFitters come to you, yeah, yep. And then they go back to their CrossFit gym after they kind of have, like, their their session, or sessions with you. And what has their experience been like? Are they going back and, like, seeing wins and stuff like that? Yeah,

Mallory Holmes  29:05

it’s really neat. I love getting the messages from them about it was heavy deadlift day I didn’t pee, or, you know, heavy back squat, and my butt didn’t go underneath me. Here’s a video I took. Like, it’s really cool to get those messages, because I love to know that they feel seen, that there’s somebody out there that wants that video of their butt not going underneath them, and I’m your girl, like, yeah, I want to see it. And I have a few PT clients I’ve taken on that have really injured themselves in sport, and they’ve come to me with the goal of, I want to make it back to that sport, but I don’t know how, like, I don’t know how to get there and trust my body that I’m not going to have the same injury come up, which is, typically, I’m seeing low back and paired with incontinence, yeah. And so I’ve had a lot of wins from those people who are now going back into their sports saying, you know, I played a whole game of basketball and didn’t need a sub once, which was huge. So. Goals. It is really cool. What just simple breathing and looking at some of these movement patterns and helping them understand their own body. Like, it’s not just about me seeing things, it’s about do you understand what’s going on in your body? Or, you know, do you understand your mindset going into this? Because a lot of them are going into it with this, like, you know, all or nothing mindset, and it’s just actually hindering their performance, or just,

Brianna Battles  30:25

like, work harder or try harder or live more faster, like, then I’m going, that’s going to solve my problems. But sometimes, like that actually just exaggerates problems. But it’s so hard to mentally make that shift, which then ultimately influences, like how they approach it physically, but having that kind of body awareness and body education that has to be taught that ultimately isn’t really taught in a lot of fitness environments, whether it’s CrossFit or otherwise. Like, I mean, I get people from every type of fitness background and level, and it’s shocking to me that I’m like, This feels like very fundamental, and yet it’s not

Mallory Holmes  31:05

no, no. I actually just got asked to sponsor, which is so cool to think that I’m like, a sponsor now, but I got asked to sponsor a youth competitive softball team, and they reached out because they said we would love to know more about what you do. But then now we’re looking at, like, is there a way that I can help coach these young girls on how to understand their body? Because it’s a you 15 team. So it’s kind of like, can we get in there young to explain, like, the athlete brain mindset, and also, how does your body work, right? Yeah. And then yeah, so I just think that’s

Brianna Battles  31:38

really neat, what their pelvic floor is, right? Like, because I

Mallory Holmes  31:43

know I didn’t until I was, you know, 32 so, yeah, so it would be nice to, you know, help the next generation not be 32 when they learn it. Yeah.

Brianna Battles  31:54

I mean, it’s, and it’s really cool, I think, I mean, I know that you know this, and preaching to the choir. But when we think about just the impact that we can have on our communities, and then how that just that opens up so many doors, and just being like such a proponent of, like coaching in person, and you have a lot of volume right now, maybe more than what you want to sustain in terms of how much you’re coaching or how much you’re offering, but that can always be scaled back and adapted, right? But like, there’s just so many opportunities and impact that it gets unlocked from working with people in person and like, getting that real time, real life feedback and relationships like that is what changes your network and ultimately your income and your

Mallory Holmes  32:39

potential there. This started as, like a true side gig, like, maybe, you know, once a week I’ll coach this program at somebody else’s gym, when it has turned into, like a I’m making more now than I made when I was working full time, in a good position. So there is something to be said for like, Yes, I love what I’m doing, but I also love that it’s supporting my family now and I can have an income.

Brianna Battles  33:03

Yeah, isn’t that wild to think about?

Mallory Holmes  33:07

It is unreal to me that I’ve been able to actually build something that’s supporting my family more than another job did, and I have more time with my kids and more control over my schedule. And, yeah, yeah,

Brianna Battles  33:22

it’s like truly doing like life on your own terms in a way that like lights you up and isn’t taking away. But ultimately, it’s like building out this legacy of like, look what mom is doing. And like, I know I say like athleticism did does not end when motherhood begins. But I also feel like our potential, and like, what we can still unlock after becoming mothers is so great and for so many of us. I mean, I know I certainly felt so incredibly sidelined in that my career in collegiate athletics was like, that’s over. All these things are over, but like, ultimately, like, you get clues along the way. And a sentiment I have, like, written on my whiteboard is like, you cannot miss what is meant for you. Like, you can’t miss it. You cannot miss what is meant for you. And it’s like, if you’re willing to, like, follow these little clues and practice brave like you never know what is around for you. It is not over when you become a mom or when you leave a certain position, or when you, like, make that big, scary decision to leave this and start that, like there’s a reason that you’re doing that.

Mallory Holmes  34:20

I had somebody tell me it was green lights. I guess it’s a Matthew McConaughey thing. And she had messaged me, saying, you’re just hitting all the green lights, like, keep following them. And then it was, I went to Idaho the next week after that message, and I was like, oh, green lights just keep going.

Brianna Battles  34:35

Yeah. You’re like, Bernie is like, beating me over. Yes, very much. So it’s so cool what you’ve been able to do, and just like creating this life that is, I mean, just so much more in alignment with with what you need, with what your family needs, and your possibility. I think again, I was talking to Katie just before this, and I think the crazy thing that I never talked to. With all things like pnpa is supporting women, like, starting businesses where, like me, I don’t know, for me, business was never on my radar. That was never like a pathway that was spelled out. And for you, like you’re starting a whole business after four babies, like, out, kind of seemingly out of nowhere. I know that’s not like, the truth, but like, I guess just unlocking that potential where, like, maybe you never thought you were gonna go and actually have a business and now look like how everything has changed.

Mallory Holmes  35:31

Yeah, I honestly never saw my life going this way. Yeah. And when you say, like, I know it’s not true that this came out of nowhere? No, that’s true. It feels like this came out of nowhere, and it has also taken off so quickly that sometimes I have to watch too that I’m not bracing for the other shoe to draw. Like, sometimes I feel like I’m just bracing for, oh, it’s going to be over tomorrow, because this is going too well. But in those moments, then I just think of that, like, just be brave, like it’s working. This is working. I don’t have you said something that blew my mind. You were like, Do you have evidence of the contrary? And I was like, no, like, I don’t have evidence to support that this won’t go well. I have evidence to prove that it is going well. So why wouldn’t I just follow that? And that was life changing moment of like, Aha, yeah. Look at the evidence.

Brianna Battles  36:22

Yeah, it’s true. Because I think, like, you know, anxiety is so powerful, like, it is such a I mean, that just fuels impostor syndrome. It fuels like, an inability to act. And like, the whole concept of practicing Brave is, like, you don’t feel ready, necessarily, but you have to, like, look at all of the clues, look at that evidence, and say, like, Okay, this decision is scary. It’s a big, brave decision, but I have the evidence that supports that this is the direction I need to go. It’s like, my next right thing, and that’s going to keep guiding you. And I think for so many that end up working in an entrepreneurial capacity, there’s this, like, blind faith, where you do have to trust yourself for sure, but you also have to trust like in what is inevitable, what is like meant for you is going to slowly reveal itself over time, where you get that inclination of like, I’m really interested in the subject matter. I’m really interested. I loved working with that particular client. Or I’ve had this own, my own struggle here, where it’s like that become who you needed, vibe, create what you needed, and like you start to get those inclinations. And I think being able to practice Brave is so highly connected to recognizing that and then actually doing something about it. Because anxiety is like, what blocks it? We all operate from a place of anxiety in different capacities, but like being able to compare and contrast that with like, well, do I have evidence that supports the anxiety or evidence to support being able to practice brave? We get a freaking choice. We just got to make, make the right choice.

Mallory Holmes  37:50

Yeah, and I think too, just finding what I’m passionate about. Like, you’re right. There’s certain subset of groups of people that I love coaching. I love coaching everyone, but I coached everyone, like male and female, and then I kind of just drifted into the female, and then I drifted more into postpartum and prenatal. And now I can honestly say there’s this beautiful village that’s happening of women that are coming together, and my vibe is more than nothing, like I am not pushing people to their limits every day, like it is a more than nothing vibe, and I’m giving people permission to be easy on themselves, like more than anything, my passion is to let women come into a space where they feel seen and heard, but then also just to have permission that some days are rough, and if you haven’t slept and you haven’t eaten and your baby’s up all the time, let me hold your baby, and you can either stretch for an hour, I’ll give you some stretches, or you can do a different workout than when I had planned. We’ll modify. And just giving people permission to know that this isn’t forever. So, you know, find your village, find your people, and get through it together. And that has been just driving everything I do. Every value I have, goes back to, what do I want these women to have? Yeah,

Brianna Battles  39:03

because, like, whether you’re like, in it yourself as a mom, or, you know, it wasn’t that long ago where you realize just how lonely it is being in those seasons of like seeing your body change, not loving it, like being postpartum, where you’re not sleeping. And then I just call it like being in a high needs season, like you are just so highly needed as a human that it’s really hard, whether you’re growing a baby or nurturing a baby by, like, feeding it and bringing it everywhere with you and just like or having it occupy so much of your mental space all the time, whereas, like, now my kids are older, they’re in school, and I’m like, like, they can operate, they can open their snack without me. You know what I mean? Like, it is wild to get to, like, more independent seasons with them. They obviously need us differently. But it is so hard when you are that needed and no mother forgets that. No mother forgets just like that, that level of intensity, even whether you’re somebody who, like, loves it or not like it’s just hard so to have. That space to be able to train and to do something for you, where you’re not having to choose between, like your baby, being with your baby, or working out and like you’ve created that environment and you’re supporting women through the most vulnerable season. That is like that is doing purposeful work that extends so far beyond, I think what we even see because mothers are so unsupported in our in our society, in our culture, no matter where you live, mothers are unsupported. And so being able to fill that like, that’s, that’s like, doing, like, some spiritual work in a lot of ways,

Mallory Holmes  40:39

yeah, it that is what fills my cup. Like having these women come out and and seeing them through. For most of them, I’ve seen them through now a full year. And for some people, I’m seeing them on their second baby and coming back through and just seeing the connections they make with each other. And now, you know, they go for coffee dates, and you know there’s brewery dates and all of these things that they do together, and it’s just created this network of other mums who are in the same season of life. And yes, they’re doing something to fill their cup and get endorphins and feel good, but then they’re also connecting with other moms that are going through the same shit they are, and it sucks, and it’s hard, and sometimes just having somebody else in the space with you be like, Yeah, this is rough. Like I am having a hard time and using that hour to work out and connect with somebody is like, where the magic happens. It’s awesome.

Brianna Battles  41:32

Absolutely, like you’re filling so many cups your own, your family’s legacy of what you guys have been able to create together, what your kids are able to see you do, I think it’s a really big deal to be to see mom take a big chance on yourself and to trust and to have a husband who is so supportive. I feel like that’s also like a really powerful family dynamic for our kids to see. Is that like risk, but also that like fierce belief, like that is that is the stuff that, like, we of course, want to instill in our kids. But it’s a whole other thing to, like, make those investments, whether it’s a financial investment which feels really scary, or a time investment which feels really scary, even like coming to Idaho, like, that’s not easy to do from the middle of nowhere Canada, like, that was a big thing to do, and then leaving and starting, like, really starting a whole new iteration of your business, like, there’s, there’s so much evidence of you taking risks and investing in yourself and then reaping the reward. We want our kids to see that. But I think for so many of us, it’s hard to actually do that, because we like talk ourselves out of it, and you haven’t talked yourself out of it. And I love that for you. Yeah,

Mallory Holmes  42:41

no. And when I try my husband stops me. That’s good. I think

Brianna Battles  42:44

I need to meet your husband and be like, shout out.

Mallory Holmes  42:47

Thank you. He deserves a shout out. Thank you for backing

Brianna Battles  42:50

me up a little bit with what I told her at that event.

Mallory Holmes  42:54

Absolutely. Yeah, that’s

Brianna Battles  42:57

so awesome. And, I mean, I think it’s a big deal. So tell me. Tell me a little bit. You said you’re working with girls, right? Teenagers?

Mallory Holmes  43:07

Yeah. So I had been a CrossFit kids coach for a few years, and I always loved coaching kids, because they just come in with that, like fearless. I can do anything, attitude, typically, but I always noticed that when I taught a class of mixed girls and boys. The boys were always super fearless, and the girls would kind of like almost shrink to make space for them to be big. It was kind of theme, oh, there’s always like, this is a generalization, but it happened a lot. Or I’d see, like, the 10 year old girls pull their tops down to cover their stomachs when they were doing sit ups or not want to sweat because they had makeup on, which is fine. And I just thought, oh, like, I want to get in there. I want to so when I opened my own space, I started a so right now I have eight to 12 year olds in a small group, and we they come out once a week. And I honestly thought, like, I’ll get two to three kids. It’ll be great. I, right off the bat, was full within the first day, and now I have a wait list for more, and all I’m doing really is, like, fun fitness, like, just making it fun. But there’s a lot of themes we go over about being big and taking up space, and what are you proud of? Because it’s okay to say I’m really good at this. Like, a lot of times we’re taught to not brag, especially as good I have bullshit. Like, you should be able to, like, tell people I’m good at this. Or, you know, look at, you know, a fellow girl as a peer, and not competition, especially at that age. So we do a lot of work on, like, teamwork. And then also, you know, what’s your partner doing really well right now? What do you see in her that you think is really cool? And then we do gratitude jars. So a lot of, like, what am I thankful for with my body, we work a lot on, like, Body Talk, just, you know, fueling your body, especially the 12 year olds. We’re getting into that age where they start to, like, restrict food, or they start to feel like, you know, junk food is cheap, days like, it starts young. So starting to just talk about fueling our body, and what makes us feel good, what feel. Or cups, what, you know, and then I always add in, like, art too, because I have some kids that come that are a little bit more artsy, so we add that in so they get there, they get to fill their cup. And it’s just really cool and empowering to see a young group of girls come out and understand how to work with each other, and they’ve never met each other, and it’s cool to see the friendships they’re developing by doing hard things together and realizing that they’re stronger than they thought they were, and they deserve to take up space. Yeah,

Brianna Battles  45:29

well, you are doing like, really impactful work in your tiny community. And I love it, like, the impact that you’re having where, you know it’s, I mean, you’re just going so far beyond the certification and just like, really creating your own special thing and doing it so well. And I’m very grateful for you to, like, just be out there and representing and going full send and trusting yourself to do it, and you’re really, like, you’re helping so many people, it’s pretty awesome.

Mallory Holmes  46:01

Thank you so much. And thank you for kicking my ass in Idaho and telling me that I should do this, because you’re right. It

Brianna Battles  46:08

wasn’t like an essential aspect when I see something so clearly I cannot help myself. I’m like, let me help you rise to your own occasion, my friend, let me I cannot help myself. I have to tell you this. Yes, I’m very grateful. So what would you tell a person who’s thinking about becoming a P and P a coach, and they’re like, not sure, is it right for me? Should I do this? Should I not? What would you tell somebody who’s kind of like, on the bubble with

Mallory Holmes  46:32

that? I would say, if you’re on the fence, do it like, there really is so much to come from learning in your course, and also your course, like, I’ve taken a few courses in pelvic floor and in postpartum athleticism genres, and your course was the most accessible, like, just the interviews you did were were more relatable for somebody that’s trying to learn. And it was really down to earth and put in ways that I understood. Like, yeah, I didn’t need the whole science behind it. Like, yes, that’s great to know. But it was more, how do I help the person walking through my door? What is going to help them? So if somebody’s on the fence about taking the course, I 100% wholeheartedly say, Take it. Take it and see, because it is the best thing I did.

Brianna Battles  47:21

Well, thank you for saying that. And gal, like, I think if people were like, well, what’s the difference? Or why should I do this? And I’m like, first of all, like, Well, don’t ask me that. I you know, like, I don’t know. Like, of course you should take it. There’s a reason I made this. But I mean, ultimately, I speak from a coach brain, like a coach, like, we’re going to speak in terms of movement and, like, the actionable steps. Yes, you have to know the theories. You need to understand the basics of anatomy and physiology. But ultimately, our clients don’t really care about that. They want to know if you can help them, and they want you to speak their language of movement in sport and fitness. And if coaches don’t have that skill set, they will never retain clients. They won’t get that buy in if they’re just like, well, this insertion origin, like, yes, you can know that there’s always ways to learn that, but there are not a lot of ways to learn how to, like, apply some of these core and pelvic health concepts to fitness, movement and sport across a broad population. That’s that is truly the difference it

Mallory Holmes  48:18

is. And I think uniquely to your course is training the mindset like you really go into the mindset of a pregnant or postpartum athlete, and what that can look like with whether it’s like fear based or full send and I found that so helpful to learn because it was my mindset. I didn’t recognize it, but now looking at it like, oh, everyone that walks through my door, I’m more geared to wanting to know about their mindset than I am their symptoms, and then we can work from there. And your course, had that uniquely, I hadn’t seen that anywhere else. It was awesome. Yeah.

Brianna Battles  48:48

I mean, that’s truly what determines every you know, physical output is, like, what’s their belief system? What’s their their motivation factors, or not motivation factors, you gotta it’s just part of, like, knowing the whole human again, that’s like the art of coaching. If we’re gonna be coaches, we gotta understand how much you know that psychology piece plays into especially such vulnerable, physical seasons like pregnancy and postpartum, in this transition of becoming a mother, whether it’s your first time or your fourth time, it still comes with so much attachment to this, like, shift in identity and just a transformational season of life. So you cannot overlook that, like psychology piece, and then how to like, how to leverage that, to like, work with somebody and help them see physical progress. And it just starts by, like, really knowing that human so I don’t thanks for saying all that and for highlighting that and tell, tell everyone where they can find you and follow like what you’re doing.

Mallory Holmes  49:44

Yep. So I’m on Instagram and Facebook at live at wellness, and then also, I now have a new website that I know it was a big step, but I have a website at live@wellness.ca

Brianna Battles  49:58

Okay, awesome. Well, thank. You so much for sharing great episode. I think that’s like just again, really insightful for for people to hear how this is being used in the very unique ways and unique locations. So appreciate you. Mel Perfect,

Mallory Holmes  50:13

thank you so much.

Brianna Battles  50:18

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Practice Brave podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please leave a review and help us spread the work we are doing to improve the overall information and messaging in the fitness industry and beyond. Now, if you are pregnant and you are looking for a trustworthy exercise program to follow, I have you covered. The pregnant athlete training program is a well rounded program for pregnancy, with workouts for each week that are appropriate for your changing body. That’s 36 weeks of workouts, three to four workouts each week, and tons of guidance on exercise strategy. We also have an at home version of that program. If you are postpartum and you’re looking for an exercise program to follow, the eight week postpartum athlete training program would be a really great way to help bridge the gap between rehab and the fitness you actually want to do. From there, we have the practice braid fitness program, which is an ongoing strength conditioning program where you get new workouts each week and have a lot of guidance for myself and my co coach. Heather Osby, this is the only way that I’m really offering ongoing coaching at this point in time. If you have ever considered becoming a certified pregnancy and postpartum athleticism coach, I would love to have you join us. Pregnancy and postpartum athleticism is a self paced online certification course that will up level your coaching skills and help connect the dots between pelvic health and long term athletic performance, especially during pregnancy and postpartum, become who you needed and become who your online and local community needs by becoming a certified pregnancy and postpartum athleticism Coach, thank you again for listening to The practice brave podcast. I appreciate you, and please help me continue spreading this messaging, this information and this work.