PRACTICE BRAVE PODCAST

AUTO-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT

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. Hey, everyone! Welcome back to the Practice Brave podcast. Today, I’m here with Alessandra Scutnick, and we are going to be talking about growing up in the fitness industry as a coach, as an athlete, and now what it looks like to be what I refer to as coach mom, where we are raising our kids through the lens of coaching. Which maybe, at least for me, was the only thing that ever almost prepared me for motherhood is the experience I’ve had as a coach supporting others toward their goals, towards their dream, towards their fullest potential, and that’s what we’re both trying to do within our homes. And we want to have a conversation around what that actually looks like. Because whenever we talk about that online, people tend to have a lot of interesting feedback and comments, and but ultimately, like a lot of interest in in the seasons of life that we are in. So, Alessandra, thanks for being here.

Alessandra Scutnik  01:43

Thanks for having me. I’m stoked to to be back.

Brianna Battles  01:46

So, in full disclosure, we tried recording a podcast together last week, and it never recorded. So we talked

Alessandra Scutnik  01:55

into the abyss.

Brianna Battles  01:56

We did. We did. We just we talked to each other, and no one’s ever going to get to hear it, so we are running it back now for round two. But round one for you guys, and we’re excited to just, I guess, lean into that side of the coach mom element of of this podcast episode because I think that this is a this is the trajectory. So many times you go from athlete to coach, and then maybe you’re a pregnant athlete and a postpartum athlete, and then you’re an athlete mom, and then before you know it, like you’re raising this next generation of little athletes. So, before we get into all of that, give me a little bit of your background.

Alessandra Scutnik  02:32

Yeah, so I talk about full circle. Like I love the little circle you just drew there, but like I grew up in the gym. My mom was a coach. She still is a personal trainer. Her demographic now is the older population, which is really cool to see, actually. But you know, I grew up in the gym, and it was just something that was the norm for me. And she didn’t have a garage gym. Her whole thing with us as little kids was like her her job essentially was to be a stay at home mom, but like she would go teach fitness classes and personal train people on the side because we had gym daycare. So she would bring us with her. It just became like part of our life and part of the norm. I remember being on the gym floor with her when I was like eight, and she was teaching me how to lift and use all the machines. And it was just, it sort of just became part of me. I eventually went to college and got my degree in exercise science after changing my major probably four to five times. It’s one of those things where you’re like, I don’t want to do what my mom does, and then I realized like that’s where my passion lies. So I landed on exercise science, and I kind of just dove headfirst into entrepreneurship from there. I met my now husband during my internship at in San Diego while I was working out there, and we literally started our business after three months of knowing each other. Same business we have today, kind of just bled from personal training, doing boot camps outside in San Diego to online coaching organically because our clients were like, we were moving back to the East Coast, and they were like, we still want to work with you. So we just kind of sent them programs via email, and online coaching was sort of just like organically born. And we were like, this is kind of cool, let’s run with this, and that kind of just like bled into where we are today. And obviously, it’s grown and changed so much along with the whole social media landscape and what that looks like. But we kind of just developed this passion for reaching as many people as we could, and it really just was me sharing my journey and my fitness journey at first, and it was just something that kind of led to me helping other people, and that’s that’s what I love to do.

Brianna Battles  04:43

Absolutely, and you know what I love is like, I I know the era that you came up in, and I also know that coming out of college with an exercise phys degree or kinesiology, there was no like pathway of business ever like ever given. Into us, right in school, like that was entrepreneurship was not even remotely an option of hey maybe consider this pathway. Certainly not online business. So what got you like what gave you that entrepreneurial spirit? Like was it your husband who was really into that, or was it just because like it’s wired into you naturally?

Alessandra Scutnik  05:19

I think it was just wired into me, like seeing my mom. So my mom eventually opened up her own studio, and as a kid, so like I kind of saw her do that. My husband’s background is in marketing and sales, and he kind of always had that mindset as well. His dad owns his own business, so like it’s been ingrained in both of us. But you’re right. Like when I was in school, the options were like PE teacher or clinical ex phys, and it was like I didn’t want to work in a hospital setting or anything like that. I didn’t want to be a PE teacher, and I was like, I don’t really know what I want to do, but I know I don’t want to work for anybody else. So I started obviously working as a normal personal trainer in like a big Globo gym, and it kind of just our boss found out we were doing boot camps on the side, like that was our little side hustle, and he was like, “Listen, you can do this for me, and I’ll take 70% of what you make, or you guys are going to have to go.” And we took that as like our sign to take the leap and never turned back.

Brianna Battles  06:18

I love that. I love that it was shown to you as a kid what it is possible, you know. To like you said, your mom opened a studio, and that pathway was sprinkled in. And what we’re going to eventually talk about of like showing our kids what is possible. Like I love that you already have that narrative of experiencing it, experiencing it on that side of things, where you were shown what that could look like. Your husband was shown what that could look like, and that’s certainly something I hope to pass on to my boys because entrepreneurship is something I accidentally found. I had no inclination. I had zero people in my life that ever spoke that or you know acted as an example of that. So I love that you saw that, and now as an adult with your own children, you can repeat that pattern.

Alessandra Scutnik  07:02

Yeah, it’s funny because I feel like we live now in such an interesting time where you do see more of that, but it could also be like the bubble that I’m in for sure. But like, I feel like even like even if you like go way down and like look at influencers or like look at people, I just feel like the younger generations are already sort of naturally not just going that path of like you have to go to college, you have to you know follow all the rules. So it’ll be interesting to see like where that leads for them. But yeah, I agree. Like we are already instilling a lot of those habits and talking about like just showing our kids like what we’re doing for work and why we have to work on our computers sometimes throughout the day because they’re home with us, so it’s like just making it more of a normal thing for them to witness. Kind of like how like our gym is a garage, right? I mean, our gym is in our garage, and it’s always been the garage gym. We’ve never put our cars in there. That’s just their norm. They don’t know anything else. They think everybody has a gym in their garage, so it’s kind of like that, where it just becomes part of them, without being like, “This is what you’re going to do when you grow up.” You know?

Brianna Battles  08:09

Yeah,

Brianna Battles  08:09

it really is like this lifestyle that has been modeled, where you don’t even have to like force it. Like sometimes people, well, how do you get your kids to do X, Y, Z? Like that’s just that’s literally all they’ve known since they were in me and next to me, and now like just they’re still so involved. But that’s just part of what they have witnessed. It’s not force. It’s just this is our lifestyle. This is what is possible. And I don’t know. It feels like a lot of millennial parents are. They have like they’re disrupting patterns in a lot of different ways. And I feel in the career and work force, we’re seeing so many more women, especially that are entrepreneurial and trying to make money while also being a mom.

Alessandra Scutnik  08:52

Yeah, I think it’s. I mean, I I obviously love the heck out of it. I think it’s something where I hope more women realize that it’s an option because, I mean, like I said, when we were in school and we were 10 years ago, even it just it wasn’t the normal path, and it felt almost extra scary because it felt like you were completely taking it solo. Like I remember, even though my parents have always been super supportive, like my dad, when we were like we’re starting our own thing, he’s like, “Well, what are you going to do about health insurance when you come off my health insurance next year, so like conversations like that, I feel like it’s still sort of this taboo thing. But there’s always an option, like no matter what your your path that you want to take, like there is always an option for you to figure something out if it’s something you’re truly passionate about doing.

Brianna Battles  09:37

Yeah, and like this, the autonomy that comes with that is something that is so precious and really special. I think for our kids to be able to grow up with, for them to be able to see, and just like the, I’m just like big on like freedom, like the ability to like I’m going to determine what my future holds, and when I am going somewhere or doing something, just having that kind of autonomy. Is like such a blessing, and not something that I feel we were educationally or within the fitness industry trained to to see or to desire or knew that was even possible.

Alessandra Scutnik  10:12

Yeah, I mean, when we started, our initial goal was to open up an actual gym, some sort of gym back here in Connecticut, because we can’t do boot camps outside here all year round with for weather, so that was our goal. But then once we realized online coaching was a thing and an option, it just made sense with like starting a family. We knew we wanted to start having babies within the next couple of years, and like me owning a gym as a first time mom, I just didn’t see that as the route I wanted to take. Even though that was still being an entrepreneur, I knew a lot of that would just take a lot more from me as far as being somewhere physical, working with people who need to work out either early morning or late in the evening before or after work. So we kind of just took the route that we saw allowed us to build the life that we wanted with young kids, and that’s not to say we. I mean, who knows? We might open a gym in the next five to 10 years. Like that might still be the plan. But I think there’s just so much power, like you said, in that flexibility in creating the life and building the life that you want for your family, and that’s really what keeps me going.

Brianna Battles  11:17

Absolutely. Well, and before we dive into some of this stuff, like, give me a little bit of context. Like, what what business do you run? What does it look like? What is the model of

Alessandra Scutnik  11:26

it? Yeah, so we have two. We call them like sister businesses because they’re intertwined. So we have Levolution Health, which is one on one coaching with training and nutrition, but it goes so much deeper than just macros and meal plans and a training program. We’re looking at the full picture of our clients’ health, we’re looking at you know what your sleep hygiene looks like. How to better improve your sleep routine, get better sleep, boost your energy levels. How to improve your digestion? How to focus on food quality, not just quantity. Obviously, reaching fat loss and muscle gain and all the performance goals, but we kind of take that full picture approach. So that’s the coaching side, and then we also have an app called the Fitness League, and that’s more of like our general programming for the masses. So we have a variety of different programs on there. We’re actually in the middle of relaunching slash rebranding them right now. So that will be this by the time this is out, they will be live, so we’ll have you know we have options as far as like gym programs, home programs. We have the pre and postnatal section, which is all the programs I followed personally throughout pregnancy, and it’s just more of like that whole person approach, so that no matter what season of life that you’re in, you have a program that fits that season, and they kind of intertwine. Like we have people who use the app, and then we have people who use us for nutrition and go back to the app after. So it’s just it’s a lot of moving pieces, but it’s all kind of after the same mission of just helping you live a happier and healthier lifestyle.

Brianna Battles  12:57

Absolutely, and I love that it’s all kind of like woven together, like where it’s very complementary and kind of like you said, fits whatever season you need, or even like what kind of intensity of coaching and support that you need.

Alessandra Scutnik  13:09

Exactly. Yeah, we we dabble with just kind of putting it all under the same name eventually. So that might come one day soon too. It would make life a lot easier, but yeah, that’s that’s it for now. They’re sisters for now.

Brianna Battles  13:22

I know. There’s always there’s always the evolution of like, well, we maybe could do this or do that

Alessandra Scutnik  13:27

always.

Brianna Battles  13:28

And then when you open a gym, you know, then you can you can join that party. I said we would never ever open a brick and mortar gym or business, and now here we are into owning a jujitsu gym, which literally could not have called that ever. So,

Alessandra Scutnik  13:43

but it looks like so much fun. Like looking at, I saw your post of your women’s class the other day, and I was like, “That is that’s incredible.” Imagine if every community had that. Like,

Brianna Battles  13:54

no, it has like it has really in eight months. You know, I feel like I’ve coached for so long. I feel like I’ve coached for 20 years, and I probably that’s probably actually accurate. This has totally changed my perception on a lot of things coaching. It’s certainly changed my perspective on being an athlete and of like community-based fitness and empowering women in such a different way. I feel like jiu jitsu, especially for women, is where CrossFit was about 20 years ago, 15 to 20 years ago, where it was like women were sometimes for the first time being introduced to a barbell or like learning what like a clean was, and it was just like skinny went away and strong got embraced. Like that whole like 2013 ish era. I feel like I’m living that, and it’s so pure. It is so beautiful to see that, and it’s just it’s been really refreshing to do that in person and to feel that and to experience that and to be like immersed in it because I’ve spent so much time the last few years online and talking to coaches and talking to practitioners where we’re in this like weird echo chamber and weird energy online. Of like passive aggressive or just one upping kind of culture, and it’s just it sucks the life out of you. Where you forget like just the value of coaching and community and connection and support, empowering people through their body and their movement, and that’s just been like such a good getting back to reality kind of thing. Like the reality is like women and people in our community need us. Like we are in such a freaking echo chamber online that the reality is most people really just need good coaching in their life and like holistic coaching, not just like sets and reps and nutrition and macros, but like the experience.

Alessandra Scutnik  15:39

Yeah, that’s why I I’m back coaching online for the first time in like five years. I’m taking clients and it’s been so refreshing, but also like just doing more in our community. Like I do a weekly TFL Junior boot camp with like my kids and the neighborhood kids, and we just kind of have fun and do some fitness stuff in the backyard. And then you know I do a run club every weekend with a group of girls on the trail, I am going to my first jiu jitsu class on Friday this

Brianna Battles  16:06

week in

Alessandra Scutnik  16:06

class. So I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m so excited. Can’t wait.

Brianna Battles  16:13

That’s gonna be great. You’re gonna love

Alessandra Scutnik  16:15

1. I’m a little nervous, but I’m excited. Yeah.

Brianna Battles  16:17

No, it’s like, and I like that you. I love that you’re going to this, and it is a very intimidating environment to step into. And I also feel like when you are when you have like an extensive athletic background, it is so good to have the freedom of like, hey, I’m not supposed to be good at this. So where you can really embrace the beginner mindset, like there’s no way you’re supposed to go there and be good. So it’s like that pressure of performance and like high expectation to not suck isn’t there. Whereas like if you lead a trail run, you’re like, I better like kind of be able to like push the pace a little bit here. Or if I go to a cross stick class, I better not like be finishing last, or I better be doing this RX or whatever. You know, like we just

Alessandra Scutnik  16:57

yeah, you got to keep up

Brianna Battles  16:58

those expectations. Jiu Jitsu is very freeing for the high drive athlete mom.

Alessandra Scutnik  17:05

I’m super pumped. I can’t wait.

Brianna Battles  17:07

Yeah, and that’s like I try to tell everybody that like you’re not supposed to be good, and that’s the whole point. Like it’s so freeing to be like, it’s okay to suck. Like there’s literally no possible way for me to be good at this right now, and that’s the point. We can’t just like out athlete our way through it, really. Yeah.

Alessandra Scutnik  17:23

Well, that’s funny. My husband said the same thing. Like, he’s obviously a big guy, always working on strength and powerlifting and all that. And he goes, and he’s like, “I’m the worst one there,” and it’s the best, the coolest feeling ever, because you can’t muscle your way through it. No,

Brianna Battles  17:37

and it just it translates to so many things. Like, and I, I know I sound like someone who drank the jujitsu Kool Aid, and I certainly have in in some ways. But it really, I feel like, has fueled just like self development, and that translates to parenthood. It translates to to business, to our performance in the gym, and just our lifestyle. It’s a, I’m a big big fan. Even before opening a gym, it was a huge part of our our like family ecosystem.

Alessandra Scutnik  18:02

Yeah, even my son who does it, I told him I’m like I’m going on Friday, and he was so excited. He’s like, “Are you nervous?” I’m like, “Yeah, I am a little bit nervous.” I’m like, “But I’m still gonna go.” So I feel feel like it will also be great for him to see me doing something that he’s interested in because usually it’s like him and my husband, you know, throwing the baseball or I’ll kick a soccer ball and stuff with him, of course. But like, they really are into the sports together, so it’s cool to be involved in that with both of them. So

Brianna Battles  18:28

now it’s uh, I know we we like laugh about me being a little bit ahead of you, but it is like the I feel like it’s the greatest gift, like to be able to experience fitness and not just fitness, but like a sport alongside your kid, and like have the family develop in it together. But my boys play literally every single sport. Jared and I both have extensive athletic backgrounds, but nothing has been as like unifying and special as being able to share the mat at like since I mean the boys were four, and I started in my early 30s. Jared’s been doing this off and on for 20 years now. Like it’s just the fact that we can all share in it at different points in the journey is just it’s become the most beautiful aspect of our family.

Alessandra Scutnik  19:11

I love that so much. Well, now I’m excited. I’m a little less nervous. It

Brianna Battles  19:16

will. It’ll be great. I’m. I’m really excited for you. And someday we’ll have to train together. You can come try for this class, and it’ll be unhinged. And it’s just so funny. It’s just, it’s so pure. Right, you’re in the right gym. It’s, I mean, similar to any gym environment, and you’ll know that as a coach. Like, if you’re in the right place, it will just breathe life into you and your family in in such special ways.

Alessandra Scutnik  19:38

I love it. Well, I will keep you posted on how it goes.

Brianna Battles  19:41

So now we have influenced everyone to try to. I have done my work here. You know, it’s I. I’m just big believer in it, and I’ve seen how powerful it is, even for like my boys playing other sports. Yes, really cool to see how transferable it is from even just like my coach brain, not even my mom brain, where. I’m like this has developed him in the same way that like we’ve traditionally thought gymnastics really helps develop young athletes, and it’s then transferable to other sports. Right, jujitsu is very much in the same in the same conversation, and it’s been cool to see that play out as they’ve grown up in different sports.

Alessandra Scutnik  20:16

I love that. That’s so great to know too. Yeah, because you hear that all the time about gymnastics. My three year old is starting gymnastics because she’s very into that. But I would love to get her into jujitsu too, because at this point, why not make it a whole family thing?

Brianna Battles  20:30

Yeah, no, and it’s been it’s been fun, and I we’ve told our boys since four, we’re like, this is a non-negotiable. It’s not like another sport. It’s not like baseball. It’s not like football. Those are seasonal sports, and those like serve a very specific sport purpose. This is more of like developing a life skill. Just like I want you to know how to have a conversation, I want you to know how to take care of yourself. I want you to know how to protect yourself, and I want you to know how to protect others. That is something that is a non-negotiable in for us what our backgrounds are and what we know, what we believe, it’s just part of what we do, and the intensity of it, the ebb and flow of it, that changes throughout the year, of course. But ultimately, it’s it’s something that I think is absolutely worth investing time, energy, and and money into because your kid will be better for it in the long, you know,

Alessandra Scutnik  21:21

yeah, absolutely.

Brianna Battles  21:23

So now that I’ve pitched jujitsu to literally everyone, let’s talk about some of the the fam. I’d say like maybe family lifestyle core values that we’ve talked about that you’ve shared a little bit about online, and how being an athlete and coach has influenced now how you mother.

Alessandra Scutnik  21:40

Yeah, well, I think we can kick it off with just exercise in general, right? So, like I said, we have the garage gym, and for us, having them see us exercise and including them in exercise and encouraging it for them is a non-negotiable for our family. Every day, we are doing some sort of movement. If it’s not, it doesn’t have to be formal. Like I’m not having them out there doing three sets of 10 back squats three times a week. You know what I mean? Like it’s just keeping it fun, but also introducing this to them as the norm. And part of that is, like you said, them seeing us do it. Part of that is us helping them do it for themselves. And we’ve had we’ve introduced the gym to our kids starting pretty much from birth. They’ve been out there with me, and it’s really cool to see. Even though our oldest is only seven, it’s really cool to see the progression of him just like kind of watching me. And then sometimes he’ll pick up his toy dumbbell, and then a couple years later he you know, wants to pick up an actual weight, and now he’s deadlifting like double his body weight. And I’m like, it’s just so cool to see the progressive overload of like them going through the stages of embracing fitness as a lifestyle. And it’s not something that’s ever like forced or we’re very strict about. It’s just like it’s just what we do, and that’s kind of the core, the ultimate core value over all of the other core values. Is like these are just things that we truly believe make us better humans, make us better family members, make us just better overall to everybody in our community. I’m a firm believer that filled cups fill cups, and if we can instill those habits in them from a young age, then we’re doing our job, and that bleeds into like all of the other things that I coach my clients about. So like sleep and having good sleep hygiene, and you know teaching them the importance of going to bed and waking up kind of at the same time every day, and then waking up in the morning, moving our body first thing. We all go for a family walk. That’s something we’ve done every single day, unless it’s like a ridiculous blizzard out for since my second was born. And it’s just like you said earlier, it becomes part of their life. We wake up, we go for a walk. People will ask me like, “How do you get them to go every single day?” And I’m like, “They just it’s just what we do. It’s not like a conversation anymore. It’s just we wake up, we got our shoes on, we if they have to go to the bathroom, they go to the bathroom, and we get outside. It’s a quick walk. We come back and have breakfast, and it’s like it’s not something that’s negotiable. And I think that’s so important for parents to hear, especially these days. It can be so easy, and I know when you’re in the thick of it and you feel overwhelmed and overstimulated, it’s almost like okay, like go turn the TV on, or you know, go do what you got to do, or have this snack. It can be so easy to just take that easy route so that you can continue doing what you need to do. But we have really tried to stick to our guns with, you know, having boundaries for them, setting rules for them, making sure they actually commit to those things, because it makes them a better human. And I think that’s something a lot of people need to hear today, because I think the pendulum has swung a little too far the other way, where it’s like, and I’m not against gentle parenting. And all that, I think that’s a whole nother conversation. But like, you still have to be the parent.

Brianna Battles  25:04

Yeah. Oh yeah. No, I I said, and it pissed somebody off. I don’t remember. I just said something to the effect of like, your child doesn’t know what’s best for them yet. Like, you are still the boss. Do not let them out alpha you. You know, when they’re like, I don’t want to go to jujitsu. I don’t want to go here. I don’t want to do them. I don’t give a shit, Kate. Like you know what I mean. Like I’m like I don’t care that you don’t want to go. This is what we’re doing. Like there’s no, you’re not getting out of this. And it’s not to say that like when true things come up or when they’re sick or when there’s something. Like of course, like it’s not an all or nothing. Um, but at the same time, it’s like it’s holding firm on like this is what we do. I know your friends get to do this or have that or whatever. That’s not what we’re doing. Yeah, and just like holding that and like consistently not letting them out alpha you. It’s like insane what I’m seeing now that I have a 13 year old, which feels shocking to my nervous system to even say, but it is really shocking. It is absolutely shocking to just see like how hard you really have to just like hold that boundary. And I’m not even like a. I don’t feel like it’s like sheltering at all. It’s just like no, I know what you need. What habits instilled? What kind of a mindset we need instilled? What kind of physical output we need instilled consistently for you to reach your potential? And that’s why I always bring it back to coaching. Right? Is like that’s the only thing that’s ever truly prepared us for parenthood. Is like how do we help as coaches? We’re helping people reach their potential, that looks different for every type of person. So with our own children, the whole permissive parenting thing is just so odd to me. Where like we’re almost people pleasing for our kids. Like what? That’s not going to help.

Alessandra Scutnik  26:55

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, it’s funny because like people will sometimes ask me more so when I first became like first time mom. Like, what books did you read to learn about like becoming a parent? And I’m like, none. I don’t. There’s not a book out there that I feel has helped me become a better parent. What’s helped me is coaching, is being the being an athlete and having boundaries for myself and understanding what my core values are as a human, so that I can instill those into my offspring. You know, it’s even something as simple as like I’ll get people asking like, how do you get them to go to bed at a certain time, or to you know stay in their beds in the morning if they wake up early? And I’m like, we have boundaries, and I set those boundaries. So he’s not telling me I’m not tired. I’m going to stay up an extra hour. No, like you’re going to bed. This is your bedtime. If you want to read for 10 minutes before bed, perfect. Lights out and you go to bed. And granted, most of the time my kids are exhausted anyway, just from how active they are. So it’s not an issue. But I’m not letting him dictate something like bedtime at seven years old, like that’s just not necessary. Same thing in the morning, like for example, my three-year-old. We just put her in toddler bed from the crib, which was fine, but she’ll wake up and go to the bathroom. And I was out there reading this morning at like 645, and her wake-up time is seven. We have it, so her little hatch light comes on, and she knows it’s time to wake up. And she knew her light wasn’t on yet, so she went to the bathroom and she’s like, “Can I stay up?” It would have been so easy for me to say sure, but I’m like, “It’s not time yet. Go back in your bed. Your light will go on when it’s time.” So even though it was only 10 minutes, I still wanted to hold that boundary for her, and I still wanted to make sure she knew, like, “Okay, this is when I get up.” And she got up, and she was happy, and it was fine, so I think just you know making sure you stick to your guns as a parent, no matter what you decide, those core values are for your family is so important because if you can’t hold that boundary for yourself, you’re teaching them they don’t have to hold it either.

Brianna Battles  28:57

Yeah, it’s so true, and I’m seeing it now, especially because I’m working with like more kids again, which I hadn’t done in a long time. Like it’s really, it’s just, it’s so funny to be. I don’t know, life just really trolls you and makes it go full circle. But um, you know, you do see just if you want your kids to be disciplined, you have to out discipline them. Like, and not like you yourself have to be disciplined. You have to be more disciplined than your child, and I see so many parents are like, “Well, I’m going to put my son in this baseball, like pitching coach, and then this program” Like they’re trying to like force their kid to be disciplined while not modeling it themselves, and then they’re wondering why their kid is like dragging ass and like rebelling against it. It’s like, well, if you set the standard for like this is what I do. This is what Dad does. This is what your siblings do. This is what we do. And I tell the boys like we are different for a reason. We are different for a reason. And it’s not like we think that we’re better than anyone. It’s like no, this is just how we have to operate as like a high achieving household.

Alessandra Scutnik  29:59

Yes. And I think I mean put that parallel to coaching. Like I I know I’ve had many coaches over the years. I’m hiring someone who is living the life or living by the standards that I want to live by. And I know a lot of people will argue that today, like for many different reasons. But I personally would not hire someone who’s not acting out in a way that I want to learn how to act on. So it’s really important for me to, especially as a coach, but also as a parent, to have those standards to show up and say that and actually work out almost every single day and move my body every single day if I want them to do it. It’s meal prepping and making sure I’m fueling my body the right way as a leader for my household and for my clients who are asking me questions and trying to learn how to be better. So it’s like you truly have to embody the lifestyle and the person that you’re trying to get them to be. Like I don’t think there’s any way around that.

Brianna Battles  30:59

Yeah, and I think the pushback that we’ll get on, you know, having some of these boundaries or really like instilling discipline and holding that line is there. That’s too strict. It’s too controlling. It’s too like they’re going to act out and rebel. What would you say to somebody who says that to you?

Alessandra Scutnik  31:17

That’s a great idea. You’re

Brianna Battles  31:18

in.

Alessandra Scutnik  31:19

Yeah. No, that’s a great question, and my my answer is, yeah, I mean, I’m expecting them to rebel in a way, especially when they get to the teenage years. But at the same time, we’ve always approached this openly, so it’s not like I’m just saying, Kai, you have to go run sprints in the driveway and not telling him why, or like forcing them to do something and not explaining why we’re doing it. Just like I would with my clients. Like if you have an open and honest conversation and say, “Listen, this is why we are doing something, or why you’re not getting a cell phone when you turn 14. Here’s all the reasons why Dad and I think that’s not a good idea. What do you think about that? Well, of course, listen to what he has to say. But ultimately, it’s our it’s still our decision as their parent. Like you said earlier, they don’t know what they need. Even at 1415, 1617 years old, they still have no idea. I can attest to that because I did not know that at 14. Even

Brianna Battles  32:19

still, I call my mom. I’m like, yes, what I’m doing

Alessandra Scutnik  32:23

exactly. So it’s like you have to you have to lead, and it’s okay to be open and honest about it, and it’s okay to get pushback from it. But at the end of the day, you still have to hold the boundary, and you ultimately decide what is best for them.

Brianna Battles  32:37

Yeah, yeah. And then I think as they get older, then it kind of it can become more of like a conversation and like a joint decision. But when I look at like these like young kids, you don’t know what’s best for you yet, and you’re gonna try to like out energy me. You’re gonna try to like out intensity me, and you won’t win because I will out alpha you as my child. And I have a very strong. I’m like raising a little mini version of myself. It’s um, it’s so sobering to do that, and you know, like really just push and well, why and this and that attitude and um, and I feel like he’s been like that since since birth. Like just it’s just like part of his personality, and it’s going to make him excellent in this life. But it also comes at this cost of like we’re not going to get caught up in like FOMO culture. Like you are living a life that will like you’re not going to have FOMO. You’re going to be part of the things that bring you joy. You’re going to be performing in a way that brings you joy, and doing what everybody else is doing is that’s not the pathway to that. And it’s hard when they’re older and they’re they’re they’re having more influence. They see my friends get to do this or I get to do that, and it’s like this balance of okay, like it was like when can I get a cell phone? I actually don’t know when you can get a cell phone. I don’t know, but it’s not right now. It’s not right now. So what’s the compromise? Okay, well you can have Apple Watch and you can text your friends. That’s that is okay, but even that was like dosed over time. It was like you get an Apple Watch, but there’s like there’s no texting your friends. You’re just texting like five people, like mom, dad, grandma, brother, kind of thing. Like very limited. And then a little bit older. Okay, now you can text some friends, and it’s like progressively overloading their exposure and their life and their freedom and what they have access to instead of like all of this all at once and all of this like there’s just so much like permissive like well everyone like all these other kids have a phone and so as a parent you almost get like guilt tripped into it where you’re like well I got them a phone because well everyone else has one and I don’t want to be left out. So it’s like our own inability to like hold our own line, and then we compromise for our kids, even if we’re not totally sure that’s the right decision.

Alessandra Scutnik  34:51

Yeah, it’s and honestly, these days there’s so many options outside of just handing your kid an iPhone. Like they have like flip phones and like special device. That are back like gaining popularity, and I think that’s a great idea too. Like, yeah, I get like when they turn a certain age, we’re dropping them off at practice or whatever, and they need to call us. I understand that. Like, that’s fine, but my child is not going to be scrolling YouTube Shorts or on Instagram or on social media as a 12-year-old. Like, that’s just not necessary in my opinion. Nor are they gonna like have time for that with everything else we want to help them achieve.

Brianna Battles  35:28

That’s a huge part of it too. I think even with both when they were little and now that I’m like in the mid was like we just we stack our weekday days where if they weren’t in school, like when they were, there’s a school block of time, and then after school, we’re going to a sport. You need to expend your energy, like that’s you’ve been in a class, even if you were playing a lot throughout the day, that was still like a different use of your brain and your body. And now we have to shift that energy outward. Like go to jujitsu. You’re going to football. You’re going to this practice. I don’t care if you don’t want to go. We’re going to it, and I’m seeing now, and just not just now, but like them, their entire growing up is like the kid will have a meltdown, not want to go, and the parent is like, “Fine, we don’t have to go today.” I’m like, “No, hold that line because that shit transfers over long term.” Freaking trust me, I’m here now. Like I see it all the time in kids, and it’s like they’re used to getting what they want. They’re used to controlling the household. And again, if we are approaching parenting and instilling a value system of helping our kids reach their fullest potential, the same way a coach helps an athlete reach their fullest potential. They need parameters to work within, and they need to be like progressively overloaded as they get older.

Alessandra Scutnik  36:48

Yeah, no, and I’m curious to hear, like, with you being ahead of me, like, what your thoughts are. We’re we love sports. We love we want them to be involved in sports, but I think there is a big part of youth sports that is going in a crazy direction as far as like all the extras and paying money to do the travel. I mean, all it can get really crazy. So I want to hear your perspective on that because I know that it’s probably coming. Yeah, and I’m sure it kind of depends on like where you live and like how they run things. Of course, like everything, but I also see so many kids getting burnt out by the time they get to middle school because their parents are so hard pressed on them becoming like a d1 baseball player, and they do that every single day. And then it’s like they don’t want to do it anymore because they’re completely burnt out.

Brianna Battles  37:36

I see it so much, especially now that like Kate entered middle school. Like this is the age that 1213 ish is where you see, like the what their youth sports experience looked like, and then how it’s now starting to transfer to like when I call like when sports actually start to matter is when you know like when it’s actually more competitive when now they’re entering a pipeline whether it’s middle school into high school or high school into maybe college or whatever, like there’s just this is when the pipeline actually starts. I’m a huge believer in being a multi-sport athlete, and I’ve stood on that business from day one with the boys. And so they have never done any sport year-round except jujitsu, and even that would there’s like blocks throughout the year, where it’s like they’re not really doing a whole lot of jujitsu because maybe football is more volume of practice, and then they’re not able to go to that. Jujitsu is the only thing that they’ve done year round since they were four. Everything else, I’m a big believer in just like one sport’s going to develop all the other sports, and they’re going to bleed into each other. It’s very transferable, and so you know they’re going to do a sport in the fall season. For my boys, that’s like flag football, and now Cade tackle. When they were younger, they did like soccer, and then it moved into winter, which is like okay, now we’re doing basketball, and Cade’s like doing wrestling, for example, and then he’ll go into basketball, and then it’s moving into baseball, and they’ll do baseball for a season, and all of that looks different while still dosing jujitsu. So there’s some kind of like crossover in how they’re using their body on any given week. And so I just dose these different sports in a true seasonal form when they’re really young. So as they get older, you can start to narrow, but it’s like broad and then slowly, slowly, more specific. But even at 13, God, like last year alone, I think he’d played like five or six sports throughout the entire year. It was insane. Like that was like he did football into wrestling into basketball into rugby into baseball. And I feel like I probably forgot one of them. And then jujitsu. So it was like a lot. But at the same time, it has developed him as an athlete, not just physically, but like his developed him as a teammate, developed him as a being coachable, developed just such a broad skill set that it’s been such a better use of our time than trying to make him a really good football player, trying to make him a really good pitcher, because. The reality is, and we both know this as athletes and coaches. Just because your kid is a good pitcher at 10 years old does not mean shit. Does not mean anything. Puberty has not hit, and if you are a good athlete, you’re going to be used in a versatile way across a lot of different teams. You’re not going to just be a pitcher. You won’t have longevity there. In like 99% of the cases, you’re not going to start as a quarterback at 10 years old and make it pro by the time you’re 20-something. That’s not how it goes. If you’re a good athlete, you’re going to be put in a lot of different positions to be successful. So, it is really wild to me to see parents put so much pressure on one particular sport or one particular position within a sport, and it’s like, dude, just develop them as an athlete, and the sport will choose itself. It will expose itself. the The kid will rise where they’re meant to rise over time.

Alessandra Scutnik  40:51

Yeah, I love that. I couldn’t agree more. And I just, I, I think it’s it’s crazy. We’re seeing it already with Kai’s age, age seven of just all the different travel teams, and it’s like I understand you want your kid to go far, and I think it’s just like I said, it it will lead to burnout. It’s kind of like with training and nutrition. You know, you have someone who wants to start who isn’t working out at all, not doing anything with nutrition, has no idea what they’re eating, and they want to jump in the next day and go full force and become an Olympic lifter and train six days per week and track all their food and it’s like that is going to lead to burnout within a matter of a couple weeks. So I think again there just continues to be parallels. Yeah,

Brianna Battles  41:32

it all like there’s so many parallels here and I think as parents it’s so easy to get caught up in FOMO culture where you’re like, well if he’s not on this team are not playing for this coach, or he’s going to like miss his shot here, or other people are doing this, and so maybe that’s what we should be doing for him to get noticed, or for him to like fall into the right pack. And I’m certainly there. With now that like again, this entering like middle school era, we never did travel sports because I was like, bro, like we we have a lot going on in our life. We cannot be. I cannot be traveling all over the country for one particular sport. Like when they were little, it was a huge priority to just. You’re going to be good at a lot of sports so that you can be thrown into literally any sport. And I want you to be like competent at it. You don’t have to do the best, but you do need to be competent. And that was a huge part of I think developing them as athletes rather than spending time being so all in on one sport because a lot of the times they don’t even make it past 12 in that one sport that so much time was developed with and they certainly rarely make it to high school and even less often beyond high school and so it’s like or we can develop them as being a versatile athlete. We can develop them as being a versatile teammate to know what it’s like to have play in a team sport, but also an individual sport, a sport that’s more focused on like hand-eye coordination, a sport that’s maybe more focused on like endurance or whatever it might be. Like there’s just elements of developing an athlete that we know as a coach that I think ultimately is going to improve their emotional experience in sport and their longevity in sport. And then ultimately, if they’re a good athlete, they will rise in the sport that best suits their potential. Like it will be found. It will, it will show itself. But we have to, as parents, be patient with that and not force it. And I’m not, and I I know that’s not intuitive for parents, but as coaches, we have to know that and hold the line as parents. And then, honestly, for anybody who’s willing to to almost like trust me, bro, you know, like I swear we we see we see the longevity here.

Alessandra Scutnik  43:38

Yeah, and I like what you said about like the FOMO piece because it’s like you really just have to focus on what’s the quote. It’s like I’m not worried about if your grass is greener. Like I’m focused on my own grass. Like that’s so true in this in all everything we talked about today. Like you cannot keep up with the Joneses. Like you have to ultimately make decisions that are best for your little family unit, and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter what the neighbors are doing. It doesn’t matter what Timmy is doing on baseball, and it you really just have to make the decision that is best for your kids and for your whole family as a unit.

Brianna Battles  44:14

I know it’s funny, like because when we talk about this, it’s like I know in my heart that this is what’s right for our family. But when I think about sharing this stuff online, I’m also like, look, like I’m not saying I’m better than you. I’m just saying like this is what we’re doing. Like, and I don’t care if you do it differently. I genuinely do not care what you decide to do with your kid. If that’s the pathway that’s best for your family, that’s fine. But it’s like so interesting when you share stuff like this that it’s almost interpreted as a like we’re better than you kind of thing. As like no, no, no. I’m this is just coming from my life experience as a coach. Like that is what is bleeding into how we’re making decisions about our boys and how they participate in sports. It’s like this what is what works for us. This is what I know. That’s what’s influencing it. It’s not like I think you’re wrong kind of thing.

Alessandra Scutnik  45:03

Exactly. It’s like, have you seen that quote? That’s like, I don’t think I’m better than you. You think I think I’m better than you, and that’s why you don’t like me. It’s like it’s so true. Like it’s so true. It’s I and I. I feel like this applies to making friends as an adult too. It’s like you, and maybe it’s just because we’re so out there on social media. Like I’ll often like meet people who like know what I do with fitness and stuff, and like they’ll introduce themselves and they’ll say they follow me, and they’re like, they almost immediately like word vomit that oh, like I don’t work out and I don’t eat healthy. Like I’m gonna like judge them for it, or like you know, like not want to talk to them because of it. And it’s like I don’t care. Like if you’re happy, like I will try to influence you to live a better life. Yes, but at the end of the day, like I just want you to do what’s best for you and your family, and like that’s likely gonna be different than the decisions that we make for our family, and I think that’s a really hard piece of sharing what you do online because it’s like it will be picked apart, it will be judged, ironically. But at the end of the day, it’s just like this is what we do. I’m sharing it because people ask, and like if it doesn’t jive with you, like no one’s forcing you to do it or live that way either.

Brianna Battles  46:19

I’m like, I literally do not have any energy to sit back and judge what you’re doing. I’m talking about like a greater, a greater picture of what we’re doing for our kids because of what I know as a coach, and not from what I’m seeing even currently. It’s like what I’ve seen over the course of like the last 1015 years in our industry and kids and their experiences growing up, and I’m like, okay, here’s what I know, here’s what I feel is going to be best for the type of personalities my boys have, and they have two totally different types of personalities. But a lot of the themes of how we’re approaching parenting them are the exact same amongst two very different breeds of breeds of battle boys. Like they’re very different, but at the same time, they’re getting the same value systems instilled and the same expectations and levels of discipline instilled.

Alessandra Scutnik  47:08

Yeah, I agree. We’re even noticing it now that my daughter’s three; she has more of that personality. That I mean, it’s completely different than my son’s. She’s just a firecracker, and but we’re we’re parenting them mostly the same. Like, yes, she’s a girl. Doesn’t matter. Like, she is still being held to the same standards, and you know, we’re helping her try all the things. If she wants to go play soccer, great. Like, we’re not going to limit her in any way just because she’s a girl. And I think that’s a whole other conversation too. But yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, parenting is hard, and fitness is hard, and all of these business is hard. At you have to find the hard that just allows you to be your best self, and it’s not easy. I think it’s something that takes time to figure out what works for you, just like anything that we do, but it’s a journey, and I think the sooner you can learn to enjoy the journey and build a life and boundaries and values that you truly align with, that’s when it starts to get enjoyable,

Brianna Battles  48:13

right? And I, I think, and something I have to remind myself of a lot is like I can always run it back and be like, I think I got this wrong, or like I said this, but then I got like humbled, and I think with parenting it feels like a lot harder to do that. Like there’s more at stake with like sharing some of what you do because it’s another human attached to it. I’m struggling with that a little bit, and then I think like, but God, what this is what got me into having a business in the first place is like showcasing one type of like training approach during pregnancy, getting absolutely humiliated and like humbled postpartum, having to like re like reassess my entire belief system and then show up differently. Like I don’t know, it’s like I’ve done that. I’ve lived publicly before where I’ve said things and shared an opinion and then had to like sit back and okay, that’s embarrassing. And then you know you like get comfortable being uncomfortable in this industry of putting your opinion, your thoughts, and your vulnerabilities online, and it gets left up to do an interpretation. And it’s harder to do that when you start sharing about like this is my lifestyle. It’s not just like the area of. It’s not just fitness. It’s not just nutrition. This is no. This is like how I’m. I’m choosing to show up in this in this life with my children.

Alessandra Scutnik  49:26

Yeah, but it can at the same time be so powerful because, like you said, I feel like we live very similar values and lifestyles in general, and it’s also not the norm. It’s been called weird to me many of times, and it’s funny because I’ll use that terminology, like weird things our family does, like in a post or something. And I’ll get a ton of comments that are like, “This isn’t that weird.” And I’m like, “I’m so glad you think so. I hate to break it to you, you’re also weird compared to 90% of the population.” So it’s like, you know, you have to take it with a grain of salt, but at the same. Time, I think there is so much power in us sharing these things because the world needs to hear it. Like we need to like change the trajectory of where we’re going right now. And I’m not saying we have all the answers. I’m not saying this is the gold standard, but like it’s an option and it’s something that you can at least explore if it piques your interest, right?

Brianna Battles  50:22

Yeah, absolutely. Like having like that solidarity of like, okay, I’m not on an island for feeling like this or for wanting this. Like this is okay. There’s other people that are doing it in a way that’s like not like we’re trying to like live, you know, like decades ago. Like I’m not trying to be in some. I don’t want my boys to be sheltered. They’re very much like exposed to the real world in a lot of different ways, and I want to instill habits that are going to set them up for success. And that is more of a that’s not any just one thing. It’s a culmination of like a of a lifestyle.

Alessandra Scutnik  50:54

Yeah, we still have to protect our kids. Like at the end of the day, I I don’t want to shelter them, but I still, it’s still my job to protect them, and if I can stop them from being bullied because I’m not letting them go on social media at 12 years old, then I’m gonna do that, you know. So it’s like I think there’s a difference between sheltering and also like setting them up for success, but also making sure that they stay protected because if I if I have the power over that over someone completely crushing their confidence, yeah, I’m gonna stop that. And if they cannot experience it, of course,

Brianna Battles  51:30

yeah, it’s like I don’t want their brain chemistry. I know like they’re gonna experience hurt, and they’re gonna they’re gonna they’re gonna experience a lot as they as they get older. But if I can like help damage control in the ways that I can. Like showing up for them that way is the least I can do as a parent. Like yeah, and I’m similar to you and what you just said. I always tell them my number one job is to protect you, and that doesn’t mean it’s like smothering you and controlling you. It’s just it’s it’s giving you like these bumpers, you know. Like we’re going to the bowling alley, but I am your freaking bumper, dude. Like I am going to be there and hold that line, and you’re gonna crash into me constantly. And I, I freaking know that. And it starts at such a young age when they start getting their voice and their opinion, and I, you know, feel like they have a little bit more free will. But we just got to stay those those bumpers.

Alessandra Scutnik  52:20

Yeah, I love that. That’s a perfect analogy right there.

Brianna Battles  52:24

Yeah, I feel it’s it’s a again middle school has been so eye opening. It’s really been eye opening with just like okay, like I we were I thought we were pretty nor normal glow, and then just getting to this age is like okay, this is when this is when this shit actually matters. This is when parenting like becomes real. Everything before was just like it was fine. It was good. Like we were just living our life, and now okay, I gotta sang a walk in. This is where I am really, really needed.

Alessandra Scutnik  52:55

Yeah, but it’s it’s like everything that you experienced so far kind of set you up for success here? I would assume because it’s like if you went in complete. I mean, I know it feels like a challenge, but you’re not going in completely blindsided either. Like you, because you have your values, because you are in alignment with who you guys are. I feel like that is crucial.

Brianna Battles  53:17

Yeah. Well, and like I’m like I’ve coached college kids. I’ve coached high schoolers. Like I know I know what is to come, and like I also was that, you know, like we we have like we have this experience and this data to go off of, and then that can just help inform our choices. And it’s not about getting it right and being perfect. Absolutely not. Like no, but it is like using the skill set and the knowledge that we have, and the experience that we have, and then doing our best with it as parents.

Alessandra Scutnik  53:44

Yeah, that’s all you can do. And if you need to change your mind, like you said earlier, like it’s okay to change your mind. It’s okay to say this didn’t work. Here’s what I’m going to try next. And I think that alone is such a skill that is so valuable with in all aspects of life is to understand like this didn’t work. It’s okay. Where am I going next? And just getting back on the horse,

Brianna Battles  54:06

right? And just like and not having you know you don’t have to attach a lot of shame or judgment to yourself or to others with it. It’s just okay. This is like the lessons learned. Shift the game plan again. Like any good coaching is you had one game plan and you know what that didn’t work, so let’s let’s change it up a little bit.

Alessandra Scutnik  54:23

Absolutely,

Brianna Battles  54:24

I appreciate having this conversation. I think that there needs to be more candid conversations around how coaching is translating into now raising this next generation of kids that we want to have healthy, like experiences in sport and good relationships with their body and their training and how they develop and how they reach their own potential, and so much of that is us as their parents reaching our own potential.

Alessandra Scutnik  54:47

I couldn’t agree more, and I’m happy to continue all of the conversations. In fact, like I feel like this is where we’ll talk after, but this is where our post should. I know.

Brianna Battles  54:55

I think I think we’ve unlocked something here. We’ve unlocked it. It’s so great to talk to you. Tell tell everybody where they can learn more about the work that you do and the coaching that you offer.

Alessandra Scutnik  55:06

Yeah, you can find pretty much everything on my Instagram. I’m also on TikTok, just at Alessandra Skutnick. It’s my name. All the links and everything are there. But you can come say hi over there, and I’d be more than happy to welcome you on my little corner of the internet. If you like Bree, you’re gonna like me.

Brianna Battles  55:22

Thank you so much for sharing your time. I appreciate you.

Alessandra Scutnik  55:25

Thanks, girl.

Brianna Battles  55:31

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 Brave Fitness program, which is an ongoing strength conditioning program where you get new workouts each week and have a lot of guidance from 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 uplevel 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.