The MINT Prjct

Bridging the Gap Between Fitness and Healthcare with Mary Banks of Active Life Professional

• The MINT Prjct • Season 1 • Episode 34

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Who says fitness and health care can't go hand in hand? That's the question we're exploring with our guest, Mary Banks, the Chief Strategy Officer at Active Life. Mary brings an insightful perspective on how Active Life is bridging the gap between fitness and healthcare, empowering individuals to live positively, and without compromise. She shares powerful stories about her clients, including a 64-year-old woman who experienced hanging from a bar without pain for the first time, testament to the transformative nature of Active Life's mission.

As we navigate the conversation, Mary unveils her personal journey through pregnancy and postpartum while maintaining an active fitness routine and coaching others. She highlights the significance of continuing education in addressing health issues such as chronic diseases and knee replacements, and the necessity for a specialized focus on women's health, particularly for pregnant and postpartum mothers. 

The chat takes a turn as we discuss balancing work, fitness, and postpartum recovery. Mary emphasizes the importance of proper breathing during pregnancy for a healthier recovery. She generously shares her experiences, highlighting the need for grace and adjusted expectations during the journey of motherhood. Mary shares her experience of coaching moms to bridge the gap between healthcare and fitness and stresses the importance of a good coach to guide and make fitness more accessible for moms and coaches. Get ready for a high-energy talk with Mary Banks, full of actionable insights and inspiration!

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To learn more about The MINT Prjct and check out our programs and courses, head to TheMINTPrjct.com and follow us on Instagram, as well as your hosts, @bets.inthewild, @_coach.cara_ and @jesscarr.fit

Speaker 1:

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Speaker 2:

All right, guys. So today we're going to talk with you, mary. Mary Banks is a mama and chief strategy officer at the Active Life. So the Mint Girls, strangely enough all not strangely, I guess, but we actually all met through Active Life and knew Mary before we were the Mint Project. So now it's a cool kind of opportunity that we all get to talk today in these new seasons we're all in. So she's not only a super smart, calculated lady when it comes to business, but a mama as well that works hard on presence, intentionality and just a lot of good things that she learns from business and personal. So, mary, thanks for coming on today. Ma'am.

Speaker 3:

Awesome See. Yes, I'm so excited to be here.

Speaker 1:

Yes too. Oh gosh, it seems crazy to think about I don't know. It seems so long ago, but also not so long ago when we were all kind of hanging out in a room together and talking gym ownership, but it's been kind of cool to see everything come full circle and stay in touch.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, for sure, I know I love that we still connect.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So Mary, tell everybody a little bit more about what that means. Your chief strategy officer. What is it that you do? What's been kind of the evolution of that role for you too?

Speaker 3:

It's been a huge evolution. I guess I'll start with what it is and I can go back to when it started. So my role essentially is to work with our CEO and founder as him being the ideas person, him being the person who has the conception of the company, I'm the middle person who filters what he thinks would like us to do. I understand how the company operates and I can then moderate and be like we can do that, we can't do that, here's where it makes sense and then go and execute, and so then I can work with all of our department leads to have the cohesive product that we want to be delivering to the marketplace, and it is the best job. I love it. I love being having such a big role in creating the vision that we have.

Speaker 3:

So it didn't start this way. Like you guys said, I started as a gym owner, as a client for ActiveLift, just like you both did, back in 2019. So four years ago, and then a year later, I started as an educator for them. So I built a course and from there then I built more courses and it started to evolve, and then we took that into our Mary oversee, all of our curriculum, and then, most recently, in January of this year, I moved into the chief of strategy role.

Speaker 2:

I love it. So go back a little bit for those of us, for those of our listeners listeners who don't know what ActiveLife is and tell us about the company.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, for sure that makes sense. So ActiveLife is a company that helps the people who are stuck in between fitness and healthcare. So fitness doesn't have a solution for them, healthcare doesn't have a solution for them. They're stuck trying to go to one or the other side and kind of get kicked out and have nowhere to go, and so our mission is to empower them to have a life of freedom without compromise. So not go to the doctor and hear, yeah, you can live without back pain if you give this up, or go to fitness and be like, yeah, you could do this fitness modality, but you can't do all these cool parts that you see everyone else doing.

Speaker 3:

But you won't hurt won't do those parts Like for us. It's about let's, let's live the life you want to live and not have to compromise to do it. And so we work with individuals to do that. We teach coaches how to work with individuals, and then we teach gyms or really just facilities. It's not, it's not a gym. So it's like we teach the business owners to run the business, to help the coaches and the individuals live that life.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, what you guys do is amazing. I mean, it has been a huge game changer in my gym that I run just the the shift in helping people, like you said, just live lives that they want to live. Not just, hey, come into the gym and sweat, you can really do that anywhere. But someone coming in who, like I, actually had a client today. She's like 64 and she loves to lift heavy, but she's she's got shoulders, like or when she came to me she had had some shoulder issues and some other things and today she hung from the bar for like 15 seconds for the first time.

Speaker 1:

She's been coming to me for like two years and the look on her face that, like with her shoulder surgery, shoulder pain, that she could do that without pain, was like just lit up. You know, it was the proud. It like seems really simple to a lot of us oh, you're just hanging from a bar, but like made her day, like she was telling everyone else in the gym that she did it and so, yeah, we're super grateful to have found active life and you know the the tools that it's given us for sure. Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 3:

I mean, just imagine, like hanging from a bar, like imagine all the things that she could now do without pain, because she can do something like you said. That's so simple, but you've like unlocked a different part of her life that was closed off to her before, which is so amazing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. It's those little things. When you look at like coaches that are out coaching in the world these days, like what do you a love about coaches that you're seeing in the gyms? And then where do you see opportunities for change in gyms or environments?

Speaker 3:

I mean, most of my exposure is to seeing coaches who come into our ALP program, which is a 13 month curriculum, heavy duty and the best thing about them is that they come in with a willingness to learn and grow. So it's that growth mindset that is first there for them. And the second part is this idea that we help people develop personally. It's not like we're just going to get you a stronger bench press and get you a better looking butt. It's like we're gonna help you be a better person and so the time that you spend in the gym actually makes you better outside of the gym, as opposed to it's just an hour in the gym and you're gonna have a good time here. Like the people who come in truly want to make such an impact. So that's what I'm seeing and I just I honestly don't expose myself Like I don't go to a commercial gym. I have a garage gym. I don't follow like the fitness influencer people on social media.

Speaker 3:

So the thing I would say in terms of like development is really the opposite of that growth mindset Is the fixed mindset, is thinking you know everything already, or even if you've learned something once that you couldn't go through it again and learn something new. Like that is something where it's like a little bit of humble pie, where you're like all right, well, I've already heard this, so like I'm gonna move on. It's like well, what if you actually learned something that made you 1% greater, that helped this client that hasn't walked in your door yet? So just the idea that, like you can always be learning something new.

Speaker 2:

So I love that you guys are that learning something, new mindset and one of the things for and I'm gonna pause right there, cause Mary, if this isn't like allowed to be in the world yet, then you can totally let me know and we'll cut it out. How is that something that you guys are trying to cross over in or not trying to cross over? But how does that include pregnant and postpartum women? Because those are clients in the gym and you guys are generalized fitness right, like pains that are coming in. How do you guys involve pregnant and postpartum?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so that's a good question. So right now, the ALP curriculum, like I said, is the 13 month curriculum, and that is we're looking to help. I mean, the general population is truly who needs our help. It's the 80% of people who don't use a fitness membership right now. It's the mass amounts of people who are suffering from obesity and who are overweight, and so that includes chronic diseases and knee replacements and like all sorts of complicated things. So, yes, like pain, chronic disease, we do focus on that.

Speaker 3:

When ALP is over, after the 13 months, we want you to continue learning, so there's a continuing education requirement that happens after so two and a half years after you graduate, you need to recertify, and then every two years thereafter. So right now, we partner with someone, like you guys for the graduates that we do have, that they could go through a pregnancy and postpartum education. We will have a specialty course that includes pregnancy and postpartum but is very focused on pelvic floor health for men and women and, just honestly, the whole gamut of women's health. Right now, we already have a course that covers menopause a little bit, so it's covered in our longevity course. I love that. That's awesome.

Speaker 3:

We know there's a huge need for pregnancy and postpartum and honestly we've had conversations with our subject matter experts about this it's like 50% of the population is women. Women have cycles. Cycles will impact their training, it will impact their mood, all sorts of things. And then of course there's changes in hormones and in tissues and pregnancy and in postpartum, and then again postpartum is forever, as you guys say and other people say, and then like into menopause. So we know that's a need and we also know it's a specialized focus of education. So I would say there's components where it's like you can get by in some areas, like there's some principles that you could apply, but like, if you really wanna work with and do really well with pregnant and postpartum athletes as a coach, you need further education.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so I'm sure, as a mom too, that's like incredibly clear to you. So you know being, yeah, those two different sides. Of course you're a working side. It's clear to you what your population is and exactly what they need and how to serve them. But then, being a mom, and like you're very passionate about what you do, how is the crossover in that? Like, what have you seen in not only your own life, but things that you wish you'd had, maybe while you were? Were you doing fitness while you were pregnant or postpartum, or what was that kind of period like for you?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, leading up to getting pregnant, I was doing CrossFit stupidly, like I had a shoulder injury that I was just pushing through and before that was a wrist injury. So, like I remember, I vividly remember doing like a it was like an OPEX tester, it was like a 60 minute amrong and I didn't know I was pregnant yet, but I remember now and it included like 15 wall walks and per round and like building and all sorts of things.

Speaker 3:

But I just remember my shoulder hurting and I remember finding out a couple of weeks later that I was pregnant and I was like okay, like I definitely felt like garbage doing that and my shoulder hurt, like things are making a little bit more sense, an anecdote. But once I found out I was pregnant, I was like five and a half weeks and very quickly after that like did not feel good at all and so I had a coach who was programming for me I think it was my husband at the time which we could get into that whole like should your spouse program for you? The answer was no, because of me, not because of him. Like I was a terrible client for him, but he programmed for me for it to be safe and modified not even modified, he programmed it specifically for him to make sure that it was safe and it really had to be. I had to lower my volume.

Speaker 3:

I was super, super nauseous the whole time I was pregnant, but like moving and working out typically helped Well, like I just had to get there and go, but I was also coaching, so it was like it was at the gym anyway. So, betsy, I can't remember like the second half of your question, but I was training through my pregnancy. In postpartum I had switched to another coach, so my husband and I didn't argue about that anymore and I just remember giving myself a lot of grace and like changing my whole mindset. I was like I'm not going back to CrossFit, my shoulders gotten better. I need to like fit things in when I can do things at home and like be okay with that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's such an important mindset shift. I think that is. We always say that's the hardest part, but it's the most important part because and like you said, I think the way you phrase that like not necessarily thinking that I have to modify all these things, but how can I make my programming still? That's kind of art. That was always our goal with our pregnancy program is to not make moms feel like you can't do anything or you're not doing what everyone else is doing, like you can still have a really great program in pregnancy that progresses you safely and effectively and kind of removes some things that we recommend removing. But it doesn't feel like you're just doing this. I'm not even touching weights or just modifying scaling everything. It's still you feel like you're lifting, you're getting a good workout. So that's like such an important mindset to have of like giving yourself grace to do what you need to do. It's not going to be the same as before and that's okay. It's a new chapter, so I love that.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1:

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Speaker 1:

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Speaker 2:

Yeah. So my second part of that question was now seeing what you've seen professionally and what you see in motherhood. How did the two crossover? Whether that's at work or as a mom, how do you use what you've learned from each? I guess that's a big question.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, it is because it encompasses so much like it's just so much more than fitness, right, Like just motherhood changes you in so many different ways, like your expectations of yourself. So if you're type A, type A overachiever, like I am a little bit of a perfectionist like you have to change your expectations over what life looks like. And so that involves fitness and it involves like working right, Like when you're especially working from home. So when I had taken the job at active life, my son was a year and a half and that allowed me to go from a full time work from home, but full time job, to part time hours and I took a huge pay cut to do it and I felt more aligned with the mission and it was the right thing to do and it allowed for me to have more flexibility in the expectation I had of myself.

Speaker 3:

With the full time job, it was like I felt like I was letting everyone down because I wasn't doing as much as I used to do before. And it's the same thing with fitness Like if you have that expectation of what you were doing before is the only bar for success, then you're going to feel like you're letting yourself or other people down. So when I think about like there's just so many facets where this goes right. So we work with coaches who are moms who are starting new careers, who are getting into this and kind of adjusting their coaching career or getting pregnant while going through the curriculum, you know, and it's just like there's just a whole lot of room for having grace on yourself and your expectations for that. So I don't know if that quite answers it, but like that's kind of where my head goes when you ask me that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, I love that answer because the, like Jess said, the mindset is the hardest part and if you're used to being a hustler and that kind of goes into. The next topic I want to talk about was the balancing the work from home thing. That is the hardest part If you're a working mom especially if you're working, whether you're working from home or not like the balancing act of it all. But being able to speak to also how do you fit fitness into that really starts to shift to why do you fit fitness into that? And I think from a coach's perspective you have to understand that longevity reasoning, otherwise it becomes more of a hobby than a health necessity, right?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, for sure, and I think, like I think before I used fitness as a hobby and I used it because I was like all right, I think this is the path to make my body look the way I want my body to look, and when I got pregnant it shifted into I want to have a really healthy baby, a really healthy pregnancy. I want to feel the best that I can. I know that exercise will make me feel better. I know that walking will make me feel better and like hopefully have a good labor, but no, and so like the your mindset does shift to that longevity and I'm so thankful for that.

Speaker 3:

And I wanted to recover well after pregnancy and you had asked me what I wish I had known. I had done some of my own research and, like my husband had some understanding, what I think I drastically missed in probably even pregnancy, but like especially in postpartum, is proper breathing. Like I thought I was like, yeah, I know how to not breathe in my chest, but like it's so different, right and so like having that, that diaphragmatic support, and like paying more attention to that early on, like I really wish I had I had done more of that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's huge. That's one of like in our early modules that we teach coaches to teach their clients, because it makes such a huge difference. I, when I was pregnant, didn't know any of that stuff either, and that's probably one of the things that like going back, same thing postpartum I was like I'll just jump back into the gym and it'll be fine. And yeah, really taking the time to like reconnect to your core, your public floor, learn how to breathe properly, because that will last the rest of your life, have an impact the rest of your life, the way you breathe. How was your postpartum recovery overall and like getting back into your routine?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and you made us wonder about the laborer with your comments there. So we love a good birth story. You go all in. Yeah that too.

Speaker 3:

Man, I can give you the abbreviated version. We were a couple days post-due date, so not really that bad. I went into labor at like 2 am and had been the previous couple of nights like having, I guess, practice contractions. But this was the real deal. It was like 10 minutes apart. So like you lay there and then, like at 4 am you're like all right, this is it, we're going to go to the hospital, I'm going to go do my hair and I'm going to like 4 am. It's like why are you doing this? You should be resting.

Speaker 3:

Fast forward to like laboring at home for as long as I thought I needed to, which was probably like 15 hours laboring at home, and it was like great for most of it. I was like this is awesome. I went for two long walks. I was like this is great, I love it. I hope it stays like this. And then like things got a little more serious 30 minute car ride to the hospital was terrible. And you get to the hospital and they're like yeah, you're three centimeters dilated and I'm like fuck, like that's not great because we've already made it.

Speaker 3:

That sounds like me, I hope it stays like this Famous last words, yeah, and like I, wanted a non-medicated birth, like all those intentions, and just like broke the shower in there because I was in the shower so long that, like the bathroom died and yeah, so like overnight the next morning they ended up breaking my water. It was still low at this point. Pretty terrible, things had slowed down and we're like a million hours into labor and it wasn't until like 4 o'clock the next day. So I think I was at like 35 hours I don't know I need to do the math and I was like please just give me an epidural. Like I can't, I can't keep going. I've been up for days and so we did an epidural, tried pitocin. That didn't work in terms of like once we did pitocin, he started to have decelerated heart rate, which he was fine up until that point. So I was like, all right, we're not doing a pitocin, I guess we'll just like chill, and that was like the best, like I didn't want to do the epidural.

Speaker 3:

But then I was like yeah, right here, like actually yes.

Speaker 1:

Breathe yes.

Speaker 3:

And so it was 8 30 that night and you know I've seen like three doctors through rotations at this point and the doctors, like you're not progressing.

Speaker 2:

And I was at 6 centimeters.

Speaker 3:

And he was like we can keep waiting or we can do a C section. And I was like I'm not progressing. You can't try pitocin. I didn't have any hope at that point that things were going to change and I didn't want it to be emergency, so we ended up opting for the C section. So we did a C section. An hour later the hospital that I was at like they do a gentle C section so my husband could come in. That was great and I feel like I recovered really, really well and quickly from the C section. Like I was up and moving around faster than the doctors and nurses. They were like this is strange that you can do a glute bridge right now.

Speaker 3:

And I'm like, oh it wasn't supposed to be this, so that I mean, that was all really great and I just walked and baby carried for the first four weeks and then we did some light biking and maybe some like breath work stuff at week five. That's where I'm like I felt like I could have done breath work sooner and then we just eased back in. I think it was like two workouts a week with the baby there and, like I said, I have a home gym too. So we just eased from like two days to then three days. I don't even know. Maybe I got to four days here and there and right now I'm kind of sitting at three to four days, plus a lot of walking and other activities.

Speaker 2:

I will say one thing that you will see if you leave this and follow Mary when we put her information down. There is Mary walks all the time and it helps that she lives in a very beautiful area of the country. She walks barefoot. She walks with her family. So tell us, I think moms underestimate, like the mental and physical power. Everybody does right, but moms, who have the habit of filling their plates way too full, whether it's with work or kids or whatever, they underestimate the power of walking. So tell us why that has become such a big part of your life, even just in the last year.

Speaker 3:

Yeah for sure. I used to walk a lot and then we owned the gym and I lost that ritual because we were up really early opening the gym and whatever, and so I always knew it was just a peaceful avenue for me whether I was listening to a podcast or listening to a book, and I used to listen to things a lot more. And now I actually go for mostly silent walks because it is literally just the only time where my brain has space and it's where I get the best ideas or it's when my anxiety reduces. If I'm feeling anxious, I'm like I literally just need to go, step outside, breathe some fresh air, go for a walk, and there's been studies about that. Forward momentum reduces anxiety. So I kind of lean into that. And I think just with a computer job and when we didn't have the gym anymore I'm no longer a gym owner I stopped being as generally active throughout the day and so I wanted to make sure that I was walking and just feeling good about my joints, feel better when I move and walk, and it was, I think, december of last year.

Speaker 3:

One of my coworkers posted on social media that she was walking and doing a walk and talk with one of our clients and so, or no, no, no, she was walking. And she was like I saw someone else walking and then I was like, all right, I'm going to be the third one. And then literally it just spiraled. And so more people were like I'm walking too, I'm walking too. And so it just became what we call the walk gang, where it's just like you walk every day. That is literally the only rule. You can walk 10 steps if you want, and that's it Just walk every day. We like it if you post it and it just inspires people to know that 20 minutes of walking a day reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease.

Speaker 2:

So impactful. I love that, which is amazing.

Speaker 3:

It's just so easy and it's so great. Exactly.

Speaker 1:

It right? Yes, and I don't think people realize at same. Like when I I've stepped back from a lot of daily coaching at the gym and I'm on my computer a lot like the level that my steps have gone down is insane and I feel the difference. Um, and it just like, yeah, standing up and going for a walk can just refocus your mind, refresh you. We did a challenge at our gym I think it was in September, just a walk challenge. Like we don't do many challenges, but we're like we're going to just challenge you guys all to get more steps this month and like the level of competition was unreal, like they weren't really winning much either. It was just like I want to get, like people were walking.

Speaker 2:

They just wouldn't be the winner.

Speaker 1:

They just want to win, and I was like, okay, but yeah, it's like, keep this going Cause. I would also ask like, how do you do you feel better? And all of them are like, yeah, like I feel so much better. Um, but that's funny that you talk about walking in silence too. I, I always used to and then lately I've been kind of putting on podcasts and I had my headphones in yesterday and they have like the you know, the noise cancellation where you can kind of barely hear and I'm walking the dog and this guy literally turned to my left and he had a leaf blower and I didn't even hear. He was like. I was like oh hi, maybe I should go back to not listening to things while I'm on my walk.

Speaker 2:

So something very interesting that I realized becoming a mom and walking is uh, I used to do the same thing. I would always listen to something on my phone or whatnot. I've kind of got back in the habit of it. But a fun little thing for moms to try is to, if you're walking with your kid, point out things that you hear or see or smell, because if you ever do one, of those mindfulness apps.

Speaker 2:

That's what it will tell you to do and it's a really great practice for yourself, Even if you don't live in a beautiful part of the country.

Speaker 2:

That will help you just kind of be a little more aware of your surroundings. Um, and I think finding enjoyment in your exercise is something that all of our companies really uh, or all of our companies, both of our companies really still encourage, and I think that that walking kind of encourages you. Have another form of fitness that it might not be in season four right now. I'm not totally sure that you found um over the last year or so or refound again maybe two, three years, because you did it when we were together in New York, yeah, and then you started doing it again and it's it's kind of a cross into how fitness becomes more of an enjoyment. Um versus a this is how I want my body to look. So tell us about that one and kind of why, why that's become meaningful to you as a mom especially.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, so you're talking about surfing, which, by the way, is always, always in season.

Speaker 3:

I'm Chris and I are actually going right after this, cause it's like the day before the hurricane swell, cause I'm not that great of a surfer, okay, yeah, um, funny story, chris and I went on our anniversary one year. I was like 11 weeks pregnant and I was like, should I still go? Like you just don't. You're like it's safe. Like way back to that mindset. I'm like, yeah, it was safe, of course, like the waves weren't big. Um, yeah, yeah, you know, like we were, we had a coach. Um, I went that one time and I was like I'm terrible at this and also was newly pregnant and it was, you know, the end of August, so technically like the end of the summer season around here, and I didn't pick it back up again until right before. Betsy, what you're talking about, what that was, was that last September? No, that was two September.

Speaker 2:

That was two for sure, cause it was right before it began, yeah, so we're two years old.

Speaker 3:

So, yeah, okay, yeah, so I picked it up again two September's ago, because I knew that we were having this active life event where we were going to go surfing. You know, I was like I'm gonna get back on a board and we went surfing and um from there. From that September my husband and I made a pact that we would surf every month of the year, and so we live in Connecticut, so Northeastern- oh, my God yeah.

Speaker 3:

Um, and so the water temps that year got as low as 37 degrees. So you just and I didn't actually have as thick of a wetsuit that year as I do now but you just buy the right gear and it is amazing to be able to go into the water and just be outside all year long, right, like. Yes, there's a couple of days that stand out where I'm like I was really really, really cold, but it's so worth it and it is. I did get to the point because I had ongoing shoulder pain for a long time where I was like I don't want to be doing things in the gym that are making it so that I can't surf and like so thing and you're trying to paddle like that impacts it for sure. So, like my shoulders, great. I've been surfing every month. It's been two years. We have successfully surfed every month of the year for the past two years and I don't think that'll change and I love it. I'm a beach ocean girl.

Speaker 1:

I love it Very cool. Yeah, it was fun. I'm kind of terrified of the ocean, but I did have fun surfing and I felt safe with, like the instructors there and stuff. Although they made a joke in the beginning that like the dents and the board were from sharks, they're just like a lot of sharks in Long Island.

Speaker 3:

Oh God, I know it's fine.

Speaker 1:

We all made it out fine yeah you're just yeah, we did, we did, I did great, that's. You know, I have some photos together. I think that was a really good moment.

Speaker 2:

I think for all. There's a picture of all three of us somewhere there is a picture.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, there is we have to find it. We'll have to grab that one, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Uh. So, mary, one one last kind of question for you that I want you to have an opportunity to speak to, whether it's coaches or moms what is something that you see or or that your position has made you feel passionate about to moms and coaches, on where this gap, which active life talks about a lot, the gap between healthcare and fitness, of how to kind of navigate that, whether your mom not knowing what to do or whether your coach not knowing how to coach in this world, what's the best, where to go from there? What would you do if they're lost?

Speaker 3:

Yeah for sure. So if you're a mom, I would say 99% of the time you can walk. And so, like I know we just talked about it but like, truthfully, it is the easiest thing that you can do. It's good for your mental health, it's good for your physical health and like, start small and my rule is that I just want to walk every day and if that means I walk to my neighbor's house, which is not that far away, and that's the walk that I get in, and that's the walk that I get in and that allows me to retain the habit and it's worked. I now, like I'm a person who walks every day because I made my barrier to entry really really, really low, because it didn't work before that, when I was like I have to walk my two and a half mile lap or it doesn't count, and like that black or white thinking can really, you know, inhibit. Yeah, it's really discouraging. So if you're a mom, like you can start there.

Speaker 3:

And the second thing I would say to moms is that there are good coaches out there and it is so valuable to have an individual coach to take the decision fatigue out of it for you.

Speaker 3:

Let someone else tell you what to do. Like let them have your best interest in mind, because you're always keeping everyone else's best interest in mind. Finding that coach might not be easy, but like fire a coach quickly if you're like this is a bad fit and they do not have my best interest at heart and they're trying to push me too hard or they're not listening. And if you're a coach, it's just like you have to go and learn and just understand that you don't know enough. And we will like, even after they take your course and after they take all of ALP and after they go through ALP specialty courses like there's a reason we want you to recertify as an active life professional. There's a reason you have to recertify as a physical therapist. Like you don't want to just be stagnant in your education and because there are people who are stagnant in your education, in their education, you're going to stand out if you're the person who's not.

Speaker 2:

Oh well, Mary, thank you so much for coming on and giving those words of wisdom and in your industry and just kind of how you work and how you're a mom too, it's the cool crossover for you to have and then be able to speak on to for sure.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I loved this. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1:

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