You will hear a lot more about this, but for now just know this is the metaphor we use to strengthen the pelvic floor and help maintain the full core. Older videos may refer to this as claw crane.

Daily HIIT workout. There is one posted daily for each main program (Momma-To-Be, New Momma, Momma).

A metaphor used to describe keeping your frontals back so that if you had a flashlight in your hooha it would shine straight down at the ground. It would not shoot out in front of you.

Inclusive language referring to your “private parts”, previously referred to in the program as your “hooha”.

High-Intensity Interval Workouts. These type of workouts consist of short periods of intense exercise with less intense recovery periods. The main programs (Momma-To-Be, New Momma and Momma) have a daily HIIT workout called the D15.

Oldie But Goodie. It refers to a work out that was taped previously.

The area between your peehole and your butt. In more technical terms, it is called the perineum.

MommaStrong Daily 15 workouts are 15 minutes long, and each minute is broken into 2 intervals. You’ll see these explained as 30/30, 40/20, 45/15, 50/10, or 55/5. In some cases this will include a ‘GO’ time and ‘REST’ or release time (e.g. 50 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest), or they may be separate exercises (e.g. 40 seconds of one exercise followed by 20 seconds of another exercise).

Any interval time of exercise and rest.

Exercises repeat in this fashion: ABCABCDEFDEFGH

Any interval time of exercise and rest.

Dynamic Duos are done 2 different ways—either doubling up on each exercise, or doubling up on pairs of exercises:

Each Exercise: AABBCCDDEEFFGG

Pairs of Exercises: ABABCDCDEFEFGH

40 seconds of exercise, 20 seconds of exercise.

Exercises repeat in this fashion: ABBACDDCEFFE

Any interval time of exercise and rest.

Exercises repeat in this fashion: ABCDEFGFAGDFBCE

Any interval time of exercise and rest.

Exercises repeat in this fashion: ABCDEFGHIJKLMN

Any interval time of exercise and rest.

Exercises repeat in this fashion: ABCDEFGGFEDCBA

Any interval time of exercise and rest.

Exercises repeat in this fashion: ABBA CDDC EFFE GH

5-5-5

55 seconds of exercises followed by 5 seconds of rest.

Workout focuses on anchor points: includes 5 exercises for the glutes, followed by 5 for the belly, followed by 5 exercises for the mid back.

5-5-5 Build

55 seconds of exercises followed by 5 seconds of rest.

Workout focuses on 5 central exercises, and cycles through these 3 times with progressive intensity.

5-5-5 Reverse Build
55 seconds of exercises followed by 5 seconds of rest.

Workout focuses on 5 central exercises, and cycles through these 3 times, beginning with the most challenging variation and decreasing in intensity.

Any interval time of exercise and rest.

Workout focuses on combining one “go” exercise in the form of strength/cardio building followed by one “release” exercise in the form of stretching or releasing.

Any interval time of exercise and rest.

Workout is designed for all demographics within the brand (Pappas, Mommas, Momma to Bes, and New Mommas) and provides necessary modifications.

The phrase “Win Ugly” was introduced to me by Andre Agassi’s autobiography, Open. It came to him via the coach who helped Andre resurrect his tennis career later in life. This coach explained to him that his career had failed earlier because he had been more focused on perfectionism, performance, and people-pleasing than on simply playing the game. And, so, he taught Andre to go back to the basics and to hone in on simply how the ball sounds/looks when it hits the racket. He told him that this meant that he might groan, moan, look a hot mess, and be completely ungraceful on the court … but with the attention on the ball and how it interacted with his racket, he’d be a better player.

“Win Ugly” was how he explained this strategy. And, well, it worked. It changed Andre’s entire game and, more importantly, it gave him back his love for tennis.

I encourage you to show up each day as you are. Hit the “ball” as sloppily as it needs to be hit. Groan, cry, fall to pieces. Whatever it takes. Focus on what matters and just win ugly.

Begin Again is pretty simple. It’s about Grace.  

Say that to yourself: Grace.

It’s about you being willing to forgive yourself and forgive your life when (not if) things go to sh*t and you don’t show up.  

It’s about letting yourself be a human.

It’s about mothering yourself when you have bad days or bad moods, and giving yourself room to start over without shame.

So, when (not if), you don’t show up and you don’t do this fitness thing like you think you should (what a terrible word), opt for a different way forward. Shove off the normal berating and simply say: Begin Again.

And then do exactly that.

Win Ugly and Begin Again are the key foundations of this journey. They are kind and nurturing. They make all the success you are about to feel possible.

BUT, there are times you need a kick in the pants.  There are times that the boss momma inside of you is going to need to be at the helm and let you know that you’ve got to get on the mat.  

So, for those times, I use the boss voice inside of me that says: SHOW UP OR SHUT DOWN.  

It’s that simple. Exercise quite literally saves me each day. It gets me out of the funk, it brings me back to my center, it irons out the folds that anxiety loves to make, it relieves my pain, and it releases me from my normal rabbit-hole-loving mind. Instead of shutting down in the face of all of that nonsense, showing up proves much better for my life.

When you need to get on the mat and after you’ve had time to brush off shame and bring in kindness, say to yourself: NOW, SHOW UP OR SHUT DOWN.

If we get really honest and really deeply involved in the truth of our relationship to our physical selves, most of us feel as if we are not “there” but that we can actually get “there.”

I see that this is how we all show up for exercise. It is riddled with hopes and dreams and expectations, ones that we think we will someday meet. We chase, we run, we silently badger ourselves … it is relentless, but we don’t talk about it.

What would happen if you let that go and if you accept that a mediocre experience inside your own human body is actually enough? And what if choosing that enoughism is actually the heroic part of things? What would you do with all that extra time in your brain and in your body?  MommaStrong believes that living in the tension between the extremes is where our health truly lives.