In a conversation with two very distinct halves, Kyle chats with Melbourne Personal Trainer, Theresa Prior, about firstly working with mothers and motherhood and secondly about how leveraging the modern, 24-hour news cycle can be to your advantage.
When it comes to working with Mums, Theresa highlighted some key considerations to ensure client safety, client retention and longevity of helping this demographic:
- A second adult working alongside you as the trainer will be beneficial to help with the children. Depending on laws in your area/country, this is not necessarily going to be a child-minding service – the second adult will be there more as your second set of hands. Theresa makes it clear that the children are to remain the mothers’ responsibility at all times.
- Early class times allow Mums the chance to exercise before work or before their partner needs to leave for work if she is unable to bring children with her to your typical ‘Mums’ class times.
- Understand that the hour she spends with you is such a small part of her day – that she may have been up all night with a sick baby, that she has already been through the ringer getting kids ready for the day and that she has the mental load of being the family PA. Don’t make your sessions to complicated or mentally demanding – and allow for flexibility within your circuits (you never know when a nappy needs changing!).
- Educate yourself in post-natal training – mothers in Australia receive a check-up with their GP at six weeks postpartum and most are led to believe that this is the green light to return to full intensity exercise. This is not the case at all and it is our job as responsible Personal Trainers to refer them to a Pelvic Health Physiotherapist for further investigation.
- Ensure your Pre-Exercise Health Screening form contains questions that will highlight any post-natal dysfunction that she may be experiencing (particularly pelvic floor dysfunction)
Some great post-natal resources are:
- Burrell Education (https://www.burrelleducation.com)
- Safe Return To Exercise – Jen Dugard (http://www.jendugard.com/body-beyond-baby/workshops/)
- Girls Gone Strong (https://www.girlsgonestrong.com/)
- Core Exercise Solutions – Dr. Sarah Duvall (https://www.coreexercisesolutions.com/)
- Continence Foundation of Australia (https://www.continence.org.au/)
As a mother and business owner, Theresa has some simple ideas to find that elusive work/life balance. She sets her session times to suit her own family, and stopped doing 1:1 PTs in favour of more groups to protect her energy and time. Theresa finds snippets in the day to get the admin side of business done, but has strict time limits on that to ensure she has time for her children.
In the second half of their conversation, Kyle and Theresa chatted about the benefits of ‘handling your own PR’. Theresa has seen good growth in her branding in the five months that she has been sending out media releases, via a paid service (links below).
- Journalists are so stretched for content on our rapidly changing news cycle that they are happy to receive a well-written media release for an article idea
- Being included in media, outside of social media, gives you and your brand an instant standing above the rest as an industry leader
- Journalists can’t know about you if you don’t tell them about you – and they are easy to talk to as they want the story!
- It is pertinent to remember that we only ‘rent’ the space on social media – and that it could all be shut down tomorrow. So don’t put all your marketing eggs in the one, social media, basket.
Marketing + PR links:
- Handle Your Own PR (https://handleyourownpr.com.au/)
- BabyTalk Podcast (https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/babytalk/babytalk-fit-mums-theresa-prior/11402918)
Theresa Prior has a mission to bring Mums and women together in a safe and supportive environment that just so happens to have fun fitness sessions at it’s core. She has been running her own personal training business since 2013. Theresa helps her clients understand that all aspects of their health are equally important.
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