TECHNOLOGY

it was going to be a big change and I thought it would be very detrimental to my business. And it wasn’t at all. Seeing your body change from always being in shape, being very strong to carrying a life was challenging. It felt like a roller-coaster; there were certain weeks that were terrible - some people love pregnancy, some people don’t - I can’t say I loved it, but I didn’t hate it. And then all of a sudden just having this little baby, it was just wild. The beginning was really hard for me, but now we are in such a great place and I think I’m getting a bit more used to it, and he’s just so amazing.

It’s so important for one to have the right mindset. Do you have things that you’ve practiced or that you were deliberate about doing, that made you feel better able to go through the journey of pregnancy and now having a newborn.

Definitely. I think that with growing an online fitness business, I was under immense pressure. A lot of women during pregnancy kind of feel like ‘now it’s my time to let go and I can eat what I want and I can do what I want’, and I would’ve loved to do that, but at the same time, I knew that as soon as my pregnancy was done, it was back to work. There were a lot of days where I woke up feeling demotivated, but I kept that mindset of wanting to bounce back even stronger, so I made sure to keep active for as long as possible. . Even now, when I wake up after a sleepless night with my son Ethan, the last thing I feel like is doing a workout, but I push myself because I want to be stronger than I was before. I also want to inspire other women to try and keep active throughout their pregnancy.

One of the things you mentioned was the fear of the impact that having a baby would have on your business. How have you balanced that shift?

I was so scared, because I thought that falling pregnant would slow down my business. I had planned in the sense that I had filmed so many workoutsevery single day, so that I had a library of well over 100 workouts to upload during pregnancy. Ironically, falling pregnant actually expanded the scope of my business, and I was able to start a whole pregnancy and postpartum division of workouts. That growth happened with a lot of members who fell pregnant at the same time or after me are kind of going on the journey with me. They are so convenient because you can

do them in the comfort of your own home at any time of the day. No pressure of set class times. For a new mom, you don’t always have the luxury of planning your day ahead of time, so you just work out whenever your baby decides to take a nap.

How have you worked on releasing control, where you can trust that you have a competent team and delegate to them. How do you manage that for yourself?

It has been really challenging. When I was pregnant, I had this idea that my newborn would just easily nap next to me when I needed to get work done, but I quickly realized that they aren’t little robots that sleep on demand. Stephen working from home has been a great help, because he knows how demanding my job can be, and he has really stepped up to the dad role. I couldn’t have done it without him! I often don’t get as much done as I would like, to but I’m learning to manage my time better. Accepting help is also so important for new moms! At first, I wanted to be a hero and do everything myself, but I was over tired and frustrated. Accepting help enabled me to be a more present mother, because now I have a better balance.

Do you have any systems in place that keeps you on track?

Absolutely, I have a great team of developers & trainers that are very efficient and hard working. I am also lucky that my BodE members have been very patient and understanding. They have been on this journey with me from start to finish, and a lot of them are new moms too, so they get it!

Do you have any tips that you can share for new mums? Especially for women who are thinking “I didn’t do what Elena did and I don’t recognize my body”. Are there fun things women can do just to get themselves feeling more confident as they work towards getting into the shape they’d like to be in?

Well, the first thing is to be patient. Whether you had a C-section or natural birth, give your body time to heal. So many women rush back into exercise, but your uterus needs time to shrink back down to its original size. You need to wait a minimum of six weeks just for that healing to take place. 90% of women have some form of abdominal separation, so you need start with a postpartum program that is going to reconnect your core muscles & slowly build up your strength. Even if it feels slow and feels like you’re not doing enough, it is vital that you ease into it. BodE has recently launched an incredible 16-week Postpartum Program that I have been doing myself, and I am absolutely loving it. I recommend it for all new mammas!

Your story sounds like you were able to plan out when you wanted to be pregnant and therefore you were able to plan your business to run parallel to that. For people who haven’t had that opportunity, is there any business advice that you can

offer, especially on how to control of what we can control and work from there?

So actually, funny enough, I didn’t really have the chance to plan pregnancy. We would have waited another two years, but I was diagnosed with endometriosis, and I had to have laparoscopic surgery. After the surgery, I had a limited time that I could fall pregnant and it happened very quickly. But having said that. I was very lucky that I worked as hard as I did up to that point, I’m a bit of a workaholic and a perfectionist, which ended up being in my favor in the long run. My only advice would be never procrastinate thinking you can get more done at a later stage. Work as hard as you can now! I trained and filmed workouts almost every single day for a year prior to falling pregnant.

What’s your one thing, apart from working out, that you do that helps you keep your mental health in check?

Netflix, family & a glass of wine! I cherish those moments so much, because I don’t get to do them very often anymore.

Get in touch: www.bode.co.za