Kate:

I've put I've probably got a healthier relationship with fitness now than I did before. Because before I was injured, I didn't listen to my body at all. But it was also like without going into it too much, I was also really unhappy when I was training. It was the one thing that I could go to. And I knew if I was at CrossFit or I was teaching attacks, I didn't think about anything. And so that's why I did it. Because that was the thing that made me happy. So now I just really appreciate that my body's been through a lot, and this is what it can do. But this is why I can't help but be okay with the fact that you can't do that. 

Will:  

Hey, I'm Will Breretonn, founder of SH1FT Fitness and this is Group Fitness Real Talk, a show about how to survive and even thrive as an instructor in 2020 and beyond.

Will:  

Imagine having your first baby, opening your first fitness business and dealing with a global pandemic, all within the space of a few weeks. This was the reality back in March for today's podcast guest Kate Slee. In today's episode, we talk about what it's like to start your own Fitness Studio, dealing with finding out you're going into lockdown on the day that studio is due to open and finally, fitness whilst pregnant. And with a newborn. Kate is a self proclaimed fitness addict. So for anyone who's been through or is considering a pregnancy, Kate shares some brilliant lessons that she learned through the process, and how her relationship with fitness has changed because of it. Trust me when I say that Kate is someone who does not do things by halves, and her ambition, drive and optimism is truly inspirational. This was a great chat for me, because I'm so impressed with what Kate has achieved, and also how she's grown in the decade that we've known each other. I really hope that you enjoy my chat with Kate.

Will:  

Okay, so Kate Slee, welcome to the podcast. How are you? 

Kate  

I'm good. Thank you. Thank you for having me. 

Will:  

That was a very, very shy hello from you. Hahah. So how long have you and I know each other over 10 years now? Right? 

Kate  

Yeah, definitely. Yeah. 

Will:  

Cool. So we obviously go back to Les Mills days, and being on the trainer team, presenting and that sort of stuff. The reason I wanted to get you on the podcast today is to talk about two big things that have gone on in your life that I think are two quite big things that go on in the life of a lot of great fitness instructors. And that have massive impact on kind of the way you live your daily life and also the way that your career goes. And those two things are one having your first child having your first baby and to opening your own business or going from a group fitness instructor to business owner where you're actually running a business. And the challenging thing that you've done is in classic k form you chose to do both of these things in the middle of a global pandemic. 

Kate  

Yes. I mean, why not? If you're gonna do it, let's just do it the hardest way I think.

Will:  

Yeah, exactly. Go all in, right. So why don't you give us a sort of brief timeline of the last year of your life. 

Kate  

Okay, so we were due to launch our gym in Bristol in around November, December last year. So way before COVID sort of took hold. We had building work delays so we didn't get to open until much later. But so we were due to open the day the UK went into lockdown, the first lockdown. 

Will:  

That was your -- I remember that now. Your opening day was really the first day of UK lockdown.

Kate  

Yeah. So Mark had Mark had put about 100 hours in that week. He literally just put the last set of dumbbells in. Yeah, he'd been doing like work. He'd been in at 6am working till 3am. The next day, come home for a shower, quick sleep, go back. He'd been doing that all week to get ready. And he put like the last set of dumbbells in quarter to five. And then they came on at 5pm to shut the gyms down at five. So we were like, open for about 15 minutes.

Will:  

Did you actually open? 

Kate  

No. So we were we had our launch party booked for the next day. So we had, we had members wanting to come down and have a look. And we were like, well, you better get down here real quick then because at five o'clock we're shutting. 

Will:  

Oh my gosh, I remember that on social media and just get out. So how long? And how long have you been planning the gym? Sort of from right back to when you first decided you wanted to do it through to that fateful day? 

Kate  

Oh, like 18 months probably. The building work took a lot longer. I mean, everyone always says it'll take longer than you think. But wow, it it really does. There's so many factors that come into play in terms of kit being delivered or that wall needs to be... So for example, our gym is on a floating harbour in Bristol. So we had to get the building work so that they took chunks of wall out so that we could put equipment in. So it wasn't too heavy for the harbor. So we have a huge like, so basically, so the gym doesn't fall in the water. Right? Yeah, so we had loads of things that I never even thought would be an issue. I was like, oh, we'll just put it in that space. That would be good. But yeah, it took it took over 18 months from start to finish. 

Will:  

So let's wind it back a little bit, just for the benefit of, of people that have met you before. Tell me about your group fitness history, and what led you up to wanting to open your own facility. 

Kate  

So I've been teaching Les Mills for a fair few years like nearly 15, I think and I have been off the trainer team for nearly 4 years now and I loved being on the training team, but I felt that I wanted to do something for me, there's a big, big bad world out there and there are things you can do when you have your own free reign rather than fitting some else's mold. So having the freedom to say I'd like to create this, I'd like to do that. And my partner and I were running a successful small group training in the gym we were in. And we've always wanted to have our own place, so we've run an online training business for 4 years now, we were doing in person training at the gym we were in and the busier we got, we got to a point where we couldn't take on anymore people, so we were like, why don't we look into getting a space and doing small group training but on a much larger scale, so classes throughout the day, a larger gym facility. And, yeah, so that's what we that's what we decided 

Will:  

and your style, how would you describe your style of training? I know, but how would you describe it in your own words?

Kate  

Um, so it's, I hate to use this word because it's so overused, but it's just functional fitness, like mixtures, I hate that word. But you'll be doing mixtures of barbell work, strength programming, metabolic conditioning. So we've got five different types of classes that you'll just go for fitness, or just go for strength, maybe a lift, Olympic lifting, gymnastics, overall improvement of everything, rather than you're just going to go and train this one, like, modality.

Will:  

So let's wind it back to the you're doing the online training? And what at what point do you realize that you have the desire and the kind of willingness to take the risk to actually set up your own physical location and like what led you to that decision? 

Kate  

So when Mark and I decided to run up to open our online business in 20016, and into 2016, we wanted to create a platform that we could no matter where we were in the world, if we had an internet connection, we could work. Yep. And that's what we want to do. What and it doesn't matter where anyone else is in the world, we want to do this, this business, and it has been really successful. And it is still our main, like our main focus. But it was the in person stuff that Mark and I specifically missed, like we had people, we still have clients that I've never met. Like they're in different parts of the world, and I do their training and nutrition every single week. And I feel like I know them, but I've never met them. And it's which is amazing. But I really missed a seeing somebody and watching changes and and because our small group training business was going so well, we did discuss that. We thought well, why don't we just ask the current gym owner if we can have a section of his gym, for a just for us.

Will:  

Right, because your gym is was a previous sort of underutilized squash court as part of a new facility isn't right. 

Kate  

Yeah, yeah. So we said, well, why can't, why don't we ask the owner if we can have this space just as like a PT studio. And when word got around that we were doing that we went from having a small group training business or 50, to a mailing list of 400 of people wanting to...

Will:  

and how did you a lot of people listening will be like, well, that's great, but how did you go about growing that that audience? 

Kate  

So we will I know it sounds obvious, but it's it was really looking after the people that we had for starters, and really involving them in our process and what we were doing so I feel like a lot of not necessarily gyms there's a couple of gyms in Bristol that do it but everyone's always very secretive about what they're doing, or they don't want to tell people their prices or don't want to say because they think, Oh, well, that competition -- whereas we were completely the opposite. We're like we're thinking of doing this is going to be in this sort of ballpark price wise,  this is what you're going to get for it. And so because they felt almost part of that journey, they then I told other people, I put it on my own social media platform. And yeah, we spent about three months just pushing people to join a mailing list before they even got any information. And we got to just over 400 people, and then did a, like, info drop, we call it of like, 4, 4 big info drops, of telling people what was coming up next. This was all pre COVID, though.

Will:  

Did you end up? Did you plan out this the info drops as a means of building your list? Or did you just happen organically? 

Kate  

No, no, we planned it.

Will:  

You planned it out, you were like this is this is going to be a list building process in order to get ourselves up to the right number of clients we need before. 

Kate  

Sure, yeah, so we've done it so that the first one gave them a gave people a really big overview of what we were going to do, and then encouraged people to that we put a link on that mailing list for them to send other people, because they need to tell your friends because they're going to need to know this information if they want this. And if you're on the mailing list, then you're going to get a we call it a founder membership. So they got a slightly discounted rate. But if they weren't on that mailing list, they would never get it, that sort of thing. 

Will:  

So so this is this is something I just want to drill down into, because I think it's a really important tool for instructors to learn. And that is the power of email. Because at the end of the day, social media is a great way to build your reach. But you can have your social media taken away from you at any point or you can you know, anything can happen where you can fall away. But if you have a really strong email list and you cultivate that membership there potential people that can buy from you, whatever you're selling, like, you can transition away from fitness into nutrition or into something completely different. And if your mailing list is engaged, and people that want to hear from you, that is just money in the bank in terms of in terms of marketing, is that something that you How did you learn the importance of an email list? 

Kate  

I think that's in fairnness come from me managing gyms and the back pain in the past. So I was a fitness manager for David Lloyd for a long time I've done coordinator, I've been a coordinator for other big clubs. And there's a lot of members that just especially when I was a gym manager, like 10 years ago, social media just wasn't what it is now. Like, it's just, it's so much as I think social media is equally as fantastic and toxic at the same time. So I think it's, um, I think it's such a powerful tool. And it's, and it's incredible, but it's also awful for almost the same reason. Yeah, yeah. But to have people that are 

Will:  

amplifies the good and amplifies the bad. 

Kate  

Yeah, and, and almost, if it's on social media, it's got to be true. I hate that, Oh, well, I've read it on Facebook...Whereas if you're on an email list, you know that that person has actively chosen to hear or read what you have to say. Using a platform like MailChimp, you get to see if people have unsubscribed or when new people are coming on. So you get a real, solid understanding of are these people opening these emails? Are these people reading it? Have you had any clicks through to your website from sending this? It's not just oh, let's stick a promotion out on Facebook. And yeah, the best for any emotion that you do on social media should ultimately link to you capturing, right? Yes, of course. And it's at least when you've got that email, you know that they want to hear from you, rather than you just flooding your social media and hoping that someone will pick up on that. 

Will:  

Yeah, for sure. Okay, so that was a lesson you learned working for gyms. And is it something that you put a lot of time and thought into when running your own business? How you go about keeping your email list engaged and making sure that they want to hear from you? 

Kate  

Yeah, so we for our gym, for example, we've got a mailing list of people that have now joined, but they're also on a on a Facebook group for those Yeah, yep, you're engaged in that. And then we've still got a huge list of people that we've got people that wanted to sign up, but that were working in Bristol City Centre. They've been working from home since March, and they're not due back to the office for the foreseeable. So yes, still interested in what we're doing. But you know, I've got a girl for example, I used to train to live in Newport. That's another, this was, it's in another country, really.

Will:  

So for the Americans listening to this the United Kingdom is 4 countries. 

Kate  

And so I'm so there's people like that that of course are not going to join because they are not going to drive over an hour and a half just to have a workout. Because they would have been there for work. But equally, they're still opening emails. They're still reading what we have to say and still engaging in posts. So I try not to,, the people that aren't members. I'm sending an email once every other month, because I think too much when they're not even members is just annoying. Yeah. But once every other month is a, hey, this is what we've got going on. And this is the results we've had from our members. And and I think when you do it not so often, people can see big shifts in your journey. 

Will:  

But certainly when you only work with Danny, right, like you were you were creating something big. And you had lots of data on that.

Yeah.

Will:  

Cool.

Will:  

Yeah, for the listeners, for instructors who are listening to this who aren't currently, like across an email management system, or an ability to create a list, I would say, that's one thing that you really need to do. And maybe we'll do a follow up podcast on sort of the ins and outs of creating an email list. But it's certainly the I think one of the strongest ways to build your business. And I think a lot of people focus on social media where, you know, it's quite expensive, you don't necessarily have full control over who sees it. Whereas if you build that mailing list, that's just someone that you can, you can hit every time that you know, you've got something of value to offer. 

Kate  

Yeah, exactly. And it takes it does take a lot longer than you think to create really a really good email. Oh, yeah. So like, you'll do stuff and I and I might, because I'm maybe not as good at it, but it would take me like a good hour, maybe two hours to write an email that someone would go, like, yeah, I'll have look at a few photos of a clip. Okay, great. 

Will:  

And you did you taught yourself to do that there was just something that you just had to get across the different systems when you're working in group fitness jobs and then it 

Kate  

there's there's a lot of things that are you obviously do need help with, but things like that, like most of these big platforms have tools like along the way and as long as you're patient and don't get frustrated with aw, I just can't do it. Just try, and like and give it a go. And most of them have a: okay, now do this now try this. 

Will:  

Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's, that's basically the theme song of my approach to everything is just start and do it. And then along the way, and things become a lot easier. There's a YouTube video for that. 

Kate  

How do I export a mailing list into MailChimp and then there's someone that with a step by step guide, you're like, okay, well, cool. I know how to do that now. 

Will:  

Yes, exactly. Okay, so we talked about moving from the idea to the to the physical location using email to build your list so that you had a whole lot of people waiting for you to open, then we get to opening day and Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the UK closes or well actually goes into full lockdown right closes everything, along with most other countries in the world. That was the first lockdown where everybody went, yeah, right. So take me through, take me through the emotions. First, I want to hear how you dealt with it emotionally. And then I want to hear how you dealt with it professionally. 

Kate  

So it was it was this is really a weird thing to say maybe, but because so we went into lockdown in April. So our son was nearly four months old. And so I had an obviously, I had a quite, everyone's gonna say a traumatic labor, my labor was not great. And so I wasn't up and mobile for a good two weeks to start with. So and then Mark was flat out building the gym up until this point. So I'd been pretty much on my own with, with, with with my son. And so when we walked into the gym, and it was like it finished, and it just looked incredible. And I got a bit emotional. I was so proud of Mark for working so hard and what we created. And then the news came on, and I was torn between being gutted and just thought, thank God for that. Thank God because, like he can just stop because he's this poor guy was just so exhausted. And I just thought do you know what, it like, naively, couple of weeks, we'll be off, he can have a few. 

Will:  

Well, that was what I was gonna be when we first went into lockdown, right. It was three weeks, and then we'll reassess. 

Kate  

Yeah, and I thought great. He can just have a rest and we can and we haven't we haven't had any members sign up yet. So we weren't losing anything. So if it was going to happen 

Will:  

other than time and opportunity cost, right? 

Kate  

Sure. Yeah. But no one had signed up that where we had to think oh, well, they've paid all this money. Now they need a service, they need something or we have to give them their money back. So actually, I was like, well, if it's gonna happen, good, let it happen nnow before we have people sign up, that's really good. And then you know, weeks passed, and I don't even know how long we're on lockdown for like, six years or something. If you're living in a city center flat with no garden you have in there for six months, like six years it was felt so with a with a newborn, with a newborn my Lord. Yeah, bless him. So yeah, to begin with, I was equally gutted, but equally is like well, let's really try and think positively. You can have a rest. We can recharge, we can spend more time we can program right up till you know, we can program in advance, you know, which we did end up doing a very long way in advance. So yeah, it was kind of mixed, to be honest, both both gutted and grateful.

Will:  

Yeah. So what so like, you're in lockdown, you don't have any members yet. Therefore, you're not stressing about having to provide them with stuff, which I think was a big challenge for a lot of fitness businesses was, we will let people that want to put their memberships on pause, pause. But ideally, we want people to keep paying us some if not all of the membership fees, and therefore we have to provide them with some service. So you weren't in a position where you had to scramble to create stuff. What did you do...

Kate  

Well, we did that for our group training business. So we were still doing so our group training clients were on a direct debit, and they got X amount of sessions a week. But because we already had an online training business, we already had a platform in built into our website where people could just log on and do our sessions with us. So we weren't on this frantic, how are we going to do sessions online?

Will:  

Yes. So were they like, exercises that they'll follow? Or were there classes that you would teach through zoom?

Kate  

They were live.

Will:  

Yeah. Okay. What did you use, zoom? Yeah, we used zoom. 

Kate  

Yeah. But it was in built into our website. So they kind of use their logo, and they they use one of their credits to buy a session.

And, and

Will:  

Ah, so you had the you had the non physical side of your business that just kept on tracking right through right through the lockdown. Yeah. Okay, cool. 

Kate  

We didn't not work we did. So we did all our online programming. And then we did online sessions and all that nutrition and stuff we carried on doing so.

Will:  

And so lockdown comes to an end. Unfortunately, we find ourselves back there now. So we're talking about that just yet. But lockdown ends, and you finally get to opening day. Tell me a bit about that. 

Kate  

That was really special. It was something that obviously we'd wanted for a long time. And we had waited for for a long time. What I hadn't anticipated was how difficult it was going to be to manage the social distancing COVID expectations. Because obviously, I'm not saying anyone else should know, because none of us have been through it before. But you know, I, I'd written eight weeks worth of programming up front. And then suddenly, it dawned on me, I was like, Oh, well, we could fit 45 people in this room. And now with social distancing required, we can now only fit 10. Okay, so that's going to cut numbers down. Oh, but now they can't share kit. Okay, so I can't get partners working on something. Oh, right. Yeah, well, now they can't, you know, be that close to each other. So we have to move all this kit. So it was a bit it was a massive steep learning curve. So what we did like most of the gyms was kind of create your training base for people to come into. Yeah. And instead of a big opening day, we just did like six mini workouts on the on the Saturday and got people to come in and have a look around and which was great. It just wasn't what we thought it was going to be. Yeah, just when we knew we had so many people that wanted to come in, and we were only allowed, right, because you had this massive list of you know, hundreds of people who would have come down to a massive big opening day and done that whole, like the classic type of opening day, which is, you know, like bells and whistles. Packed classes.

Will:  

Yeah. And and how did that how did opening go? Like, what were your what were the the months that you're open? Now? Unfortunately, closed again. How did they go? And how did you find them? 

Kate  

That I can't, like I couldn't have wanted any more. Like our members are brilliant, they they are so respectful in terms of understanding what restrictions we have, they don't get too close to each other they do they clean their kit all the time. They just do as they're told, they're just so grateful to have something. 

Will:  

That's one thing I forget about is that people are very on board with, like complying with all of the social distance guidelines, because they want to be there so badly, right? Like, we think it's fitness professionals who desperately we want to be open so that we can be working and earning money. But on the flip side of that all of the members desperately want to be there too, because it's such an important part of their life and their health and their fitness. 

Kate  

Yeah, they were just so grateful to be to be involved in something and we had members, it was quite emotional, really. We had members that just hadn't seen another person felt like all have lockdown, they live on their own. They've just they're just having this virtual interaction with people and there was people that were genuinely just quite emotional being back and being included in something. And that for me was just like, Ah, that's why we're doing it. Like that's what all their stress and yes, that's pretty wonderful to be able to help people. 

Will:  

That's actually something that I've heard repeated by a number of people that I've spoken to is that like this year has been a shit and there's been so much stress and so much, so much sort of heartache and worry and and not knowing how things are going to end up. But that it really has reminded a lot of fitness professionals who maybe got caught up in all of the other sides of trying to be, you know, trying to make it and trying to grow business and all that sort of stuff, wind it back to exactly why they enjoy it. And it's that creating a good experience for someone that makes their life better. 

Kate  

I think that's, that's exactly it. And it's, it's really helping people understand a) why they're in the fitness industry and b) just making them realize that they've already got what they need to make a difference to somebody. You don't need to spend huge amounts of money on a brand. And unless you just need to if, whether it's choreography or investor, you just need to find something that works for you. And as long as you're you and you deliver it well. Like you don't need to be caught up in any of anyone else's drama. Like it doesn't matter. Like no one else's drama. Sorry. Anyone else's drama should have no impact on you and your little, like network of people. And I think for me having you know, especially with a with a baby, you end on lockdown, most people's social media usage just went through the roof because

Will:  

they can't talk to anyone, right? It's just like, I really want some contact.

Kate  

I think that's why I hate it even more, just because we've spent so much time like Yeah, I did it. I did a podcast on this with my ex-colleague from Beachbody Danielle where I said like my I found myself sitting at home and locked down so desperate for contact that I was scrolling through social media, just to see what other people were doing. But also realizing that scrolling through social media was making me feel worse by caught in this loop of like, Alright, I'm not seeing anybody what can I do, go on social roll, feel bad

Kate  

And like when you get your screen report through from Apple, and I'm so offended that is so embarrassing how high that is. But yeah, anyway, I think like instructors went one of two ways they either went, which I think is a good way of like, oh, this is actually what I've got to offer. And I'm this is why I'm doing my job. Or they they got caught up in you know, this like toxic world of like people's drama and other people shit because they had nothing else to focus on. And they completely lost track of what they were, what they were doing. Yeah, I think 2020 has like really divided the fitness world into those two camps of two camps of people. Yeah, I get that. And I think that in the like, I know that in the UK. 

Will:  

I'm a member of a Facebook group where I went to that Facebook group hoping for support and all I got was people complaining about other people like dobbing them in on Facebook for not following social distancing guidelines. There was another another brand that I'm not gonna mention, but they did a video which looked fine to me like I'm not gonna like I wasn't there. I can't judge how they did it. But I was like, good for them getting their community out and moving and, and people were like, how can they possibly be social distancing? This is terrible. And it just hurt me to my soul because I feel that like we should just support each other doesn't matter what brand you work for what gym you work for. There is so much opportunity in the fitness industry to reach new people that we don't need to be scrapping over what we've got currently, we should just look to build. 

Kate  

I think what I found most difficult about that kind of complaining thing, especially from fitness professionals who are meant to understand that you've got no idea what that fitness professional like so I know for example, there was a gym in Bristol but remained open in lockdown there was actually they stayed open, one of which definitely financially didn't need to, they just did what they wanted. And the other one I know desperate financially, this guy would have not had a house to live in or feed his children. Fuck, like, just let the guy train some people. Right? It's not your responsibility to get involved with that person. Like just let them do it. It's I think 2020, especially COVID is this, like, just be nicer to people? There's obviously obviously dickheads in the world, but there's some people that like really like just doing everything possible because they're desperate to make everything better.

Will:  

I agree. If someone's someone's just doing their best, and they're trying their hardest, and like, 

Kate  

Especially those keeping their head down, you know, like, just doing it. Not shouting about it, just getting on with it. Just like, just do it.

Will:  

Okay, so, you mentioned your new baby, who was how old now? 

Kate  

He's 10 months. 

Will:  

10 months old. Okay, so take me back to, because I found out about this after I knew about the opening of the facility. Did you had you plan to open origin series? Then the gym in Bristol is origin athletic, which anyone can come and visit once we open again.

Kate  

Socially distant, you can come in.

Will:  

So you plan to open Origin athletic and then wind it back. Like at what stage of the 'we're going to open a gym', did you find out that you were pregnant?

Kate  

Ah, ah, we, um, we had decided we were going to open a gym. And then I had been speaking to you about us opening the gym? Yeah. Um, and so I found out I was pregnant in April. And it was due to open in December, November, December. So relatively, 

Will:  

and what was your due date? 

Kate  

The seventh of January.

Will:  

So when you found out you were pregnant, it was pretty much exactly at the time that your original open date added? And was was this like, was this a complete surprise? Or was it sort of something that you've been planning? And it just happened?

Kate  

Both both were planned?

Will:  

Yeah. Maybe, maybe not planned to be so contemporaneous.

Kate  

So originally, so I'll tell you, and maybe deeper story for another day, but I, I had a bit got pregnant, I actually lost my first pregnancy. Okay. And I had an ectopic pregnancy. So I needed surgery. And that was in the February. And so Mark and I were really keen to, for me to get pregnant again. And so the original plan was if that pregnancy had made it through that I would have had the baby and the baby would have been three or four months old. And then we would have open the gym.

Will:  

Oh, three or four month old is totally fine.

Kate  

Yeah, but it's better than a four day old. Well,

Will:  

this is true. This is true.

Kate  

Um, so yeah, it didn't quite work out that way. But at the time, well, I just didn't care. I was like, well, we'll be right. And 

Will:  

yeah, for sure. I mean, like comes at you. Right. And you just you just roll with it.

Kate  

Yeah, exactly. So yeah, it ended up being pretty much within six weeks of each other, basically.

Will:  

Yeah. So I'm not this is the bit that I'm interested to talk to you about. Because for those people who know Kate, from her time in the UK industry, or Les Mills, you would know that she has extremely high tuck jumps, not quite as high as mine. But so you you were a body pumper, body attacker, grits, you were very known for being you know, extremely strong, extremely explosive, extremely fit, doing all the jumping sort of stuff. So I like I assume that your particular style of fitness and your kind of place within the fitness industry is one, which is very, and I'm not suggesting that being pregnant doesn't change how everybody approaches their fitness. But I imagine that it was it forced you to have a think about how you were going to approach the types of things you taught. Yeah, like during pregnancy, and then after, tell me a little bit about that. Because I'm sure it's something that a lot of people listening can relate to either. They're thinking about having kids with, they've had kids and I understand what you went through.

Kate  

I think what I hadn't again, because it's your first one and you have no idea. What I hadn't understood was that I knew that women get a bit morning sick at the beginning, and then you're uncomfortable at the end. And I had it in my mind I was going to be this like super fit, super awesome, active pregnant girl. I was just going to be rockin life. Well, that was not it at all. My pregnancy was so bad. So I had a condition where I was I was sick every day, as in physically sick, every single day. I had every symptom going, I had horrendous sciatica. I basically just couldn't do very much at all for the whole nine months. I taught maybe five classes in nine months.

Will:  

Really? Okay, so you were you your your pregnancy pretty much took you out of the physical side of teaching group fitness right from the start.

Kate  

Yeah, I couldn't, I couldn't have a microphone on my face for more than 10 minutes without needing to be sick. So teaching a class was just not an option. So, um, three of those classes out of the five that I taught were almost I was eight months pregnant. Whereas I was

Will:  

finally got over the morning sickness towards the end.

Kate  

I was semi alright by then. Yeah, I think I had completely not understood how much energy it takes to grow a human. And I know that there's lots of active women that have babies and they're great and lots of people that just train and they you know, because training was my life. Not only did I teach 25-30 classes a week, I would then go to CrossFit. 

Will:  

Oh that many.

Kate  

Yeah, Will. I did like seven. I did seven every Tuesday, eight every Wednesday. Like it was just what I did. And yeah, I loved it. And looking back, I'm like your actual psychotic woman. How did you ever do that? I couldn't do eight in a week now probably. But and I would train on top of that. So going from that, to literally not being able to do that was more than challenging not for my body. I think my body appreciated the rest, my little heart, my head, um, I had a bit of a tough time to be honest. But 

Will:  

in terms of and tell me about that like, was it tough because you enjoyed the like you missed the endorphins of working out or tough because you'd because I think about when when I'm not able to work out, I always go back to like my crux which I've managed to as I've got older work away from but I'm always like, if I don't work out, I'll get fat. I was a fat kid, a fat teenager. So that's like the thing in my mind. I think I'm at the point now where I don't do that anymore. But it's taken me up until sort of 40. What was the thinking going through your head when you couldn't work out? Like why? Why was it taking you through the emotions?

Kate  

It was, it for me, I love training. I love sweating. And I love that feeling when you're in the middle of a workout and you're super out of breath. And, and you've you know, you go get in have a great shower or anything I'm set for the day. And because I was just never doing that I missed it.

Will:  

And you think you were addicted to fitness? Would you like yeah, I think fitness is something you can be addicted to in a good way. But in terms of something. Yeah.

Kate  

Yes. If my and if my body wasn't, my head definitely was. I would find I would get incredibly not not outwardly to other people. But I'd be really irritable, wouldn't sleep as well. I just get a bit of anxiety if I hadn't I just have this like desire to do burpees I mean, just to do something.

Will:  

I have to say I completely understand where you're coming from because i i think that that is some is a condition that I would have also had up until lockdown. I found this lockdown where particularly the first one like I'm all about home workouts, I've home workouts to the cows come home, I'm very big on making sure instructors feel that they can deliver from their home. But at the end of the day, I got a bit bored of doing home workouts every day. And so I just got to the point where I started walking. And then I was using my calorie tracker on my iPhone and realizing that I was burning more calories doing a really long walk than I was necessarily doing a half hour bodyweight workout. And that was a realization that like I think was quite useful to me because the long walk would be good for my body, good for my brain allow me a little bit of thinking. And it also kind of got me away from that hole. If you haven't done a half an hour at least of exercise, preferably high intensity because that's what will get the you know, endorphins going, then you haven't done enough today.

Kate  

Yeah, yeah, definitely and the fresh air thing as well. Just being outside I think makes a difference, especially when you live in like the rainy country of England. So getting some fresh air and some sun is lovely. But yeah, so I I did really struggle. And also because I've had, I've had a number of hip surgeries before I got pregnant as well. Yeah, so my training hadn't been back to how it was since since that. And I I was never I was never like, bothered with how I looked. Because I'd always been a really active person I'd always been I'd always worked hard and been lucky enough not to be too injured. But I remember like when I was pregnant, and I hadn't got a big bump yet, I had a little bump. I just remember looking in the mirror. And so much of my size had gone as in, like, my legs had changed shape and my shoulders have changed shape. And I was so sad. I was like, Oh, so upset. I was like, I've worked so hard just to feel really confident and how I look and now I don't and and I get that people say stuff and they they might have great intentions, but when I would see people and they tell me that I was skinny or little I'm like

Will:  

--thinking that it was what you want to do nothing.

Kate  

I know some people love that. But I was lik no! Where have--

Will:  

decades of lifting

Kate  

-- where have my legs gone. I was a bit sad that yeah, that things have changed. But also at the same time. I had felt so poorly that i thought you know what, get over this because you're growing a person

Will:  

So and then you gave birth and tell us about the journey back into fitness after that. So you're How old is what's your son's name? 

Kate  

Kobe. Kobe. Yeah. Um, so I because of how I had an emergency C-Section. So Kobe stopped breathing and labor and they had to get him out super quick. And the surgery was quite rough. So I actually they gave us sort of 12 week window to going back to fitness. It was still hurting me to sneeze at 12 weeks. So I definitely didn't do anything before then. So it was about 15 weeks that I did some light cycling and then it was in winter. We're in lockdown by then. So I started doing on-demand body pump with you know, like half a kilo or something depressing. Oh my god, awful. Um, and I'd also written a post-natal back to training program for a group of girls that I know wanted out and it went on sale on our website. And so just me doing that highlighted just how terrible my core was and how much damage there had been. And so, you know, what, if I'm honest, since then I haven't really got back into training, not because I don't want to, yet but because my, because Mark works at the gym from 6am till 9pm. And my little person is is difficult to, I can't just train when, you know, whenever I want. But I've so instead of getting super sad about it and thinking, which I have done, thinking I'm not been doing any thing, this is really rubbish, I've kind of understood that he's only little once. If I just need to almost just write it off and just be like, well you've chosen to be a mom, so be a mom, your training will come back. Like when he's older, don't push him off on somebody or hope that he sleeps longer, just so you can train or like, plead with a friend just to watch him. Because I'm not into just doing a little bit to make myself feel better. I like structure in my training. I like to know that

Will:  

if you're going you're going yeah, you're doing muscle ups.

Kate  

Yeah, um, but if I'm training, I want to do it like three or four times a week to really, like feel like I've got a structure because I did just do a couple of sessions. And then Will, I was so sore. I literally legit couldn't hardly pick up my child for two weeks, I was so bad. So I was like, instead of just doing that, I'm just gonna wait until he's a little bit older, he'll go to nursery, and then I'm gonna, and then I'm gonna train and it will come.

Will:  

What do you what do you do for like exercise and stuff? Do you go for walks? or?

Kate  

Yeah, I walk loads. I do walk loads and I do, so I coach at our gym on a Friday. So I do and I teach attack and pump on a Friday. So I am doing

Will:  

--So you're not doing nothing Kate.

Kate  

Yep but for me I'm doing nothing.

Will:  

I really haven't done anything except a double attack and pump on a Friday. Everybody listening is like, okay, mhm.

Kate  

But like Monday to Thursday, and then Saturday Sunday, I do very little in terms of exercise. But yeah, so I'm just trying to be like, I'm just trying to be cool with it. Working, a work in progress.

Will:  

Yeah. How would you say your relationship with fitness has changed in the last year? Like, if you could sum it up? like where do you feel you're at now, when the start of the journey to where you are now.

Kate  

How do you mean in terms of...

Will:  

--like, you're just you're like, how do you how do you view fitness now versus how you viewed it before? Is it changed? Or are you just ready to get back to it when you can?

Kate  

I've put I've probably got a healthier relationship with fitness now than I did before. Because before, I was injured, I would do way too much training, didn't listen to my body at all. But it was also like without going into it too much. I was also really unhappy when I was training that much. I was it was the one thing that I could go to. And I knew if I was at CrossFit or I was teaching attack, I didn't think about anything in that time. And so that's why I did it all the time. Yeah. Because that was the thing that made me happy. And so and then when you're busy training you don't think about Yeah, so now I just really appreciate that. My body's been through a lot, and this is what it can do. But this is what I can't, but be okay with the fact that you can't do that. Whereas I never used to be okay, that I couldn't do so I was like, Well, why not? Why can't I do that? I will train harder or push myself harder until I can do it. And now I'm just like, well, I don't need to do that. I'll just try and do the movements that don't hurt me and the movements I really enjoy. I'm not going to the CrossFit Games. I'm not going to the Olympics. I never was so why why do that to yourself? Just do the movements you love doing. 

Will:  

I had that. So like basically a different situation. I didn't go through having a baby, obviously. But when I when I put my back out for the first time and I couldn't walk for like six weeks. It was actually really good learning curve for me because I had been kind of at the you know, professional fitness fitness professional high level doing all the impact staff lifting heavy for 15-16 years. And then I hurt my back and I can barely walk for six weeks and then I had to kind of rehabilitate myself. But as a teacher, it taught me so much more than I'd learned in those previous 15 years. Because I never really understood why people needed to modify. And I never really understood how hard it was for someone who wasn't fit to come into one of my classes and you know, do a do like a plyometric jump or a plyometric lunnge. Like I didn't really understand it when when I hurt my back and I had to kind of build my fitness back up, I started to realize, Oh, this stuff is hard. Like, if you haven't done this for a while, or if this isn't doesn't come naturally to you. It's really tough. And it gave me so much more humility and grace and understanding of what the people in my classes and like, because I think up till that point, because it always comes so easily to me. I didn't really appreciate it.

Kate  

Definitely. Yeah, so I had, I did like the add this little clip of a video of me doing push ups in lockdown, and then versus push ups, whatever it was three months later. And I remember the first time I tried to do a push up post pregnancy. And I because I've never like you, I'd never really struggled with push ups. Why can't you do that? Push yourself up. Like, is like just get up, push harder off the floor, you'll be fine. And I would do what I would go down. And I was like, I cannot do that. That's really difficult. It was my knees down and everything and I couldn't do I couldn't even do one. Um, and yeah, I think it's good for not it's not great for coaches to be injured. But God, it's so good for coaches to get a bit of a reality check and be like,

Will:  

yeah, to understand what their clients go through. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, for sure. Okay, well, I think that kind of brings us to a nice closing point. Now I'm going to put you on the spot and ask you two things. One is what is the biggest thing you've learned from opening your own gym that you would pass on to prospective fitness instructors who are thinking about taking that step. And then the same thing for having your first child you can choose to take them in the order you wish.

Kate  

So I'll do that I'll do the gym first I think so the the gym one is to not try and assume that you know it or just go in blind like speak to other people that have done it. Because there'll be people that have made all the mistakes in terms of building a website, learning about different types of tax you have to pay data protection things you have to know about all these things that you just think oh, I'll just open a gym and coach some classes. Um, yeah, my advice would be to speak to as many other gym owners as possible especially gyms that you respect anything I love how they do that. Yeah, and if they're if they're lovely owners, they will be equally as happy to share some tips of wisdom with you. Yeah, don't go it alone. Speak to other people. Good advice. Or what was the other one about the baby?

Will:  

Yeah, what advice would you give to a fitness instructor who's thinking about having like as sort of planning their first baby what would be your piece of advice having just gone through that and as a fitness professional who's been in the industry for a long time,

Kate  

okay, so this is the easiest one to say. And it's still the thing that a) I didn't do for a long time and still really bad at is be kind to yourself and whilst your baby will change your world and they will always be first because they just need you. If you are empty, you can give nothing. So you have to just be okay that you haven't done the washing up or you haven't washed your hair in two weeks or you haven't just be alright with it. Yeah, because you you can't be as organized and as on everything as you used to be. And if you're a very organized on IT person that suddenly isn't that is really hard. But you just have to be alright with it and know that it like none of those things matter and that your baby loves you because they don't know what messes they just they just want you so perfect.

Will:  

Well thank you very much for coming on the show. Okay, I have to say having known you for a long time and knowing what a driven and motivated and sort of type A personality you are. I am very very proud of all of the development and changes that have gone through your life and especially in the you know, the last year but opening your own gym, having a baby being okay with not training all these things I just have to say I'm very proud of you and I can't wait to see what happens with origin athletic as you're finally able to open up and build out Bristol as a fitness Mecca.

Kate  

Yeah, that's the plan, mate. That is the plan. We just need to get people back in and get people comfortable being there and I've got every confidence it's going to be really incredible and really special place to be.

Will:  

Awesome. And we'll put links to that so they can check out your gym in the show notes. Thank you very much, Kate. So, that was my chat with Kate. What a crazy year that she has had. I absolutely loved the despite opening her business the day that lockdown was announced in the UK you couldn't imagine the life She was still optimistic and has managed to stay that way nine months on Kate's message around how her view of fitness changed through pregnancy is also a really strong one for many of us. Whether you've been through pregnancy, which obviously I haven't, or an injury, or just simply your body aging, we all have times when our body does not work the way it once did. Not being able to move the way you wanted could be tough. I know it's something that I've struggled with after injury. And during this conversation, it really made me laugh to think back 10 years to when Kate and I were on a stage competitively jumping our own body height, and to see where my place in fitness is now, which is creating a space for people who never have and never will do a jump in their entire life but who really wants to get moving. As I mentioned in our chat, I'm grateful that I had the time to reflect, reframe, and focus on all the things that my body still can do. And this really resonated in my chat with Kate. Understanding this definitely makes us better coaches and better instructors and it makes us more able to help the people who need more movement in their lives. Thank you for listening. If you're enjoying the show, don't forget to subscribe for all the latest episodes wherever you get your podcasts. And while you're there, please drop us a review. You can also get in touch with me at will@sh1ftfitness.com. I'm Will Brereton and you've been listening to Group Fitness Real Talk.