Health & Wellness
Nicole Radziszewski
in River Forest, IL
Nicole’s big idea: to motivate moms to move, to get up and turn playing with our kids into a form of fitness. She motivates moms to get active through her blog, Mama's Gotta Move, and her Mama's Gotta Move Facebook page. Her excitement to educate others to get healthy and moving, stems from her being a health and wellness writer. Nicole is a regular contributor to Experience Life Magazine, a health/fitness/lifestyle magazine, and she has written for Runner’s World, Competitor, Zelle, and many other local publications. Her first story for Runner’s World was inspired by her own big toe injury. Along with her big toe, Nicole faced many injuries as an avid distance runner. She turned her running injuries into a positive transformation, from being skinny and injured to healthy and moving. To learn how to fix her injuries and to broaden her understanding of what she writes about, she became a certified Personal Trainer through NPTI, FMS, and MovNat; training out of her home and at Balance Fitness Studio and Musikgarten in Oak Park, IL. Nicole, I Admire U for your personal health transformation and for your highly contagious and easy-going perspective on how to get up and get moving.
Mom Stats: Two boys: 1-year-old son, 3-year-old son
Referred By: Donna Marie Post
Mom Stats: Two boys: 1-year-old son, 3-year-old son
Referred By: Donna Marie Post
Nicole in her own words...
1. What is the idea behind your blog, Mama’s Gotta Move, and your weekly videos you post online?
I want to change the way moms think about fitness, both from a body image perspective and from a lifestyle perspective. I also want to educate them about movement.
I think this starts with getting women to rethink how they feel about their bodies after pregnancy and abolishing the “get your body back” mentality that the fitness industry perpetuates. You don’t “get your body back” after you have a baby, but that’s not a bad thing. You’ve just carried a tiny person inside you for nine months! My aim is to educate new moms on how to retrain their core muscles and ease back into fitness in a healthy manner, rather than focusing on appearance.
The second part of this is teaching moms how to move well and then inspiring them to make movement part of their everyday lives. I use the word “move” instead of “exercise” because I think a lot of people view exercise as this separate thing that you have to go to the gym in order to do. You don’t! You can play with your kids or be intentional about how you’re unloading groceries. As moms, we have such great opportunities to move every day. Let’s use them!
I want to change the way moms think about fitness, both from a body image perspective and from a lifestyle perspective. I also want to educate them about movement.
I think this starts with getting women to rethink how they feel about their bodies after pregnancy and abolishing the “get your body back” mentality that the fitness industry perpetuates. You don’t “get your body back” after you have a baby, but that’s not a bad thing. You’ve just carried a tiny person inside you for nine months! My aim is to educate new moms on how to retrain their core muscles and ease back into fitness in a healthy manner, rather than focusing on appearance.
The second part of this is teaching moms how to move well and then inspiring them to make movement part of their everyday lives. I use the word “move” instead of “exercise” because I think a lot of people view exercise as this separate thing that you have to go to the gym in order to do. You don’t! You can play with your kids or be intentional about how you’re unloading groceries. As moms, we have such great opportunities to move every day. Let’s use them!
2. Where do you draw most of your writing ideas from? What are some of your favorite topics to write about?
Most of my ideas for articles or blogs come from personal experiences—stuff that’s happened to me, or things I’ve learned while working with my clients.
Some of my best fitness articles have come from me being injured. The first article I ever wrote for Runner’s World was on the importance of the big toe, something I discovered while rehabbing a knee injury. I also love writing about my experiences as a mom and all of the emotions that come with it. Being a mom is so darn emotional! Between the everyday drama of raising kids, finding (or allowing yourself) “me time,” accepting your body after having children … I could write about stuff like this all day.
3. You split your time between writing and training. What attracted you to becoming a trainer?
Two things led to me becoming a trainer. Several years ago I was a hardcore distance runner and I kept getting injured. I spent six months in PT, getting worse and becoming frustrated that I didn’t understand my own body. I thought that going to personal training school would help me understand why I kept getting injured and learn what I needed to do to fix my injuries. (And it absolutely has.) The second thing, I used to write for a local fitness magazine in Detroit and loved it so much that I was inspired to pursue a career as a freelance fitness writer. I felt that I ought to better my understanding of fitness if I wanted to write about it. To be honest, I had no plans of actually training clients as a career, but once I got a taste of it, I really enjoyed it.
Most of my ideas for articles or blogs come from personal experiences—stuff that’s happened to me, or things I’ve learned while working with my clients.
Some of my best fitness articles have come from me being injured. The first article I ever wrote for Runner’s World was on the importance of the big toe, something I discovered while rehabbing a knee injury. I also love writing about my experiences as a mom and all of the emotions that come with it. Being a mom is so darn emotional! Between the everyday drama of raising kids, finding (or allowing yourself) “me time,” accepting your body after having children … I could write about stuff like this all day.
3. You split your time between writing and training. What attracted you to becoming a trainer?
Two things led to me becoming a trainer. Several years ago I was a hardcore distance runner and I kept getting injured. I spent six months in PT, getting worse and becoming frustrated that I didn’t understand my own body. I thought that going to personal training school would help me understand why I kept getting injured and learn what I needed to do to fix my injuries. (And it absolutely has.) The second thing, I used to write for a local fitness magazine in Detroit and loved it so much that I was inspired to pursue a career as a freelance fitness writer. I felt that I ought to better my understanding of fitness if I wanted to write about it. To be honest, I had no plans of actually training clients as a career, but once I got a taste of it, I really enjoyed it.
Keep the celebration of everyday women ALIVE,
Like I Admire U on:
4. You see about 15-20 clients a week for private lessons, what is the most inspiring story you have come across?
Oh my gosh, it’s so hard to pick just one. I swear, I get all giddy and excited when a client improves her hip mobility and other geeky things like this. I’ve had several clients lose a significant amount of weight—one who lost more than 100 pounds in a healthy manner and has kept it off. When we started working together in 2010, there were very few exercises she was able to do. Now she runs half marathons, does triathlons and kicks major butt in my high-intensity classes. Of course, I can only take credit for a tiny bit of this. She’s the one who did all of the hard work
5. You stated, “When I was a runner, I basically just did cardio and counted calories. I was thin, but not really healthy. I was fit from a cardiovascular standpoint, but I was weak and always injured.” What type of injuries did you have? What did you change to go from “thin to healthy”?
Before I became a trainer, I had pretty much every soft-tissue running injury you can think of: IT band syndrome, patellofemoral syndrome, hamstring strains, plantar fasciitis, bursitis, tendinosis. You name it—I’ve had it. At one point I also had amenorrhea, which means I stopped getting my period. I obviously had a very distorted perception of my body because it never occurred to me that I lost my period because I was too thin. I didn’t have an eating disorder, but I didn’t look at food as fuel, either. In fact, I was just the opposite. To me, miles ran equaled calories burned. Not only was I not fueling properly for all of the training I was doing, but also I was doing nothing to build up my strength. I was a mess.
It was a long process for me to go from thin to healthy. I guess you could say I first went from thin to unhappy, because at one point I literally couldn’t do anything physical without being in pain. I felt so betrayed by my body. After several months of trying to fix my injuries, I realized my issues were too complex to resolve through physical therapy. I needed to start completely over from ground zero. I didn’t run at all for more than a year. All I did was focus on correcting the imbalances in my body and building up strength. As I shifted my focus from running to strength training, I started to see food as fuel. The foods I was eating shifted from low-calorie junk food—stuff like fat-free pretzels and frozen yogurt—to whole foods like nuts and full-fat Greek yogurt. It took me a really long time to get to this point. I honestly think if I had not hit rock bottom with running injuries, I never would have changed my exercise and nutrition habits.
Oh my gosh, it’s so hard to pick just one. I swear, I get all giddy and excited when a client improves her hip mobility and other geeky things like this. I’ve had several clients lose a significant amount of weight—one who lost more than 100 pounds in a healthy manner and has kept it off. When we started working together in 2010, there were very few exercises she was able to do. Now she runs half marathons, does triathlons and kicks major butt in my high-intensity classes. Of course, I can only take credit for a tiny bit of this. She’s the one who did all of the hard work
5. You stated, “When I was a runner, I basically just did cardio and counted calories. I was thin, but not really healthy. I was fit from a cardiovascular standpoint, but I was weak and always injured.” What type of injuries did you have? What did you change to go from “thin to healthy”?
Before I became a trainer, I had pretty much every soft-tissue running injury you can think of: IT band syndrome, patellofemoral syndrome, hamstring strains, plantar fasciitis, bursitis, tendinosis. You name it—I’ve had it. At one point I also had amenorrhea, which means I stopped getting my period. I obviously had a very distorted perception of my body because it never occurred to me that I lost my period because I was too thin. I didn’t have an eating disorder, but I didn’t look at food as fuel, either. In fact, I was just the opposite. To me, miles ran equaled calories burned. Not only was I not fueling properly for all of the training I was doing, but also I was doing nothing to build up my strength. I was a mess.
It was a long process for me to go from thin to healthy. I guess you could say I first went from thin to unhappy, because at one point I literally couldn’t do anything physical without being in pain. I felt so betrayed by my body. After several months of trying to fix my injuries, I realized my issues were too complex to resolve through physical therapy. I needed to start completely over from ground zero. I didn’t run at all for more than a year. All I did was focus on correcting the imbalances in my body and building up strength. As I shifted my focus from running to strength training, I started to see food as fuel. The foods I was eating shifted from low-calorie junk food—stuff like fat-free pretzels and frozen yogurt—to whole foods like nuts and full-fat Greek yogurt. It took me a really long time to get to this point. I honestly think if I had not hit rock bottom with running injuries, I never would have changed my exercise and nutrition habits.
"For one, I try not to think of exercise as something you have to do at the gym. I will literally “run errands” with my kids in the double running stroller. I’ll goof around in the yard or at the park with my 3-year-old."
6. You recently began specializing in postnatal clients, what is the best nugget of advice you would share for a mom trying to get back her hot bod?
Before you do anything else, make an appointment with a women’s health/pelvic floor physical therapist. Your body--particularly your pelvic floor and abdominal muscles-- goes through so many changes during pregnancy. Having your doctor look at you and clear you for exercise at six weeks is not enough. It’s really important to learn how to properly retrain your core—which includes your diaphragm, pelvic floor and transverse abdominus muscles. Doing traditional core exercises like sit-ups, crunches and planks immediately postpartum can actually make problems like diastasis recti (the separation of the abdominal muscles that occurs to make room for the baby, and looks like a belly pooch), incontinence and other pelvic issues worse.
7. You have been fit your entire life and played sports growing up. What did you do during pregnancy and post-pregnancy to stay active? What was your go-to place for helpful tips and support?
During both of my pregnancies I swam a TON. I also strength trained up to the very end of my pregnancies, modifying exercises as they became too intense for my body. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of great info out there for pregnant women and new moms who want to stay in shape. It used to be that women were told to be overly cautious, now the trend seems to be to tell women that they can pretty much do anything, as long as they were doing it pre-pregnancy. It’s true that you can do some pretty intense physical work and not endanger your baby. However, certain exercises can put too much strain on your abdominal wall and pelvic floor, resulting in problems for YOU after you have the baby. I would recommend that pregnant women check out personal trainer Jessie Mundell’s website, http://jessiemundell.com, for great pregnancy tips and support.
Before you do anything else, make an appointment with a women’s health/pelvic floor physical therapist. Your body--particularly your pelvic floor and abdominal muscles-- goes through so many changes during pregnancy. Having your doctor look at you and clear you for exercise at six weeks is not enough. It’s really important to learn how to properly retrain your core—which includes your diaphragm, pelvic floor and transverse abdominus muscles. Doing traditional core exercises like sit-ups, crunches and planks immediately postpartum can actually make problems like diastasis recti (the separation of the abdominal muscles that occurs to make room for the baby, and looks like a belly pooch), incontinence and other pelvic issues worse.
7. You have been fit your entire life and played sports growing up. What did you do during pregnancy and post-pregnancy to stay active? What was your go-to place for helpful tips and support?
During both of my pregnancies I swam a TON. I also strength trained up to the very end of my pregnancies, modifying exercises as they became too intense for my body. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of great info out there for pregnant women and new moms who want to stay in shape. It used to be that women were told to be overly cautious, now the trend seems to be to tell women that they can pretty much do anything, as long as they were doing it pre-pregnancy. It’s true that you can do some pretty intense physical work and not endanger your baby. However, certain exercises can put too much strain on your abdominal wall and pelvic floor, resulting in problems for YOU after you have the baby. I would recommend that pregnant women check out personal trainer Jessie Mundell’s website, http://jessiemundell.com, for great pregnancy tips and support.
8. Wait, your boys are three and under and you still find time to exercise. How in the world do you make that work?
For one, I try not to think of exercise as something you have to do at the gym. I will literally “run errands” with my kids in the double running stroller. I’ll goof around in the yard or at the park with my 3-year-old. I’ll sneak in pushups or lunges when my kids are playing. This stuff adds up! I also make sure I do at least two legit, uninterrupted strength workouts every week. It does help that I’m a trainer. If a client cancels and I have an opening in my schedule, I’ll take the opportunity to work out. If that doesn’t happen, I will lift in the evenings or during weekends, when my husband is home. We’re really good about supporting each other when it comes to fitness. We’ll take turns with the kids so each other can get in a workout.
9. Outside teaching four group classes: Mama & Baby FIT, Postnatal Small Group Training, Glute Recruit and Metabolic Madness; you run with an all-female running group, Best Foot Forward. What personally draws you to group exercise?
The camaraderie of working out with a group is awesome. Not only is it fun to socialize, but there’s a motivational factor, too. Knowing that someone else is waiting for you and is ready to endure a grueling run or workout with you makes it more bearable. I LOVE Best Foot Forward and would highly recommend that any mom who has even a tiny interest in running find a good group of running friends. It’s not so much about the running—it’s about having a support system, being able to talk about stuff other than your kids and having a good excuse to get out of the house.
"I think this starts with getting women to rethink how they feel about their bodies after pregnancy and abolishing the “get your body back” mentality that the fitness industry perpetuates. You don’t “get your body back” after you have a baby, but that’s not a bad thing."
10. I’m curious, what’s next for you?
So much! I’ve barely scratched the surface of what I’d like to accomplish. I just incorporated Mama’s Gotta Move as a business, so I’m starting to make things more official with a newsletter, updated website, and stuff like that. Right now, my priority is helping new moms understand how to retrain their bodies after pregnancy. I’m working with a local physical therapist to put together a presentation on postnatal fitness, and I’m trying to grow my postnatal classes.
The other big thing I’d like to do is start an impromptu playdate for moms. I’m not sure what I want to call this yet—I’m thinking maybe “Mama Movement” or just “Playdate.” Initially, it would be a local event in which a whole bunch of moms and their kids would meet at a park and just play. I’d come up with some fun activities we could all do—crawling, climbing on the monkey bars, playing tag—but it wouldn’t be structured in any way. The point would just be to get moms moving—to get them out of the rut of sitting on a park bench and checking their phones while their kids have all the fun. Eventually, I’d love to have this go viral and start an actual movement of moms around the world getting outside and playing with their kids.
11. I Admire U, who do you admire?
I admire the women in my business book club. They have been my go-to source of support and advice in getting Mama’s Gotta Move up and running, and they are all smart, talented, entrepreneurial women. One of them recently opened her own women’s athletic store, one is a singer who also owns her own concierge business, one is a freelance graphic designer who actually came up with my logo … All of us have children and are trying to balance our careers with our business goals. It is awesome to see other businesswomen-moms succeed and feel inspired that I can be successful as well.
So much! I’ve barely scratched the surface of what I’d like to accomplish. I just incorporated Mama’s Gotta Move as a business, so I’m starting to make things more official with a newsletter, updated website, and stuff like that. Right now, my priority is helping new moms understand how to retrain their bodies after pregnancy. I’m working with a local physical therapist to put together a presentation on postnatal fitness, and I’m trying to grow my postnatal classes.
The other big thing I’d like to do is start an impromptu playdate for moms. I’m not sure what I want to call this yet—I’m thinking maybe “Mama Movement” or just “Playdate.” Initially, it would be a local event in which a whole bunch of moms and their kids would meet at a park and just play. I’d come up with some fun activities we could all do—crawling, climbing on the monkey bars, playing tag—but it wouldn’t be structured in any way. The point would just be to get moms moving—to get them out of the rut of sitting on a park bench and checking their phones while their kids have all the fun. Eventually, I’d love to have this go viral and start an actual movement of moms around the world getting outside and playing with their kids.
11. I Admire U, who do you admire?
I admire the women in my business book club. They have been my go-to source of support and advice in getting Mama’s Gotta Move up and running, and they are all smart, talented, entrepreneurial women. One of them recently opened her own women’s athletic store, one is a singer who also owns her own concierge business, one is a freelance graphic designer who actually came up with my logo … All of us have children and are trying to balance our careers with our business goals. It is awesome to see other businesswomen-moms succeed and feel inspired that I can be successful as well.
RSS Feed