Redefining Fitness After Birth with Robin Arzón

Introduction and Welcome

Britta: Hello folks, and welcome to transformed by birth, a podcast about the rite of passage of pregnancy, birth and new parenthood. I'm your host. Britta Bushnell, author, mythologist, childbirth educator and all around deep diver with a side of goofball. I'm so glad you're here. Today's episode explores the role of fitness during the transformation from pregnancy to parenthood. So grab your comfy beverage of choice or take us along for a walk as we connect with exercise superstar Robin arzon, before we begin, we start the way we always do by lighting a candle. If you want to join me, please do or take a breath as I light mine. Today's candle is in honor of our strong bodies.

New Year Pressures and Introducing Robin Arzon

Britta: It's the beginning of the year, and as the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, it's as if the messages of New year, new you come flooding in for expectant and new parents, there's added pressure from that bounce back idea and culture, and the combo of these two can make many parents feel like they start the year already feeling behind. One of the things that I love about today's guest is how she pushes back against that pressure while simultaneously somehow being everybody's biggest cheerleader. And I don't know how she does both, but she does it brilliantly. So Robin arzon is peloton's Vice President of fitness and fitness programming and head instructor, a 27 time marathoner and ultra marathoner, two time New York Times, Best Selling Author, founder of swagger society, as well as a daughter, partner and Mom, I love being coached by Robin on the bike the tread the mat for me, as a mom of A kid with type one diabetes, seeing her constant glucose monitor, the type that those with T 1d wear, which are little different than the kind that are out there all over the place, made me an instant fan. Then she shouted out my book, transformed by birth during a prenatal ride, and named her kids mythologically inspired names, and somehow I am now, like super fan status was seriously unlocked. So welcome Robin and thank you for being here. I'm thrilled

Robin: to be here. Thanks for having me so great.

Redefining Hustle: From Total Identity to Nuanced Approach

Britta: So I want to jump right in. And I want to ask you, you use this word hustle a lot. I hear it on in your coaching. I see it in interviews that you've done talk about this word hustle and how it relates to that pregnancy and new parenthood journey in particular, because that's such a tricky time for some folks with the messaging of hustle. Did it change? Yeah, you talk to us,

Robin: though that's interesting. I so I have such an affection for the word hustle, because for me, that's where I draw energy and ambition and aspects of my identity. It used to be my entire, I think, identity, and now it's a little more multifaceted, thankfully. But after childbirth, it was certainly more nuanced, and I actually developed a new mantra when my daughter Athena was born. She's now four, but she was my first child, and she I developed a mantra that slowing down was a strength, and I actually would challenge myself during days, because I have to, like, I'm the kind of person who likes to play, like games, and I'm like, how. Any dishes could I wash in five minutes? You know, I just am that person. So I it's like, gamifying life is gonna have to create a challenge that doesn't involve, you know, the things I normally do, like sprinting and heavy lifting and all that stuff. So I developed this mantra, slowing down as a strength, and it was really liberating, because I was able to totally embrace what already was naturally occurring, which was the cocoon and the unexpected days and the really, really long moments that were also just awe inspiring. So the so hustle, I totally pulled back. I was actually releasing a bunch of products at the time. You know, I have a bunch of jobs, so I'm Vice President of fitness programming and head instructor at Pellon. As you mentioned. I took a traditional parental leave from from the companies, you know, Cal calendars turned off. Emails are turned off. But I'm also a public figure and entrepreneur. And there are certain things when you are in business for yourself that you simply can't delegate, like you can delay it, but you can't delegate it. So I took, I think, two months where the calendar was totally clear, and then I had commitments on Good Morning America, and I had a toy line that was coming out, and a whole bunch of licensing things I don't even remember at the time, but a whole bunch of commitments that were already in the works. And my partners were really great about giving me grace and but I also liked having things on the horizon that made me feel like myself. So I remember when I was preparing myself for my first Good Morning America appearance. Back it was six weeks after I had had a Atlas. This is I'm like, conflating both postpartum.

Britta: It doesn't matter. Anyway, every mom who's listening understands how that I had a six week old

Robin: at home. I don't know which one it was, and I remember getting ready for air and feeling like, okay, the suits that you normally wear still don't fit, and that's okay. And it was this all this self talk of body image, and I felt so proud. And I remember being in the makeup chair, and you know, the ladies who are so generous and always do my hair and makeup, and they were like, Wait, so how old you baby? And I was like, six weeks. And they were like, Girl, you're incredible, like and I had it was that moment where, of course, in sisterhood, people are just like, you, they see you. And in my mind, of course, I'm like, Oh my gosh, the size of my suit and rolls and all these things. And they were like, no, no, no, no. Like, we see you. You are incredible. And that gave me so much confidence. And that in that moment, I was like, Oh, I can, like, redefine what hustle looks like in this period, period. And it's not coming from a place of external productivity. It's coming from a place of like, self worth, like, I love working. I love being ambitious and finding act, you know, finding the balance of the balancing act that that is tricky, especially postpartum. But there were, there were pieces of it that I was able to fold in that I was really excited about and proud of. And I actually started getting a little bit more creative in ways that my day to day doesn't always lend itself towards after Athena. And then I developed an empowerment journal in between both babies and the kernels of that were when Athena was born during that postpartum period. So it's kind of cool how we can redefine what hustle looks like at different stages of our lives.

Creative Transformation and Magical Realism in the Postpartum Period

Britta: Redefining what hustle looks like. It also sounds like you used a lot of people often will talk about how going through the journey of birth postpartum, all of that can be very creative, and can, like, inspire new ideas and new things. And it can be hard for sure, and there can be something that gets lit up in that underworld space that we didn't expect to find down there.

Robin: You know, I think it's an important thing to talk about. I in general, it was just something I loved so much about your book, is that I think a lot of conversation around pregnancy and postpartum periods are infused with a lot of fear and cautionary tales, of like, don't, don't announce too early and done. And I just don't rock that way, like, I don't resonate with that kind of storytelling and frequency, so I naturally gravitate towards, I guess, positive realism, or maybe even magical realism, and that, I think it's important for people to talk about, you know, the glimmers of light, And for me, a real glimmer of the postpartum period was feeling like, oh, all of this is shifting. And in that shifting, in that friction, like I'm expanding, of course, in my identity and in my body and all that. But it was also creatively, really illuminating.

Living the Both/And Philosophy: Multifaceted Humans and Changing Minds

Britta: Yeah, it makes me think I. I've heard you talk about a thing that is really important to me in my work, which is and or both and rather than either or. And I think I've heard it in some of your rides and coaching, and that sort of connects to what I'm hearing you say. Is that importance of Yeah, it can be hard and it can be transformative, and it can be creative and opening. How do you first of all, am I remembering that right, that you like the both and too?

Robin: I live it. I think it's lifestyle, ethos, choice. It's such an expansive view of who we are. I have always stood for the multifaceted human, the multifaceted Hustler, the person who is a mother, a caregiver, and so many other things by choice. And that is really, really liberating for me personally. But I also think we can give ourselves the freedom to change our minds. We give ourselves the freedom to like new things. We give ourselves the freedom to be bad at stuff, you know, like both and is really so encouraging, and multiple things can be true at the same time, right? Like, you can absolutely love being a mom and then want to close your door and be like, I just don't want to see you for a little bit.

Britta: And that's okay, absolutely right, and we need to normalize that, because there's so much of this message that's like, oh my god, congratulations. Isn't it wonderful? You're so isn't it the best? And you're like, Well, yes, some days it is absolutely the best, and other days I'm like, check me out. I don't want to be here.

Robin: Both, yes, right. And it's like that's not said enough, because then you're isolated, feeling like you're the only asshole who is like, so frustrated on day seven, you know,

Britta: and really what you're not, everybody's not gonna say that because people don't want to say that because it makes them feel like a shit mom. And actually you're not a shit mom. You're a normal human who spent all night with a small child screaming at you and you're overtired and you have hormones raging and your body hurts. But we're not supposed to say that because it's supposed to be beautiful. Like No, it's hard to say here and but

Robin: I know. I know that and that pressure in the in the early stages, and now I look back at it and I understand why people say it, because I'm like, oh, what? I wouldn't give that whole my little baby again just one more time. So I really, I know it's coming from a good place, but when you're in the throes of it, and it's like, every single moment is the most blissful moment, isn't it, and you're like, actually, know, like and I just had a hard time toilet. What are you talking about? So it's, I think, in retrospect, when you zoom out you, you do tend to have a little bit of a rosier view of that period. But when you are in it, it can feel really overwhelming,

Focusing on Capability: Moving from What You Can Do, Not What You Can't

Britta: which is one of the reasons I love the both and because then it can be like, what they're saying, and they're saying, Oh, isn't it amazing? It can be yes and yeah, right, which is also true in pregnancy, birth and postpartum, and you're a fitness expert. So I definitely want to get into that part of your wheelhouse of wisdom. A lot of people struggle in with their bodies, with their body image, with exercise, with feeling like an athlete when they're, you know, or not feeling like an athlete when they have been an athlete. What do you tell people who are going through a transformative process that is all encompassing and does really hugely impact your body? I mean, I'm I'm thinking about the fact that there's kind of a baby boom going on at peloton like, it seems like everybody has been pregnant in the last couple of years. I mean, I don't know. I think you started it.

Robin: I did start it. We have had quite a trend of, yeah, this is definitely the decade of babies. For a lot of folks. I love it. I love it. What are you telling them have so many more playmates? You know, it was really uncharted territory. Obviously, we have moms, you know, on the team, you know, Jen and Christine, and parents who have had birthing experiences. But it wasn't on camera, and it wasn't while they were at peloton. So I was the first pregnant instructor, and peloton was right alongside me for the journey. You know, the team, our teammates, in programming and in content, and they couldn't have been more supportive. And now, obviously that a number of instructors have been through it where they kind of know how it's going to go. Generally speaking, obviously, every experience is super different, or can be but the I always recommend that folks focus on what they can do rather than what they can't. I It's so limiting to think of the laundry list of things that you're not supposed to do, not supposed to eat, not supposed can't even sleep. How you want to sleep. You can't even it's like all these things, you know, some of those things have been debunked, but, like, it's a long list of stuff that is like the people are telling you to do with your own body, like, I naturally, like, rebel against that. So I just chose to focus on what I could do and really focus on what I could do from a place of. I not like what I read in a blog, or what a mommy blogger told me, or what even a really well intended educator told me in a book. I, you know, I got my prenatal, pre and postnatal fitness certification before I was pregnant because I wanted to be able to plan for myself. Actually, when I was pregnant, I was like, I want to be able to write programs for myself that I don't have to rely on other people to do. And I was kind of stunned with how little advice my medical providers had for me with specific and, you know, they knew obviously my background and, you know, but I hear anecdotally from folks being like, Oh yeah, they told me not to pick up more than this weight or whatever. And I'm just like, Huh? That's really interesting, especially if you, like, have a toddler, or you just even do laundry, or live in New York City and go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. Like, that's not realistic, literally, for day to day life. So I was very I approached it twofold, focusing on what I could do rather than what I couldn't do, and then really trying to move from a place of capability rather than ego. I wanted to check my ego at the door in the beginning of the pregnancy that I wasn't I knew there were going to be like literally millions of people watching me, but I didn't want to ever want it to be coming from a performative space. It should be coming from a place of capability. And I am really proud of myself that for two pregnancies, I made good on that, and when I needed to pull back, I did, but it was very rarely that I did, to be honest, and I think it was because I tuned in as an athlete more than I ever have in my entire life, and becoming a pregnant athlete has made me a better athlete for the rest of my life, because I am so attuned to how I speak to myself and how my how I feel in my body, because I had to do it from a protective place and to train intelligently. But that my self talk, I can understand from the body image perspective, where your self talk can get a little rough. But I again, back to like, the gamifying of everything. I was like, what if for the next hour, when I'm working out, I spoke to myself like I was, like, cheering at a race. Like, what if I just tried that? And it sounds silly at first, but like, you know, you're on the New York City Marathon in November. It's like, the greatest day in New York City. Like, what if we spoke to ourselves with like, 10% of that enthusiasm? And it works.

The Power of Self-Talk and Media Diet During Pregnancy

Britta: Self talk is powerful. So powerful. And I actually think self talk in pregnancy, birth and new parenthood is probably the most critical time for really good self talk. And so if you can practice that when you're pregnant and exercising, what a great thing to to do that can carry you through into parenthood, because parenthood unlocks a whole new level of possible self criticism.

Robin: Yeah, and I was also surrounding myself really intentionally on social media, you know, I did kind of like a media literacy or like I looked at my like media diet, and I just edited out anything that made me feel bad about myself, and I surrounded myself with folks who were amazing athletes, you know, Allison, Felix, Olympians, like people who aren't my friends. Now CrossFitters. There are a number of CrossFitters and High Rocks athletes who do barbell work well into their pregnancies. I mean, I mean, I literally deadlifted the morning my son was born, and at the end, that was safe and appropriate for me. And if I had kind of listened to a lot of what things on the internet or even like, you know, a Tiktok was saying, I probably would have been so deconditioned before birth, and my mental health would have been abysmal. So you have to kind of think about who you are as a person, and what is going to actually prepare you to be a as helpful as you can be when you aren't supposed to be making decisions for another human.

Britta: Yeah, absolutely. It makes me think with with my first, was different with my second, because I was parenting a toddler, but with my first, I was doing ashtanga yoga every morning. And I was, I did ashtanga yoga. I mean, it was modified up the wazoo, but it was Ashtanga Yoga the morning I went into labor with with my first and it was helpful. It was part of what allowed my journey to like helped me men, in my mental health, in my strength, the the process of becoming a parent is is a an athletic journey.

Robin: 100% is such. Athletic journey. It's such it's an endurance event. It is it. And no matter what kind of birth you have, it is the mental talk of an athlete. I mean, I It's preparing yourself for unexpected moments, pivots, inflection points, unexpected players in the in the scenario. And it's yeah, like, really, deeply powerful,

Robin: really, yeah, he

Birth as an Endurance Event: Rituals and Athletic Mindset

Robin: from a from an athletic perspective. And I think it's really significant for me that folks talk about being, you know, movers, being athletes who are also pregnant, that so much of how we storytell is based on virtual and I think, and I love, I know you love rituals. No, I do. But I think, like, you know, athletes have so many rituals. And what I tell pregnant athletes is like, what a what's a ritual? It might look totally different than what you're like normal day to day, pre or post pregnancy is going to look like, but what semblance of that ritual that makes you feel like yourself, can you maintain? And it's like putting the sneakers on, showing up to the gym, getting on the bike, even if it's for five minutes, do okay, you're not running, do a hike, like it's it's when we throw everything out the door, because it just looks a little different than how, because it looks a little different, or you look a little different, that is both. You know you're both. You know that it's you're you're throwing out all of the good. You're making perfect the enemy of the good. And and I tried really hard not to do that, and I propped up ritual above almost everything else during my pregnancies and most days, you know, I really trained like most days, pretty similarly to how I train now. And that just felt right. Yeah.

Britta: I mean, I love the the not making perfection the enemy of the good. I think that is a really important message for parents, because we can get in our own way and and make it so that it's like, if, if we can't do the big thing, we don't do anything right, right?

Robin: And, oh, I don't have to. I don't have 30 minutes anymore. I only have five. Well, what can you do with five?

Britta: Like peloton has got lots of five minute workouts. Classes you could do. I did one today, like the best. And just doing it, rather than being in the place of my former hour and a half, right? Commitment is unreasonable now, it's okay that it's unreasonable now, but you don't have to then, just forget it. Roll on my back and put my legs up in submission, right? And there's, there's ways in which I've heard you also talk about just moving like, whether it's in the kitchen or or in when with your baby,

Robin: yeah, like I just make this habit, so I have a very curious puppy who's a toddler, and he is under my feet every everywhere I am. So I've made this habit of just doing squats with him, because he thinks it's the funniest thing in the world, that it's just hilarious to him. So like, if I'm squatting, Okay, I'm not gonna go for like, a five kilometer run. I actually am curious puppy toddler underfoot, but I can do five of these every. I don't know, 30 minutes, or like, when I'm at the sink, I can do a couple wall pushes from the counter and and that makes a different.

Britta: It does actually one thing that I would love to just hear a little bit about from you is in terms of recovery, I think it can be hard for folks to to honor the healing time, or the sleep deprivation, or the just, like, the tectonic shift of life. I mean, a lot of people who exercise can look at that and be like, I just, I need to, like, bounce back, which we've already kind of talked about. But I think it can go both ways. Either it's like, I'm just gonna sit in a pile and eat candy corn and watch Netflix for three years. Or I'm not, I'm gonna be like, the super mom who like, is doing all the things within a week. And so the recovery piece, which is so important in sport, how do you translate that into postpartum time?

Robin: yes, and just that was huge. It was like, I have a I have a sign in my kitchen this that says this kitchen is for dancing. So we have dance parties all the time. If I feel stuck and start to feel like resentful or feeling like that self pity parties come in. I'm like, I gotta move this out of my body, or I have to journal, or have to, like, somehow I gotta get on.

Moving Energy Through Dance Parties and Journaling

Britta: I have to open up the cork on that champagne bottle and let it out.

Robin: Let it out truly, because you feel it, the self pity party feels good. You're like, Ooh, it almost feels like a parade, but it doesn't have the energy of that, and we had

Britta: over ourselves, indulgent, yeah, you, you know, it's like, Okay, I'm gonna give myself a minute, five minutes, to pity party, and then we're going to say, Okay, thank you very much. Pity party. Now it's time to move that energy. I agree, like there's a there's a point where it can be too overly self indulgent. One of my my meditation teachers talks about it as that often these bad feelings will come into the house, and it's our job. It's like, oh, they come in and we go, Oh, hello. Here's the back door. Go ahead and go on out. But what we do instead often is they come in and then we feed them tea. Oh, offer tea. And here's some crumpets. And we're like, Here. Have some more. And then we indulge them, rather than being like, you're here. I see you. We're not closing the door and saying, no pity, no self pity, no, no self you know, angsting. Self angsting is a part of our lives. So we don't close and lock the door and be like, no, no, that doesn't exist. Doesn't exist. But we also don't feed them tea.

Robin: Agree? Yeah. I love that analogy.

Britta: It's like, let them go through the house, yep, go on out. There's the back door going. And I love that you talk about it in a few different ways of moving that energy. So dance parties, which can also be such a fabulous ritual for the whole family, you know,

Robin: it is for ours, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. It keeps

Britta: sort of some high vibes going. Plus, I mean, not only are you a fitness expert, you pretty much have to be a DJ, yes,

Robin: I am a D a part time DJ. I

Britta: mean, that's kind of an important part of what you do. So there's that, but then also journaling, and you, you ended up creating a journal for that as well.

Robin: I created an empowerment journal. It's called Welcome Hustler, and it invites us to get curious, like get curious about the answers. On the page, there's graphics and obviously tons of blank space, but sometimes the blank page for me is paralyzing, so I infused it with prompts that I asked myself really, starting with my career pivot from law to wellness. But then all throughout, I mean, there are things that revealed itself in parenthood that I was like, Okay, I guess this belongs in the book too, but that process for me is really sacred. And you know, speaking of pivoting, it used to be my morning routine, and it would be cup of tea, and it was this whole luxurious thing. And then, you know, babies and breastfeeding, and who knows what time they're getting up. And then I started doing it more at night as, like a nighttime ritual. And I was like, Oh, so this, it's cool how things can morph and change. And it's not my I'm still so much more a morning person. There are some evenings where I honestly forget to do it. But good is better than perfect. Consistently, good is better than rarely perfect, right? You know,

Britta: rarely perfect does not actually help you. Perfect, perfect culture. I mean, that's, one of the cultural ideals I address in my book. But perfection, the illusion of perfection, works against us, really does. And so I love that. Yeah, and I will say, as somebody who's now on the other side of parenting, I mean the empty nest part of my parenting journey, I've reclaimed those mornings. Girl, I love them. They are mine again, and it's a joy and romanticizing.

Robin: And I'm sure it's like now you have to, I can imagine being an empty nester, then holding on to like these nostalgic things. But then how can, then you re infuse the romantic, romanticized version of that back to create, like, a different kind of sacred moment, right? Like we just the adaptations of it all are so important,

Moving Forward Not Bouncing Back: Body Transformation Through Parenthood

Britta: yeah, the adaptation and and not holding on to, and I think this connects to people and their bodies moving through this journey, but not holding on to an idea that we're going back to who we used to be. And so in my empty nest journey now, in my mornings, they don't look the way they did before I had kids. How could they I'm not that person. Parenthood has completely changed me and and yet I still love my mornings. Yeah, you know, I love them, but they're different and similar to that, when we're talking about our bodies, we're moving into a place after pregnancy, birth and through new through new parenthood and postpartum, we're not trying to bounce back. We're trying to move forward, yes, as this new entity. So So So, like all these peloton instructors in this baby boom era, how do you support them? What do you tell them? And any listener out there who's listening and going through their own journey of body transformation, what wisdom do you have for them? I mean,

Navigating Body Image and Self-Talk During Pregnancy

Britta: Yeah, back to some of that self talk. I mean, I remember when I was pregnant with my first I was a yoga instructor, so I was wearing leotards, all, you know, and like yoga clothes, 24/7, it felt like and I was stick thing. Just stick thin at, you know, that, that life, yoga, body kind of vibe, and then I got pregnant, and my body, I didn't change, you know, I was a vegetarian. I stayed a vegetarian. I, you know, I didn't change really wildly, anything that I did during pregnancy. But my body went boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and I gained almost 50 pounds, and it was so hard on a certain part of my relationship to myself. And I remember going to a therapist, and I said, I really need your help with this. I'm struggling because I really thought I would be like, the earth mama, welcoming all the pounds, all the changes, like, I was sure that's who I would be, and instead, I'm like, What the hell's going on here? Where did all this? Where did all this extra Brita come from? And the therapist, he was a man, interestingly, but he said, Oh, you know, sometimes women really embrace the weight that their body puts on. I'm like, I know I'm using that against myself.

Robin: I thought that was going to be me, but it's not. And now I'm judging myself twice.

Britta: Exactly twice. It was the it was the first arrow and the second arrow about it so, so what do you say? You know, I mean, I hindsight now for me is that I ended up losing more than 50 pounds breastfeeding, because clearly my body needed that for in preparation for breastfeeding. But I couldn't know that ahead of time it was easier the second time, because I was like, Oh, here it comes. Okay, this is what we're doing. We did it before. But what do you tell women like me back then, when we're like, oh my god, this part of me is dying,

Clothes Should Fit Your Body: Strong Over Skinny

Robin: I would say, first of all, your clothes are meant to fit your body. You're not supposed to contort your body to fit in the clothes, like, put it away, put it in the attic, donate it to the charity, just get rid of it. And I just wouldn't torture myself, like, I just was, like, ordering, you know, peloton apparel. I was like, I don't care. Give me every size. Give me every size. I don't know what size I am. Anymore, and I'm not gonna feel bad about it. And I really, truly tried to keep that thought in my head, like the clothes are our tool. For me, I'm not like my thigh isn't inherently bad because it doesn't fit this label anymore.

Britta: God, that I mean that sounds so simple, and yet it's what you just said is so profound. Like, my leg, my thigh is not bad.

Robin: And I try, like, truly, I would. I don't know how this is probably gonna sound wide, but I would have conversation like, I would, I would end my workout, and I'd be like, Thank you legs, thank you lungs. Like, and I truly, I really think this was only possible because I had a regular movement practice. And I had a regular movement practice that looked remarkably similar to my practice. Before, you know, the rituals around it were pretty similar. So I was able to like, like, and, of course, the endorphins and all this stuff. And you're, I'm like, oh, like, I am, she's in there, like, and I would speak to the body parts. And for me, like, I was really hung up on the size of my thighs, and I had to remember, like, yes, there were, like, layers of fat that didn't exist before, but like, also I was still actually mass moves mass. I was able to hit pregnancy personal records because of the mass that I was gaining during pregnancy, so that also helped the perspective shift. I was like, Oh, I can, like, actually deadlift and bench differently now, because I have more mass to move this barbell. And I know that's not going to be, you know, relevant to everybody, but there look for the glimmers where you're like, oh, like, this is actually pretty amazing that I'm looking at what I'm capable of rather than the size. And I know that's easier said than done. And then you know you get invited to a wedding, or you have to go to a party, and you're like, What the heck am I gonna wear? We've all scenario pregnant. Just know that people are not looking at you as critically as you're looking at yourself, and you know, I actually didn't weigh myself once during pregnancy, like, if you know, to the extent that doctors and nurses needed that information, they just logged it. And I never wanted to know. I didn't do that with Athena, but I did it with Atlas, and I had a much better mental health, like my relationship to my body was much more positive.

Britta: I love that. I love a lot of people are choosing to like, No, I'm not getting, you know, I don't need to know that. No, thank you.

Robin: Number like, if there's something related to my health that I need to know because I gained too much or didn't gain enough, you let me know, and it wasn't the circumstance for me.

Britta: Well, it's interesting. It makes me think of what my my midlife menopause mantra has become with my health, which is strong over skinny. Like, I'm like, strong over skinny. And I could have used that during pregnancy and postpartum too. It's like, I just want to be strong over skinny. Skinny is an external thing. Strong is how I feel in my body, and they're two different things, and they create a different relationship to myself, in a way that's helpful, for sure. Yeah, so you You also wrote two kids books, and I bought them. I'm going to read them to my grandson this weekend. So excited, but strong mama kind of speaks to some of what you've just been talking about, about moving, about being in your body. Tell me a little bit about these books for you.

Strong Mama and Strong Baby: Training Partners Through Life

Robin: Like there were such a delight that was such a those were such beautiful projects. You know, strong mama came first and then strong baby. And it's really centered around this idea that strength and this self talk, empowered self talk. It's not limited to any life stage. You can be little or you can be a big person needing those reminders. And it's actually one of the few children's books that centers a pregnant person. And it takes, it takes the reader through that story of when up until, you know, baby is here, and it's showing how mom and baby are, the birthing person and baby are training partners. They're kind of adventure partners. And then that adventure continues in strong baby, when baby is now, you know, falling down and getting back up, and like, the beauty is in the rising. And there are mantras that folks who follow me will be very familiar with, but that it's kind of in an age, it's in an age appropriate story. And I really that it was just kind of like a love letter to the pregnancy experience, and thereafter,

Britta: yeah, I love it. I mean, I love the Oh, and there's also a shout out to your kitchen dance parties.

Robin: Yes, yes. Kitchen dance parties do have a cameo.

Britta: They make a cameo and super cute. But I do. I love the idea of the relationship that is as training partners like that's not. Something that I'd thought about before reading that is like, Oh yeah, you're really in this together. And if you're training, you're you're sharing that, that journey and that space, I love that. So can we talk about your kids a little bit? And you're just because, you know, I'm a mythologist, and symbols are all my my jam. I'm all into that. And you did name your kids, Athena and Atlas, like, like, serious mythology weight going on here. So how'd you do that? How did that story come about? If you can share it with

Mythological Names: Athena and Atlas

Robin: us or so, my husband used to, when we were dating, say I would have flashes of brilliance, like Athena, like just flash flat flashed out of Zeus, or something like a lightning. And so that was kind of always part of our, like, little inside joke. And then we were thinking we wanted powerful names. We wanted something. Her middle name is Athena, Amelia, and Amelia has been on my mom's side of the family since through Cuba back to Spain, and so we probably have, like, dozens of Amelia in our family. So we knew we wanted something that had an A and we kept coming back to Athena, and we just really meditated on it. And we actually didn't know Athena's gender until she was born, or biological sex, and that that was kind of a name that we had in our back pocket. And so at the hospital, it felt right. And then with Atlas, the we knew we needed something that was also equally powerful.

Britta: If you've got your firstborn, yeah,

Robin: you know, goddess of wisdom and war, and then Jim Jimbo or something

Britta: that can can have some similar weight there. Yeah, it's got to have weight.

Robin: And interestingly, so he is Atlas sage, and we were thinking long and hard about what we wanted his middle name to be, and we thought it was going to be something like related to an ancestor or a relative, and nothing really fit. And then in the hospital, like, literally, the day we were leaving, we're like, oh my gosh, we need a name. We're in a middle name for this little boy, and sage. We, we, we burn sage often to clear the space in our home. And obviously, like sage, as in sage advice and wisdom, yeah. Like, that was a nice balance to Atlas which is kind of a heavy, intense name, but interestingly, I had a medium reading when I was pregnant, and the medium said that atlases soul was coming through, and he's like, um, you know, by the way, that I was only like two Months. I hadn't even announced publicly that I was pregnant. That I was pregnant and the fact that the soul was coming. I was like, this is like, a ruse, like, what is happening, but anyway, he's and then, no, truly, like, he's, like, hitting a small baby's energy, and it's, and it's with an a name, and I mean, all I mean it was, I was like, this is getting truly wild. And we didn't have the middle name yet, but Atlas came through and said that he loved his name. He said, first of all, he said he loved his name, and then he asked whether he was going to be put on a special diet, and my family's vegan. And I was like, This is what so now at the Atlas is starting to form words. You know, I can't wait to have a very robust conversation with him about our family, special diet and what he thinks of his name, because he gave me his opinion when he was, like, 10 weeks old.

Britta: I love this. I love this so much. A dear friend of mine in the LA birth community is a medium who focuses specifically on babies and in utero and the whole thing. So I've seen what she can do.

Robin: So I believe that whole is experience. And I had a different medium reading when Athena was when I was pregnant with Athena. Athena was almost, was, I was almost like, it was, like, a few weeks before she I gave birth to her, and she had a lot to say. I mean, that was like past lives, and she was my mom in a past. I was like, this is what's happening. But you know what? If 5% of it is true, it's so cool, it's fun.

Britta: It's so fun. You're enjoying it, right? That it does whether it's true or not true, if you just enjoy it, then that's purpose enough.

Robin: So fun and the symbolism around it, if you can feel connect, that was what was so inspiring to me, is that I was like, Wow, I feel connection. Like it doesn't matter whether this is fabricated or not. I feel. Connection, and now this is part of our family's lore, which is so powerful, it's really cool.

Writing Your Family Story: Plant-Based Living and Eat to Hustle

Britta: Well, writing your family's story is part of what you're doing as a parent, and it's a big deal, and it's it's meaningful, part of what you're writing with these names and with your dance parties, and with teaching your kids about embodiment and movement, this is part of the story they will always tell, and and a vegan lifestyle, plant based lifestyle, and you have a new book coming out on that, right?

Robin: I have a plant based cookbook focused on protein. It's 75 plant based protein pack recipes. And the book is called Eat to hustle, and it's meant to empower every element, from athletes to families to menopausal women. We're meeting folks where they are un complicating plant based eating. And I want folks to you know, have a more expanded protein portfolio, right? I don't expect that every person that picks up my book is now going to become 100% hardcore vegan, but sometimes you want an idea of a different way to fuel that is going to make you maintain your energy. And that's what I want. I want folks fueling for greatness.

Britta: I love that. So all of these things coming together are part of your family's story of what it is that you're writing for them. I mean, we raised both of our kids vegetarian, not vegan, although one of them is now entirely plant based. And, yeah, it's they're grown ups, and they can't even imagine eating meat. They're kind of in this place of, like, what that's so not a part of how I was raised and brought up. So you're getting, you're doing that right now with your family, and I love that you're at some point gonna have a conversation and find out this, this odd diet.

Robin: I know, I'm just like, Oh my god. Was that a warning that this is good? This is gonna, he's gonna be the one trying to truck in like, filet mignon at 16, you know, like, I'm just

Britta: preparing like, never know, never know. I know it's a whole thing. So Robin, as we start to wrap up, I just want to first of all say so much gratitude and thank you for for popping on here and sharing what it is that you've shared your stories, your wisdom, and what you share every day on the platform. And you know, in peloton I do, I love the five minute ab workouts. Those are like, like, Yep, let's get that done. And hustling on the bike is awesome. What do you want people to know about in terms of, like, where to reach you, what programs you have, what offers you have, share that stuff, and then I'll ask you my closing question.

Peloton Programs: Pre and Postnatal Classes with Hospital for Special Surgery

Robin: Okay, I love it. So I'm Robin urson. I'm Robin arson.com I'm Robin NYC, on social media platforms, and of course, you can find me at peloton. We have pre and postnatal classes. We actually just released a really special collaboration with the Hospital for Special Surgery that is for postpartum folks, and it's meant it's actually taught in three three classes, in three iterative stages. The first class, they're not even workouts, they're honestly like breath work and stretching meant to be done during that very early postpartum period, perhaps when before folks are even cleared for exercise, more to tune in physically and mentally, but, but again, co created with HSS, so with doctors from HSS, so

Britta: it's amazing, yeah, Well, and movement and breath before breath, even before movement, is so important in that postpartum period, and so often people feel like again, back to that the perfection gets in the way of the good. If they can't do their full workout, they shouldn't do anything, but breathing can be

Robin: these are 10 and 15 minute classes, and really they're meant to be kind of educational moments, but I call them little nap time moments of hustle, like a way to, like drop in. And obviously hustle looks very, very different two weeks postpartum versus two months postpartum. But I was very excited to offer that to the community, because these are things that I did for myself and but I have education and resources that not everybody has, and there are just so many question marks during that period. So I want folks to feel like it's not a selfish act to want to be at home in your body again.

Britta: Yeah, I love that. Be at home in your body is a very different statement than bouncing back.

Robin: Oh, it's like energetically, also, it's totally different. You are. You don't have to explain to anybody that you want to feel at home in your body. You don't, and you're not. Don't judge yourself for wanting to look a certain way. But like, what energy are you infusing into that process? Because it. Really do think that our bodies are listening

Britta: love that anything else that you want folks to know about before we do art, because I keep jumping in,

Robin: I'm ready for the last question. Okay,

Final Wisdom: Their Souls Chose You

Britta: so my final question is, what's one thing that you feel passionately about that you want new and expectant parents to see, hear, feel, or know during this profound transformation, this rite of passage in their lives,

Robin: I think there is so much, especially for first time parents, there's so much questioning and hesitancy of, Am I doing this right? I have to watch them. Am I watching you're watching them breathe. They're gonna break and I will remind them that their souls chose you through whatever journey it took for them to be in your arms, and they know you as their caregiver as their parent. And I really trusted that I was like these souls chose my husband and I, and we're gonna mess up, obviously, but I really had such trust in that bond and that evolving bond, if it's not this day one, angels are singing, the harp is playing. That's really okay, because this is a long journey, and their souls chose you. So trust that that little voice, that whisper that sometimes gets totally drowned out with social media and the baby books and the sleepless nights, I really want parents to develop that internal wisdom, because it actually is already there.

Britta: I love that so much. Thank you so much for being here and being a part of this. I'm so grateful.

Robin: Thank you. Thank you for having me. This was so lovely.

Closing

Britta: Thank you listeners for sharing this time with us. If something shared today impacted supported or moved you, please share this episode with a friend. I produce this podcast myself, and your support makes it possible to show a little love for the podcast and these conversations. Please follow rate and review. If you'd like to continue the conversation, please join us on Instagram at transformed by birth, I look forward to being with you again on the next episode of transformed by birth. And now let's gather what we want to take away from this episode, from this conversation. Breathe it in with an inhale and with an exhale, we blow out our candle until next time bye, friends. You.