Get to know me a little better

HI! I’m forcing myself to make more videos because I’m not well-practiced at making them, at all. But they are a great way to connect with more people online. I’ve written lots of little “introduction” posts on Instagram over the years, but those little snippets don’t encompass expression or tone of voice, or really much personality. So today, I made a video. If you like watching the videos I, or others, make, please tell me why! Let me know in the comments. It really does help me keep the momentum :)

Supple like a stingray

Stiffness exists in many realms, Like, wow. It had been HARD to get myself off of Instagram.
I have some awesome connections there and I love following a bunch of accounts and supporting my friends. If you’re on IG, I’m guessing you feel the same.
But, I REALLY don’t want to support Zuck with my presence and my content anymore. And yet, it’s really hard to tear myself away.
I’m noticing how that is 100% by design, AND the habit of getting on social media all the time is a lot like a shortened muscles that doesn’t want to stretch, doesn’t want the discomfort of doing something new.

But it’s necessary. So today, I stretched. As I started to create a post on IG out of habit, I was able to stop and think, “this would be a great short blog post.” So here we are!

So, as you think about preparing your pelvic floor for birth, you might still have the 1998 Cosmo magazine version of a Kegel at top of mind.
Contract your pelvic floor 100 times a day and strive for a “tight pu***”!
Because tighter is better!
Right?!
WRONG.

I want to let you in on a little secret that contradicts so much of what women are told.
Think of it this way. Your pelvic floor doesn’t push you baby out. Your uterus does! And your pelvic floor muscles (three layers of muscle at the base of your pelvis that hold your pelvic organs up and in) just need to get out of the way. They need to soften, lengthen, and relax so they can STRETCH.
A tight muscle is also a weak muscle. It can’t move through its full range of motion, so when it needs to contract or lengthen, it can’t and it’s more likely to TEAR.

And tearing is a really common fear during birth.

But there’s a lot you can do to stack the cards in your favor to minimize that risk. Instead of thinking you need a tight pelvic floor, think instead about how you can make it SUPPLE. Like a wet, floppy stringray. Hear me out.
They’re not floppy because their tissues have no integrity, they’re floppy because they’re strong and soft at the same time.
How can you create something similar in your pelvic floor muscles? You can create balance, quieting areas that are overactive, and waking up the areas that are asleep. How can you notice your posture, how you stand, and repeated ways you move every day?

An exercise I love for helping to encourage more pelvic floor balance is pictured below. It’s called a “shin box” in traditional fitness but if you have a better, birthy name for it please let me know in the comments!
Why is it good? The 90/90 position of the legs in front and behind creates internal rotation of the femur on the rear leg, and external rotation of that same thigh bone on the front leg! Opposing rotational directions means the pelvis itself is being moved, opening the pelvic outlet on one side, and closing it on the other, while giving the pelvic floor muscles a different kind of stretch through the mid-pelvis with these gentle oppositional forces. When two bones move closer together, the muscle fibers between them shorten. If both legs are externally rotated (knees out) all the time, it’s making your pelvic outlet smaller and those muscle fibers in your pelvic floor can shorten and get tight.

So if we just wanted the stretch and mobility exercise, we could end it with the dynamic 90/90 and call it good. But by adding a kind of kneeling squat where the glutes have to lift you up over the shin and sit you back down with control, you’re also building glute strength, which helps take load and strain off the pelvic floor. If your glutes are weak, your pelvic floor can hold tension to try to make up for that weakness, so tune in to your body and see what you think.

Got questions? Leave them in the comments!

All Whole Mama Fit images are copyright © 2025 Maggie Yount and used with client’s permission. Photos are not licensed for public use and may not be used, copied, or reproduced.

Just post, don’t think

I’m not camera -shy per se but I do seem to have a mental block around recording videos of myself. But I want to share more with you, and I know video helps, so I’m ripping the bandaid off.

I hope you’ll join me on this ride. Welcome.

New Blog - Where I’m going from here

It’s the end of January. We all know the troublesome news concerning Meta social media platforms (Facebook and Instagram), and X (formerly Twitter). I’ve been on Instagram pretty much since it launched. I love it. I have well over 2000 posts there. I have met some really great people through that platform, many who have become friends in real life. I don’t want to leave it. But I also feel like it’s not a platform I want to contribute to anymore because I feel so out of my personal integrity by staying on a platform that is kowtowing to the current administration instead of doing what’s best for their users. I don’t want to support the current policies of these platforms with my content anymore.

So my plan is to start posting here! On MY own platform. My website, that I own. Not Zuck or Musk or any of them.

Maybe slightly longer sometimes. But still short, digestible, “captions” and photos.

Social media was always a way for me to provide value, and connect with people. But it’s also a massive time suck! I know you know what I mean.

The endless scrolling, the screen fatigue. I think a lot of us are starting to see how it’s stealing so much of our time. Maybe it’s just me.

In any case, I’d love to have you here. I’ll probably share on socials when I have a new post here, but I want my energy and creativity pouring into something that’s truly mine again. I think I started my first blog in 2005 right here on a Squarespace site! It was called Digging to China - a metaphor for the search for truth, the digging beneath the surface and peeling back the layers, like a child digging the endless hole in the sand at the beach.

In other news, in case you didn’t know…

My very own Whole Mama Fit private studio has been open in south Bozeman, Montana for almost a year! It’s the ONLY pregnancy and postpartum-specific training studio in the whole state. As far as I know. It’s not yoga, it’s perinatal fitness and strength training to help you get fit for birth, postpartum, parenting, and LIFE. And it’s where I train private clients, optimizing their bodies through corrective exercise, nutrition support, and mindfulness practices.

Overlooking my three horses’ paddock, nestled amongst mature spruce trees, and frequented by wild bunnies and deer, it’s an oasis of calm at the base of the Gallatin mountain range and I’m excited to share it with you here.