Hi, I’m Eliza Flynn*. I used to be very active before I got pregnant with my first feral child in 2016, enjoying boxing with the best trainers, short runs, yoga and getting as many obstacle course races under her belt. Since having my first baby, I’m an advocate of repairing your body before jumping back into your pre-baby fitness regime. However, I still enjoy boxing, love training outdoors and on-the-go with bands and bodyweight exercises and is also a DeRose Method student.
The Backstory
Adjusting to motherhood was enough of challenge without my body feeling totally alien also. I couldn’t feel my stomach muscles, I couldn’t keep in farts (and yes, I did once shit myself), my boobs were heavy and literally spraying milk all over the place and my once lovely flat stomach looked like a blancmange had attached itself to me and wasn’t letting go (it still hasn’t…!) As someone who had once been proud of her body, my first reaction was to recoil in disgust. It didn’t help that a friend who had been pregnant around the same time announced her joy at getting back into her jeans and whose stomach looked untouched by pregnancy.
Several years on and two feral boys later, my mindset has changed. I’ve retrained my pelvic floor so it’s a lot more reliable, sex is no longer painful and I can feel my stomach muscles. I’ve still got stretchmarks and excess fat and skin around my stomach but I don’t hate it. I’m strong enough to be able to carry my 20kg child on my shoulders, while carrying a backpack and pushing the buggy up a hill and for that I’m proud.
Several years on, and I’ve worked with over 200 pre and postnatal women directly, helping them reframe their thinking to focus on the amazing aspects of their ‘new’ body, feel more confident in themselves, be better equipped to deal with overwhelm and be functionally strong. Even though ‘fitness’ is what I technically do, it’s so much more than that.
I’ve combined all my knowledge and experience from training under the DeRose Method, a barre qualification, my various pre and postnatal qualifications including training with Jenny Burrell, working alongside resilience experts and attendance at a varied selection of exercise classes to put together The Warrior Method. Simply put, The Warrior Method helps you train your mind and body for everyday battle. By ‘battle’, I mean all the curveballs that life throws at you – whether that’s a creaky back from too much sitting hunched over a laptop or baby, a foot injury, trying to survive on a few hours snatched sleep because your baby is trying to destroy your sanity, or something entirely different.
Instagram: @thewarriormethod
Twitter: @_warriormethod_
Facebook: TheWarriorMethod
You can also follow my life as a mum here:
www.elizaflynn.co.uk
Instagram: @wabbitpie
Twitter: @wabbitpie
Facebook: ElizaFlynnPT
* I decided not to take my husband’s surname when we got married, partly because I love my surname, but also because he has a terrible surname! One of my regrets is not sneaking my surname into my eldest child’s name – I was so sleep-deprived I didn’t think about it.