The BIRTHFIT Podcast

"Keep your heart rate under 140" is still one of the most common things pregnant women hear. In this episode, Dr. Lindsey covers where the number came from in 1985, why ACOG dropped it in 1994, and why it quietly showed up again in 2020. She explains why heart rate is a shaky gauge in pregnancy and shares four better tools: the talk test, perceived exertion, heart rate trends, and HRV.

Sources:

• Evenson KR, Hesketh KR. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2021

• ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804, 2020

• Bauer PW et al. J Womens Health. 2010

• 2019 Canadian Guideline for Physical Activity Throughout Pregnancy, Br J Sports Med

Get Involved

• Get the BIRTHFIT newsletter: Weekly education, science meets hippie, straight to your inbox.

• BIRTHFIT Coach Accelerator: For coaches and practitioners ready to start supporting pregnant and postpartum women with confidence.

• BIRTHFIT Certification Waitlist: Our Lifestyle Medicine Certification for Practitioners opens again in February 2027. Join the waitlist to be first in.

The Village Used to Be the Default

For almost all of human history, no mother raised a baby alone. Grandmothers, aunties, neighbors and other mothers all pitched in, and cultures around the world built rest and care into the postpartum season. Somewhere along the way, the village became optional, and then it disappeared from view. The need for it never went away.

In this episode, Dr. Lindsey covers where the village went, what isolation costs mothers in pregnancy and postpartum, and four practical ways to rebuild your village on purpose, starting this week.

In this episode:

• Why humans were built to raise babies with many hands

• Postpartum traditions from around the world that protected new mothers

• How isolation affects a mother's stress, sleep, healing and mood

• How to map your village and make specific asks before you need them

• How chiropractors and gym owners can cultivate the village where they work

Join the BIRTHFIT Newsletter

Get on the Certification Waitlist

In this episode, Dr. Lindsey discusses three case questions that were submitted recently. She gets into a career change into birth work, round ligament discomfort, and pain in feet at the top of the second trimester. Listen to this episode to hear how Dr. Lindsey approached these cases. Certification Waitlist

How Full Is Your Cup, Really? You're doing all the "right" things: the workouts, the supplements, the birth prep. So why do you feel wired at night, drained all day, and one spilled cup away from tears? In this episode, Dr. Lindsey breaks down the difference between your load (everything being asked of you) and your capacity (what your body and nervous system can actually hold right now). You'll learn why pregnancy and postpartum change your capacity week to week, how to tell adaptive stress from overreach, and a simple three-question check-in you can do every Sunday using the BIRTHFIT 7 Pillars. Small adjustments, made consistently, help you build forward instead of burning out. Your body isn't failing you. It's telling you the truth about your capacity.

Coach Accelerator Program

BIRTHFIT Certification Waitlist

Newsletter PDF Freebie

Join the waitlist for the next BIRTHFIT Certification + Cohort

Join the Coach Accelerator Program today!

Pregnancy and postpartum are usually treated as two separate stories — with birth as a black box in between that nobody connects them through. In this episode, I introduce the BIRTHFIT Hourglass: a framework that reframes pregnancy as a narrowing taper, birth as a convergence point I call the Birth Portal, and postpartum as the mirrored widening back out. I break down all four levels on each side, why pain should never be the marker for moving between them, and what actually should be — a capacity check built on the BIRTHFIT 7 Pillars.

Join the BIRTHFIT Certification Spring Cohort Waitlist

Check out our eBooks

In this episode, Dr. Lindsey talks about a critical inventory checkin that every practitioner and coach must do with their clients. This one inventory question will determine how you show up for women on your table or in your gym.

The BIRTHFIT Certification Waitlist

Free Inventory Checklist

Sacred Season eBook

Prenatal Training eBook

"Your earned range of motion" is a cue you've probably heard from me a hundred times — today I'm breaking down what it actually means, and why it's not the same thing as flexibility.

In this episode:

• Why flexibility alone gets you into a position but won't get you out of it with control

• The nervous system's role in range of motion, and why some ranges never feel "earned" no matter how much you stretch

• Why fear-based caution — keeping everyone in a tiny, restricted range — doesn't protect capability, it just delays building it

• A simple three-step process for actually earning range: find your edge, train at it, progress it slowly

• Why pregnancy and postpartum are seasons to keep building this, not seasons to pause it

Grab our free PDF, Interventions List: What You Need to Know Before Labor Day.

If you're a coach or practitioner, check out A Coach's Guide to Prenatal Training and The Sacred Season ($33 each).

BIRTHFIT Certification enrollment opens twice a year — spring and fall — join the waitlist.

Grab our free PDF, Interventions List: What You Need to Know Before Labor Day.

If you're a coach or practitioner, check out A Coach's Guide to Prenatal Training and The Sacred Season ($33 each).

BIRTHFIT Certification enrollment opens twice a year — click HERE to join or jump on the waitlist.

In this 10 min episode, Dr. Lindsey shares why she does not use the phrase "safe exercises". This is episode is not to be missed, especially if you have ever been handed a list of exercises that were "safe". Be sure to share this with your favorite coach or chiropractor.

BIRTHFIT Certification

Sacred Season Postpartum eBook