In this episode of The Tummy Team Journey Podcast, Kelly sits down with fellow physical therapist Christina Trautman, owner of The Pelvic Floor Place, for a conversation about athletes, core and pelvic floor rehabilitation, pregnancy and postpartum recovery, and the complicated relationship athletes often have with pain, rest, and slowing down.

As two physical therapists who are also athletes and coaches, Kelly and Christina understand how difficult it can be to hear “you need to back off” when movement is part of your identity. Their goal isn't to take away the activities you love. Instead, they discuss how learning to recognize symptoms, modify intensity, build a stronger foundation, and prioritize recovery can actually help you keep doing those activities longer.

They also take a deeper look at the unique challenges female athletes may encounter during pregnancy and postpartum. Building a baby, giving birth, producing milk, changing hormones, disrupted sleep, and the physical demands of caring for a newborn are all significant demands on the body—even when they don't look like a workout. Returning to sport isn't simply about trying harder. It's about understanding what your body is doing now and giving it the tools it needs for this season.

And this conversation isn't just for women. Kelly and Christina discuss how both male and female athletes can get stuck doing the exercises they've always done without asking an important question: Is this actually helping me do what I want my body to do?

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why the ability to push through pain can be both an athlete's superpower and their “kryptonite”
• How to distinguish between productive effort and symptoms that deserve attention
• Why rest and recovery are part of training—not a failure to train
• How pregnancy, postpartum, hormones, and parenting postures change the demands on an athlete's body
• Why prenatal core and pelvic floor preparation can support postpartum recovery
• What “cleared at six weeks” does—and doesn't—tell you about returning to exercise
• Why a tight pelvic floor isn't necessarily a functional pelvic floor
• How functional core training differs from simply adding “core exercises” to the end of a workout
• Why your old workouts may not be what your body needs in its current season
• How to shift from an all-or-nothing mindset toward training for strength, performance, and longevity

Your perseverance, discipline, work ethic, and ability to do hard things don't need to disappear during rehabilitation. The goal is to pair those strengths with something athletes aren't always taught: how to recognize what your body is communicating and respond before a symptom becomes an injury.

Because the goal isn't to settle for less—and it isn't to power through everything.

It's to build a body that can keep doing what you love for as long as possible.