Ingri Pauline is a women’s nutrition and weightlifting coach. She works specifically with women in order to help meet many of the unique, unmet fitness needs that women have. These issues include post-partum pelvic floor and core rehabilitation, syncing menstrual cycles to training cycles, and the transition from menstruation to menopause. Ingri was also a Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Special Operative and is a 4th generation women’s health practitioner. Here is her story…
On working with women:
- Many doctors don’t have a great understanding of how to help post-partum women
- Exercise & physiology textbooks typically overlook pelvic floor-core issues
- 50% of the world is women and about 80% of those women will have a baby at some point – It’s not a small percentage of the population that experiences these issues
- Menstruation has a bad reputation, but in reality, it is a feedback loop and when you learn to use it your life gets exponentially better
- Can give order to your health, fitness, and nutrition
On becoming a women’s health and fitness coach:
- Working out has always been an important part of her life
- Was in the Navy as an explosive ordnance disposal special operative
- One the higher ranking special ops in the Navy and one of the few that women can be a part of
- Was in the top 15% physically and top 10% academically
- Was really motivated to prove herself as, at the time, she was the only woman on the team
- One day, her team started out on a run and for some reason, her legs were like molasses and she watched her entire team run past her
- Was super embarrassed and burst out in tears
- The week before she had been able to do every single thing asked of her, but on that day she couldn’t
- Had been pushing herself to the limit for two years and her body betrayed her
- Felt very lost afterward, but started studying Kinesiology
- Began working in physical therapy and became the go-to post-partum personal trainer at a university in Berlin
- At this point, she began deeply researching women’s health and began to figure out why her body betrayed her
- Her mission is to give the knowledge that she has discovered to women in order to make them stronger, better warriors
- Many women are high performers and really need this info about their bodies
- Learned a ton from Girls Gone Strong
On becoming an expert:
- If it’s going to make a difference in your wallet, that is a huge motivator
- Going to school and learning the basics can be incredibly helpful and important
- Can help provide an important baseline foundation for the rest of your learning
- Mentors within your field can also be very helpful
- Have to be genuinely curious, but she also feels an innate responsibility to stay knowledgeable for her clients
- Wakes up at 5 am every morning and reads for an hour – calls it “Academic Reading Hour”
- When pursuing a certification, she’ll also set aside another hour each day to study for that
- Has to block off the time in her schedule
- Reading is a muscle – take time to exercise it by reading things you like, and by reading consistently
- An hour of reading can go much farther than you think
- Believes that everything is “figure out-able”
On social media and her career:
- Social media became more useful and enjoyable once she embraced it
- Utilizes mainly Twitter because ultimately she is a teacher and writer
- Doesn’t want to set a bad example for young women by parading her body around on Instagram
- Has found several clients via social media
Following and supporting Ingri:
- Follow her on Twitter: @IngriPauline
- Follow her on Instagram: @IngriPauline
- Visit her website: Ingri Pauline Athletics to read her blog and see her origin story
- Subscribe to her newsletter discussing women’s health
