Julie, a powerhouse mom of three and a proud Luxembourgish local, shares her experiences living abroad in India and Japan while balancing motherhood.
Mom Life in Luxembourg is a new parenting podcast made for all English speaking parents here in Luxembourg. From crèches to crémant, we'll cover everything you need to know about raising kids and living your best life in the Grand Duchy.
Please note that even though the podcast is called Mom Life, dad’s are absolutely welcome! Although for this episode, the focus is definitely female!
My next guest on the show is the absolute powerhouse, Julie Mangen. Julie is a mom of three, and is actually Luxembourgish herself! She did, however, live the expat experience both in India and Japan. She moved to Japan for her husband’s job when her kids were very little. Two years old and a three month old! On a long haul flight, without her husband!
As she settled into Japan, she realised she didn't love the stay at home mom experience. She knew Japan was temporary, she didn't speak the language and she wanted to do something that was flexible and fun that would get her out of the house, so she linked up with another mom friend and together they bought a workout franchise geared toward women. She loved the energy the women brought, supporting one another to reach their fitness goals in a non-judgemental way.
When she returned to Luxembourg, she figured she'd go back to her original profession which was physiotherapy. She quickly realized that she needed the camaraderie and teamwork her classes brought to her life, so she decided to start her own business here, and ShapeUp was born.
ShapeUp is an outdoor only workout program for women who are pregnant, post-partum, or even women with kids who are older who want to get into shape. We joked about the benefits of working out in a group of other women who understand exactly why one does not do jumping jacks postpartum. (If you know, you know).
We talked about the importance of building up your pelvic floor and core postpartum and the necessity of keeping it low impact in the beginning. We talked about the mental health benefits of being outside, and the absolute bonus of being able to bring your kids to your workout. No babysitter needed!
Then Julie told me exactly what you need to wear if you're going to work out outside as the weather gets cold, and colder and wet and wetter. As the expression goes, "there is no bad weather, only bad clothing."
So, if you want to know what you need, you’ll definitely want to tune in to this episode!
Now what are you waiting for – listen on RTL Play, iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
