Spotlight Series
Topic: Strength Found in Motherhood Community
Guest Name: Erica Hall and Kristen Thomas
Guest Credentials: Erica Hall, Personal Trainer Kristen Thomas, Graphic Designer
Discussion Details:
If you’ve been searching for your motherhood village, this interview with EveryMom Fitness is the warm hug and breath of fresh air you’ve been waiting for. We dive into how they’ve created a completely judgment-free, stress-free fitness sanctuary—both in-person and virtually—designed specifically for prenatal and postpartum moms. Best of all, your kiddos are always welcome, meaning you can sweat, heal, and bond with a supportive community of women who truly get it, without the childcare stress. Tune in to find out how to reclaim your strength alongside a village that lifts you up every step of the way!
Benefits of Watching:
Why New Moms Need to Watch
Ditch the Loneliness: Discover a judgment-free, welcoming village of fellow moms who completely understand the beautiful, messy reality of the postpartum chapter.
Zero Childcare Stress: Learn how you can get strong with your baby by your side in a relaxed environment where crying, feeding, and diaper changes are completely normalized.
Ultimate Flexibility for Tired Moms: Explore how seamless in-person and virtual class options make it incredibly easy to prioritize your health, no matter what kind of day you’re having.
Built by Moms, for Moms: Hear from passionate founders who lived through the postpartum support gap themselves and intentionally built the exact sanctuary they wished they’d had.
The Big Takeaway: Returning to fitness after baby doesn’t have to feel intimidating, isolating, or impossible. Tune in to find out how to easily step into a space that protects both your physical strength and your mental well-being!
Address of Guests’ Business:
14810 Murdock St, Chantilly, VA 20151
Phone: (571) 529-6545
Instagram: @everymomfitness
Thank you.
Thank you.
Just a little intro about you two. We are highlighting two incredible founders who saw a massive gap in the postpartum fitness world, and built the exact solution moms were looking for. I am thrilled to introduce Erica Hall, a personal trainer, and a group trainer, and Kristen Thomas, a graphic designer. These two became fast friends and channeled that synergy into launching Every Mom Fitness back in 2018 at The Fieldhouse in Chantilly. What started as a safe, welcoming space where kids could stay right alongside of mom while she worked out, has evolved into something even bigger. When the pandemic hit, they took that vibrant community spirit online with Every Mom at Home, creating a border-transcending space for sweaty selfies, mutual encouragement, and true maternal support. Erica and Kristen, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So, just a fun fact about you guys. You didn’t really know each other before putting your business together, and you put it together in a matter of weeks. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Yeah, sure. Do you want to start?
Yeah. I was attending classes similar to this, and really found that it gave me a good space to come with my kids, and I was a stay-at-home mom, so I was kind of lonely at home and-
Mm-hmm
… needed that outlet and a routine in my life. And so, Erica was teaching classes and we saw this need in this area and decided to work together. I could do the marketing, she could teach.
Yeah.
And, yeah.
It was a perfect fit.
Yeah.
Yeah. So we just decided that we would do something on our own where we were catering to women like ourselves, where we could be together, be in community together, and get a good workout in. It wasn’t just about singing songs and holding the babies. It wanted to feel like ourselves again, before kids, where we get to work out and enjoy the workout, but still keep our kids with us. So, actually, it ended up being the perfect blend where I don’t do the market, she does the marketing stuff-
Yeah
… and I was teaching classes, and together, it married up really well for us.
Were you guys teaching virtually or teaching somewhere else before you came to The Fieldhouse?
Yeah. We were doing some classes around here, and that organization dissolved.
Mm-hmm.
And then we said, okay. She and I were both attending, and I was teaching some of the classes for another company that ended up dissolving, and we said, “You know what? We’re going to do our own thing.” And Kristen, I remember she sent me the name and she said, “Every Mom Fitness.” And she’s like, “Just let it marinate.” So I was like, “Okay.” And I was on my way to a vacation, and my husband and I just sat down and talked about it, and we’re like, “All right.” And then we just said, “Okay, let’s do it. Let’s go for it.”
Okay. That sounds wonderful. Tell me a little bit about how your business has evolved over the past years, and what do you want it to stand for today?
Sure. When we started, our kids were younger. I was teaching classes and I was pregnant with my fourth.
Mm-hmm.
So, it was a lot. There were a lot of babies, and we had a lot of babies. And then what happens, naturally, is as your kids grow up, and a lot of women go back to work part-time, full time-
Mm-hmm
… and they phase out. But a lot of our women haven’t phased out. We’ve just grown with everyone. So we will-
Mm-hmm
… have babies still, and we love having babies. And we have pregnant moms, and they come in. But we also have moms of middle schoolers, and elementary kids, and high schoolers, and college kids.
Mm-hmm.
I have an about to be college student. She has a college student.
Mm-hmm.
And then we have grandmas that come in, and-
Lovely
… we have a mother/daughter combo who comes in and works out together.
I love that.
It’s amazing. And it becomes the best support system because-
Yeah
… when your elementary student is going through something, you have a mom who’s been through that-
Mm-hmm
… who can talk to you about that experience with real experience in it, that it helps. And then for the mom who’s stressing with that older teenager stuff, and there’s these adorable twin babies that come to our class-
Aw
… you see a baby, and your stress just melts. And then you get to work out, and boost the endorphins, and then you get the baby cute smiles and giggles, too.
I love it. So, it’s like building connections within generations as well.
Absolutely.
So, great. And so I’m sure that these women are forming great friendships, too, lifelong friendships. And I love that the moms are coming too, or the grandmas are coming.
Yes.
Yes. 100%.
Okay. Tell me about what makes your approach to fitness different than others in your industry.
Do you want to start?
The first thing, I think it was just that we allow the kids to be here with us-
Mm-hmm
… which makes it easier for moms who might be nervous to leave, especially little babies. When I started, that’s how I felt, and so you get to keep them with you. But that also, as they grow and they get to watch mom make fitness a priority-
Yeah
… and make it in her day, and see her with friends and just kind of-
Enjoying it
… yeah.
Yeah.
Seeing that fitness is fun. It’s not just a slog that you have to get through.
Yeah.
And making it a point in their day. So, I think that making it a family affair is what’s different.
Yeah.
And also, that it’s not the, you mentioned earlier, like sing a song with your baby. It’s not like that.
Yeah. Work out.
It’s burpees.
Yeah.
She kicks our butts. It is-
Yeah
… burpees-
With a smile-
Yeah
… and a nice way. And those awful bikes right there.
Yeah.
It’s a hard workout.
Yeah.
But it is also modifiable. We’re all moms. Everybody is welcoming and not judgmental, and-
Mm-hmm
… you know, come in and push your baby in the stroller up and down the hall, that’s cool.
Mm-hmm.
The other thing we focus on is not about… It’s more about we’ve really made a push for these non-scale victories because we have women working out with us in all stages, and part of it is not what the scale is saying. It’s more that focus on how your body can do for you what you want it to do.
Mm-hmm.
So, somebody will be like, “We had to move a big piece of furniture, and my husband and I picked it up, and I was carrying all the weight.”
Mm-hmm.
You know, something like that, and we did it, and I felt good about it. Or, my kids wanted to go play soccer, and I played outside soccer with them for an hour and wasn’t winded and felt strong and good.
Mm-hmm.
And it’s those things. Like, it’s winter, and they wanted me to take them up and down the sledding hill 30,000 times.
Mm-hmm.
And so, those kind of things make you feel good and able to be a part of the things with your kids. And then your body is strong, and it feels good.
Mm-hmm.
And it’s not how it necessarily… You’re not focused on how it looks, you’re-
Mm-hmm
… focused on how it performs for you.
100%, and that’s what it comes down to, just being very functional in life. You want to be on that field with your kids. You want to be able to run for a very long time. And this is what I tell a lot of my clients who come and see me. Your job is to be in some kind of fitness routine, and they’re like, “Well, how long?” “Well, for the rest of your life.”
Right.
Because us as women, we need that support-
Yep
… even more so as we’re aging. So, it’s great that you’re providing that and giving them that outlook so that they understand it’s not just aesthetics, it’s you’re doing all these other great things for yourself. So, I love that.
How early are your classes?
Not too early.
Okay.
The one I teach at home, I do that, I go live at 8:00 in the morning, and then-
Okay
… we do take a little break in the summer.
Okay.
Summer schedules are different, but we have at a 1,000, I mean, so many-
Okay
… workouts available.
Okay.
So, I have women join me live, and then they’re there for whoever. So I know I have one woman, she gets going early, so she’ll do them at 5:00 in the morning. But the videos are accessible to her. Now, in person here, we’re at 10:00 every day at the Fieldhouse.
Okay. All right, 10:00.
Because we found it to be a really good time because preschool drop off, school drop offs, everybody’s off, and then you get your time. And then with little babies, they get up in the morning, and when our babies were little, it gives you structure to your day because you get up, you go through your little bit of your morning routine, you come work out-
Mm-hmm
… feed them lunch, and then they nap.
Mm-hmm.
And then you’re halfway through that day, because it does, when they’re little, that day can be long.
Yeah.
So, giving it structure and giving-
Yeah
… a specific purpose to that day helps a lot.
And then do you have afternoon classes as well, or evening classes, or?
We are just 10:00, and we are a strong group here.
Okay. 10:00 AM and early.
Mm-hmm. And then whenever you want at home.
Okay. Got it.
And is it Monday through Friday? Is it weekends?
It’s Monday through Friday.
Okay.
Yeah. And then-
So tell me a little bit about someone who wants to start but needs some support in getting started. What could they do to get started with you guys?
They just need to come in. The Fieldhouse offers a free week of classes, so they could come the whole week. And really, just come and see it. I think you don’t really get it until you’re here. You can certainly-
Yeah
… look at our Instagram and our website.
Yeah.
And I post a lot of videos. But I really think walking in is when people feel it, that it’s just a very welcoming group.
Good.
It always has been. Every mom who’s come in here has been so welcoming and encouraging, and-
Mm-hmm
… yeah, you want to come and just push your baby up and down the hall, that’s fine. It’s a no judgment zone.
Yeah. Absolutely. Anything you want to do.
Yeah. And when people come in, and there’s always, we’re introducing them, and people are just walking up and introducing them, and they’re finding connections with people. It is. It’s great to be able to also, one of our goals was to make this something that stay-at-home moms could do, so it wasn’t going to price them out. So when they start, you get to try a whole week, because just one class-
Mm-hmm
… I don’t think gives you enough of a feel. I’m not the only one who teaches here. We have two other instructors, two other moms.
Okay.
A little fun fact is each of us have four kids, the women who teach.
Okay.
So, we are very comfortable in organized chaos. But, it’s nice to be able to experience the different instructors, because intentionally, they are not the same as me. And that’s on purpose because we want to give different feels, and-
Mm-hmm
… nobody wants five days of one person.
Yeah.
So, it is great to have that variety, and I think people-
Mm-hmm
… would appreciate that. And so you get a nice week to try it, and then we are month-to-month membership.
Okay.
So we don’t do a year commitment or long-term commitments because life. There are times when things happen, and you need to take a break, and we don’t want people financially on the hook for that. So, a lot of our moms have been with us for a very long time.
Mm-hmm.
And it’s nice because they’re here because they want to be here, not because they’re tied in. And that’s the goal. We want them to come-
Mm-hmm
… and show up because they want to be here.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. So it’s an easy class to come in, try it out.
Mm-hmm
See how you like it.
Okay, and then is it the virtual component, is that an app? Is that YouTube? How does that work?
That is on a private Facebook page.
Okay.
So it’s really great because, I mean, at least our generation, everybody’s got that-
Yeah
… phone. Yeah. But it’s nice because all of the stuff is stored there, and it can be as simple as some of the women just pop up their phone and do it.
Mm-hmm.
Some of them put it, hook it up to their computer, and then they’re doing it like that. But it is also nice because it’s one page to go to where-
Mm
… there’s all kinds of workouts loaded on there as well. And also it’s not like a group Zoom. It’s just Erica-
It’s me
… in her basement.
In my basement.
You’re not on video when you’re doing-
Yeah
… the class.
Got it. Yep.
I do them on Saturdays, because I miss Friday’s here, so, it’s a great addition, to, if people can only come here a few times, but if you want to add that. In the summer, we cut the price in half. It’s only $20 a month anyway for the online. Yeah.
Okay.
But we put it in half. It was born out of COVID. Yeah. I mean, we had to leave here from COVID, and we were like, “How do we do this?” And it just kind of evolved, and then it started bringing in people from other places.
Mm-hmm.
There were people… I lived in Florida before here, and I used to-
Mm
… train and teach down there, and then people that I’m… It’s like, oh, they missed taking classes with me, and now we get to do that again.
Okay.
So I used to teach and train in Florida, and so this online community has allowed it to expand, and people who I used to teach come, and they take those classes online.
Mm.
So, and then they’re in community now with people from all over the place, and that in itself is a community too, because there are sweaty selfies. There is, it’s a companionship through that.
You’re getting people in Florida who still follow you and do your program with you here?
Yeah.
Oh, that’s so cool. I would love that if my instructor was like, I could travel with them, right?
Yeah.
They probably love that, love having you.
It is.
So.
It’s been great, because there’s always a connection when you’re in class with people. We’re not just barking out orders.
Yeah.
We know everybody that comes in, and that’s-
Yeah
… to me, that’s why you go work out is-
You mentioned that you see, a lot of women through, I guess in their postpartum phase. Are you seeing women who are also pregnant as well?
Yeah. Yes. Yeah, we love having women through their pregnancies, because it’s really important to work out through your pregnancy.
Mm-hmm.
And I know there’s a lot of misinformation and people who are really uncomfortable when women come into a gym pregnant, at least I experienced that, and I know a lot of trainers are very uncomfortable in that. But, I mean, I’ve been through four pregnancies myself. We are trained in even just things going on with pregnancies, modifying, and how to… And every day is different in a pregnancy with what you can and cannot do. So we work with women through pregnancy, through like, I mean-
Mm
… we’ve had women up to their delivery day. Walk out of here, water break later, and go have their on-time baby. So it-
Mm
… had a lot of fun experiences. We usually end up putting a little thing together for those women.
Yeah.
I mean, it’s fun. It is definitely.
Yeah. Okay, that’s good to know for some women who might be contemplating if they’re pregnant, can I still work out? So it’s great to know-
Yeah
… that you guys can accommodate, and you have a lot of experience working with that phase of pregnancy as well and postpartum.
Yes.
Well, anything, what advice would you give to someone who wanted to, like is kind of unsure about it? You said, “Just come on in, check it out for yourself.”
Mm-hmm.
And see what experience, what it feels like. You’ve got a free week-long session.
Mm-hmm.
Anything else that you want to say to them to highlight?
I would say come with a friend. I mean-
Yeah
… it’s so fun. That’s how I started. A friend told me, and-
Same
… so just bring a friend and, I would say misery loves company, but it’s not misery. It’s just-
Yeah
… it’s a hard workout, but it’s, if you come with somebody else, that can be much more comfortable, and especially-
Yeah
… with like if your kids are friends.
Yeah.
We have a lot of kids who’ve become friends-
Yes
… because of this. It’s like its own-
Yeah
… little playgroup.
Yes. And-
And I would also say don’t worry about your kid’s behavior.
Oh, yeah.
Because I know myself, I mean-
Yeah
… sometimes your kid doesn’t do what you want them to do. And that’s okay. This is not a judgment spot. If your kid has a meltdown, that is okay, because you know what? All of my kids have had meltdowns and we work with the kids, too. So I think that is a big thing is your kid isn’t expected to behave or act a certain way.
Mm-hmm.
We just go with the flow here. It’s a very non-stress environment where if your baby needs to be held the whole time, I’m going to give you a modifier for every exercise so that you can hold your baby the whole time, if you want to. If you want to let your baby just kind of cry it out and settle themselves, we can do that, too.
Mm-hmm.
So those are, I think that’s something to don’t worry about. When nobody’s looking or judging, we’ve all been through it, and that’s one of the best things about, I think, this community is that people will get it, and nobody’s going to be like, “Ugh, her baby was crying.” And-
Mm
… nobody’s, it’s just we’re all in it together. So I think you just come, and you enjoy it, have a little fun, and-
Okay
… get sweaty and-
Yeah
… feel good.
Yes. So good. Well, thank you so much. I think this is definitely something that our community definitely needs. I feel like you’re very unique, in that you do support women during their pregnancy and postpartum. You do offer a different type of community support within each other, and then also the ability to bring the kids. That’s a really big deal. And I think the best part is, is that during this phase of life, you really need… There, it is a recovery phase, emotionally, physically. This seems like you kind of provide a little bit of a village for these moms, and support and keeping them healthy, keeping them feeling supported. I think that is just a beautiful thing and I’m so happy to have you guys in the community and spread the word about you.
Thank you.
Thanks for being on my podcast today.
Thank you so much for having us.
Yeah.
Thanks.
All right. Take care.
Okay. Bye.