When Lucy Olympia Young founded Bumpstrong over three years ago, her mission was simple: to empower pregnant and postpartum women with the knowledge and confidence to safely build strength during one of the most transformative phases of their lives. As a mother of three children under three, including twins, Lucy’s personal experience has given her a deeper understanding of the unique challenges women face during pregnancy and postpartum. This evolving perspective not only shaped her business but also revealed the limitations of her original model, where she was manually creating and sending out personalized PDFs to clients.

Realizing the need to modernize and scale her business to better support more women, Lucy turned to Movement, which became pivotal in helping her expand her reach. With Movement, Lucy transformed Bumpstrong into a scalable platform, allowing her to support women globally with personalized programs, online training, and educational resources—all while maintaining the same level of care and attention she had always offered. In this conversation, Lucy shares how her partnership with Movement has been a game-changer, helping her business grow while ensuring more women feel empowered and supported on their motherhood journeys.

“The app enabled me to help and support women everywhere and provide the education I wanted to be able to give. Before, I was giving it on a personal basis, but the app expanded that reach so more women could feel supported during pregnancy and postpartum.”

Whether you're an entrepreneur, new mom, or fitness coach, Lucy's story offers valuable insights into overcoming the challenges of scaling a business, expanding your impact, and meeting the needs of a growing community.

Can you give us the backstory on Bumpstrong and what sparked your interest in working with pregnant and postpartum women?

I'm originally from New Zealand, but I moved to Canada when I was quite young for my dad's work, so I did most of my schooling there. I played a lot of different sports growing up, but the common denominator for me was always that I liked the running part and the speed so it was quite a natural transition to go into track and field. I did a junior program and then tried out for the varsity team at my university, where I competed in the 600 meters.

That's also where I met my partner—he was on the varsity ice hockey team (obviously, were talking ice hockey because we're in Canada!). With his sport, we were able to travel to a few different countries, and that’s where I started working with pregnant and postpartum women. Even not being a parent yet, and not being a mum, I already saw there was a real lack of education and support for women during that phase of life. We had a lot of women who were postpartum coming to the gym and being assigned any odd trainer, and those trainers didn’t feel skilled enough to train that population. And so that's where I upskilled myself, when we were in the UK, and really dived right into that whole space.

It’s really when I became a mum myself that things clicked. For context, we had moved from Canada to England, back to Canada, and finally to Australia. When we were back in Australia, and in lockdown, I became pregnant myself and I reached my wit's end with the lack of support for this population. I saw firsthand how lost a lot of women were on this part of their journey, and really saw the conflict of information. There's so much information out there on what safe training looks like during pregnancy and postpartum, but it's not always evidence-backed–it's not always cross checked by any certifying body. A lot of women feel very confused. And so that's really where Bumpstrong was born!

What is Bumpstrong and how is it different?

Bumpstrong is a perinatal exercise business, and the goal is to provide women with the tools they need to train safely and build strength during pregnancy and postpartum. We do one-on-one training, online training, and then of course, we've got the app, so it allows us to cater to thousands of women across the world.

They can really understand how to train safely with weight and I think that’s a key difference between my platform (Bumpstrong) versus a lot of perinatal exercise or training options for pregnancy and postpartum.

Bumpstrong believes you don't have to ditch the dumbbell just because you're pregnant. It's allowing women, or being the gateway for women, to understand how they can safely strength train during this phase of their motherhood journey.

We're going into the third year of business, and in that time, we've been able to launch large scale events and collaborations with Lululemon–we've launched many, many workshops with other industry experts, and now we've got the app. I also get a lot of athletes coming through Bumpstrong because of my background in sport. So again, that’s a key point of difference. 

Are most of your clients athletes with your background in athletics and Track & Field?

It's a real mix! Just from who I am, I've gotten a lot of runners or a lot of women who want to return back to sport after they've had their babies. But it's not exclusively that.

A really big part of what I try to do is provide women with the why behind their training. It's one thing to give someone a program and say, “Okay, do this program from A to Z”, but it's another for women to feel empowered, to understand why they're doing certain movements, or why they're important. Hence why I like Movement, because there's that education portal.

It also allows me to put an online event in the app so that people have easy access to it and can watch through the app. And, within the actual programs, being able to put notes like “Monitor for this...” “You're doing this because it helps engage your deep abdominals.” It's providing the why, so that when someone is doing a program, they're not just blindly following, but they've actually got that education piece behind it. 

Do you think that the training and guidance you give for athletes is different from the general population, or similar?

I think there are a few things that don't cross over for athletes when they're pregnant or even when they're postpartum. There's a really common saying with pre and postnatal training, “just listen to your body, ”your body will tell you”. But that just doesn't apply to an athlete, because an athlete is so attuned to shutting out that kind of pain response, or that fatigue and being able to push beyond that. So in my experience, those kinds of cues don't relate, especially to athletes that are semi-professional/professional—that's a different breed in terms of how they can go into a zone and block out anything that their body is really telling them to slow down or stop.

Also postpartum, I've worked with a lot of runners or CrossFitters who are so eager to get back into their postpartum training and it's a different approach, because you're really having to explain how these basics are going to make them more successful in the long run. And if they jump six months or nine months down the track, in terms of trying to do too much too soon, it's actually going to hinder their performance.

"There's a really common saying with pre and postnatal training, “just listen to your body, ”your body will tell you”. But that just doesn't apply to an athlete, because an athlete is so attuned to shutting out that kind of pain response, or that fatigue and being able to push beyond that."

How have you managed getting back into your business postpartum, especially with the twins? How do you find balance and rhythm while juggling everything?

I mean, it's not easy, and I’d be lying if I said I had it all figured out! But, every day, I try to focus on one or two things I really need to achieve—just one or two priorities—and then figure out where they’ll slot in. Ocean goes to daycare most days, which helps a lot, but there’s one day a week she’s home. On those days, I set more realistic expectations in terms of output because trying to feed twins with a toddler climbing over you is an absolute circus.

When the twins go down for a nap and I’ve dropped Ocean off, that is really like the golden hours, or the golden time for me to do those priorities that I've set out. Exercise is also really important for my mental health, so I’ll often try to fit in a gym session. There’s a gym close by with a crèche, so I’ll get the twins to sleep by driving there, drop them off in the crèche, do my workout, pick them up, and hopefully, they’re still asleep so I can get more work done until they wake up.

The twins have been good about sleeping during long walks or drives, so sometimes I’ll time a walk, like ‘Okay, I need to go for a half hour walk here so that I can attend this meeting with my accountant at this time.’ It’s a lot of planning ahead. Everything with twins is planning—feeding, showering, everything. You have to think through every step, like bringing them both into the bathroom with you when you need a shower.

I’m lucky my partner works from home some days, so if something majorly urgent comes up, I can lean on him, but we don’t have family here, which also makes it very challenging. I have to lean on the small support network that we have here.

Has Bumpstrong always been an online business, or did it transition online over time?

No, Bumpstrong has been a real journey! I started out with a core group of five clients, way back in the day, and it was really personalized. I would have check-ins every few weeks, and all the programs were curated for the specific person. So, if someone had severe SPD pain or pain at the front of the pelvis, her program was fully curated to make sure it was working for her, and I’d adjust it every week. I’d send those out every Sunday, so it was a lot of manual work.

It was online in the sense that some clients were in Canada, some were here, so it started from those beginnings. I was also working out of some gyms with the pre- and postnatal population—I didn’t have my own space, so I was leaning on other gyms and studios providing that service.

It wasn’t until about three years ago that I started working under the name Bumpstrong. Before that, it was Lucy Olympia Young, perinatal exercise specialist delivering a service. Now, we’ve got the app and in-person sessions, and they’re delivered by me and my colleague, Nikki, who also works for Bumpstrong. It’s pretty cool to see how it started small and has grown. The app has helped us drive more awareness and reach more people, so it’s been quite a journey.

What made you decide that you wanted an app for Bumpstrong?

I wasn’t able to reach the number of women I wanted to with so much manual effort—sending everything out individually, that kind of thing. The app enabled me to reach a larger audience and a more international audience as well. We had lived in the UK, Canada, and had a lot of connections in the US, so clients were coming from all over, and awareness was spreading within their circles. The app enabled me to help and support women everywhere and provide the education I wanted to be able to give. Before, I was giving it on a personal basis, but the app expanded that reach so more women could feel supported during pregnancy and postpartum.

It was very much that scale aspect, but I also loved that the app became a one-stop shop for everything. It allowed me to offer programming, education, and mobility guides all in one place. I also really love that the app acts as a one-stop shop for support.

If clients wanted to ask questions or someone was not clear on something, they just go into the app, click "Support," and send me a message. Essentially, it just made everything really, really easy to help more women.

Has the app made a noticeable impact on your business?

The app has allowed me a way to support more women, particularly with the capacity that I have now being early postpartum.

It’s also amazing because the app gives a clear way to see month-on-month growth. I like that I see where there's interest, but not necessarily conversion. That can be really helpful, because then I can understand how many people are curious and wanting to know more, and of the percentage that download, how many are actually converting. In that respect, it's had a really big impact.

Without the app, someone might just see your website, and while you can track clicks, the app gives you a much more tangible figure in how much awareness we’re gaining with women who actually want to learn about Bumpstrong and the app. That's definitely been a noticeable change.

How has the app impacted your community's journey or experience?

There are a few things the app does really, really well. First, it’s quite easy to follow along. Like I said originally, when I was sending out programs, there was a PDF guide, and people would follow the workout, but to see how to do an exercise, they had to click a link that brought them to YouTube, then had to go back to the PDF. The app just made that process streamlined. That’s probably the biggest piece of feedback I’ve received! Anyone who was previously using a PDF or an ebook-style program can now follow along without interruption—it doesn't stop their music if they click on a video to see how to do an exercise, which has been really helpful. And again, the support section or the support chat has been really helpful if anyone has extra questions or is needing more support.

I’ve also curated a section like a newsletter, which enables me to ask the community what they want to see more of. For example, someone might suggest they want to learn more about postpartum reintroduction to running, and then I can create a video and add it to the education section. It’s mutually beneficial—I understand more of what they need, and they get the content they’re looking for.

Despite everything you’re managing, you still put out an impressive amount of content on social media. How do you maintain a consistent posting schedule?

I think the biggest thing that people who don’t create reels (like my partner) don’t realize is how much time editing can take. Editing a full-fledged video, especially if it's around 60 seconds, can take quite a lot of effort. Postpartum, I was putting out a lot of content, and someone asked me the same question.

I was saying how I was almost forced to rest in those early days because I was breastfeeding a lot and you’re trying to not be on your feet, so that enabled me to edit a lot when I was sitting.

Usually, I think about questions that people ask me, like someone recently asked for exercises for SI joint pain—pain through the back of the pelvis. So when I'm in the gym, I have that in the back of my mind. I’ll either film it after my workout or set aside time for it. I’ll film the exercise in its entirety, then go back and edit when I’m sitting, feeding, or even when the family’s just on the couch. I’m not someone who just sits and watches a movie or a show—I’ll always be doing something at the same time, usually editing a video. That’s how I manage the content side of things.

And yes, I do all the filming and editing myself. I had a bulk of footage from when I was pregnant, with some really professional-style videos of different exercises, so I have a lot of that to lean on. But I try to keep things fresh by setting up the camera in the gym. I don’t even use a tripod—I’m a bit sheepish to do anything like that so I usually just lean my phone against a water bottle or a seat and film that way. I can’t bring myself to walk around the gym with a tripod, even though it would probably help so much.

If you watch my videos, you’ll often notice they’re not overly polished—my hair’s not perfectly done unless it’s a professional shoot. I even did a video dancing in the kitchen the other day, and I have my full postpartum mullet out. But it's also authentic, and I think that’s what resonates with people who come to my page or are interested in my programs. So I try to keep it 100% real.

You can't act, you can't pretend like you have it entirely all figured out–it's all learning, especially with three kids. You know, every day is a new day.

What does the future of Bumpstrong and the app look like?

My future plan is to create more online workshops that I can record and add to the app across different fields. I also want to build out specific sections—like a dedicated C-section recovery section. So if you’ve had a C-section, all the information is encased right there. I really want to make sure that people who are coming to the app feel like it's truly catering to them, and catering to all different discomforts like SPD or pelvic girdle pain. So really building out the education section so it’s fully fledged, while also running more workshops that can be housed in the app.

With time, I think it will grow legs and expand. I already have a fair few workshops lined up with other industry experts, like midwives I work closely with and our Bumpstrong physio. I'd love to bring on other people that we work with at Bumpstrong so that the community has access to not just what I know, but what a midwife can help them with, or what a pelvic floor physio can help them with, so there's ample support for every aspect of their motherhood journey in the app.

Lucy’s journey with Bumpstrong is a testament to the incredible impact you can have when you combine passion and expertise with the right tools. By transitioning from manual, one-on-one training to a global online platform, she’s been able to scale and support thousands of women through some of the most challenging and rewarding phases of their lives. What started as a personal mission to fill the gaps in perinatal care has grown into a thriving community where women feel empowered and supported in their health journeys and the everyday challenges of motherhood.

If you’re looking to scale your business, create a lasting community, and ultimately expand your impact, Lucy’s experience is proof that Movement can help you get there. Movement’s platform allows you to grow without losing the personal connection and care that sets your brand apart. Ready to reach more people and amplify your mission? Movement is your partner in making that vision a reality.

Check out the Bumpstrong app or follow Lucy on Instagram

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