July 18, 2025 • 12 mins
As a muscle mommy, I didn’t see yoga as part of my strength journey until I met Coach Shelby on Tonal. In this episode, I talk about how yoga transformed my training, why it’s non-negotiable now, and how it’s helping me unlock one of my biggest goals: the dragon pistol squat. If you think yoga isn’t for lifters 👂listen up. This one’s for you.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome back to Strength theNumbers.
I'm Katie, and guess what?
Today is our 20th episode, and Icouldn't think of a better topic
to talk about on the 20thepisode than my girl Shelby and
Yoga on Tonal.
So today's episode is just forevery woman who thought strength
only came from lifting heavier,going harder, or moving faster,
(00:23):
you are strong.
But what if I told you thatslowing down, breathing deeper,
softening.
Is the missing piece.
I used to think yoga was not forme.
I used to not be able to centermyself because I was so into the
music, the playlist versus beingin the moment being present in
(00:44):
the breath.
So I am, yes, I'm a musclemommy.
I train hard.
I like watching the weight goup.
I love building muscle, thepump, feeling the burn, and
feeling those lovely doms.
But recently I started cravingsomething more, something
deeper, and honestly it camefrom a surprising place, tonal
(01:06):
on yoga.
More specifically, coach Shelby.
Now y'all know I have met, I metCoach Shelby at, uh, at the
tonal training lab in New York,and I can tell you that she is
the most beautiful human beinginside and out.
And it was such a, it was such ablessing when Shelby came to
(01:32):
Tonal because I truly believethat this was something that I
was missing.
Um, and I feel that it hasopened up my brain, my thoughts
to trying new things and gettingout of my comfort zone.
(01:52):
So I used to think that yoga wasjust for rest days or maybe for
people who didn't, you know,really train.
I was totally wrong, way wrong,if I'm being honest.
I saw it as a filler,stretching, downtime, not
something that would help me getstronger.
Again, I was wrong, but what Ididn't see, what I refused to
(02:16):
acknowledge was that my recoverywas slipping.
My flexibility was limiting mystrength.
My joints weren't happy.
My nervous system was up anddown, shot from going hard all
the time, and my goals were juststarting to feel stalled.
(02:36):
Like I was always looking forthat.
What's next?
What could I try?
What could I do harder?
What could I challenge myselfwith?
One of those goals?
For me right now is a dragonpistol squat, if you know, you
know, that's next levelstrength, mobility, control,
balance, and it's a whole lot oftrust in your body and
(02:57):
protecting that face.
'cause I can tell you how manytimes I've fallen over, but I
keep practicing.
You know, I couldn't, Isometimes I couldn't get deep
enough because either it wassomething with my hip.
You know, or you know, my anklemobility wasn't there because I
(03:18):
feel like my ankle mobility isthere when I'm lifting, but yoga
has opened up a whole newdifferent kind of body scan.
For me, strength was not theissue.
Stability and mobility werebecause my balance, man, that
needs a lot of work and that'show I've come to.
(03:41):
Go to yoga to find these missinglittle nuggets that are missing
in my training.
So when Shelby came to Tonal, Iclicked on one of her classes.
I was very excited.
Um, you know, Joe has, I, Ibelieve all, actually, all the
tonal coaches have taken yogaclasses with Shelby.
(04:02):
And, um, I was a, you know, I'malways.
You know, I wanna support allthe, everybody that works for
Tonal.
So I was like, you know what?
I'm gonna take a Shelby class.
I am not a yogi.
I'm just not.
But there was something aboutShelby.
Shelby just, she shows updifferently.
(04:23):
She spoke with calm, with likethis powerful energy and she
wasn't trying to hype me up.
She wasn't, she was justinviting me to connect with
myself in a deeper way.
Her cues made me feel, she mademe feel my body not just moving
it or listening to the music,she made me feel present, so, so
(04:45):
for the first time when I'dstarted taking her classes, it
got from, I don't really wannado this, to, how can I challenge
myself more with this?
I realized I was carryingtension I didn't even know
existed.
My breath was shallow and Ifound that my glutes weren't
(05:06):
firing right, and I've beenhaving trouble with that in my
lips.
So I stopped trying to pushthrough and instead started
learning how to listen through.
That is a huge shift.
That has been a pivotal changefor me.
(05:31):
Is not pushing through, islistening more.
If we listen more, we canachieve all of the goals that we
want to achieve.
So let's talk if you, if youwanna do something like a dragon
pistol squat.
I know it sounds crazy.
People have told me that I'mcrazy that why would you wanna
(05:52):
do that?
But it's the same thing with theArcher pushups and Superman
pushups.
Like, why would you wanna do it?
Because I can and because I wantto, and because we should be
inspired by those around us.
They show us what is possible.
So you can't just be strong, youhave to be mobile.
(06:15):
Stable centered.
That means hips, ankles, court,and most importantly, that
nervous system all have to beworking in harmony.
Shelby's yoga classes havehelped me improve.
You know, my ankle and hipmobility activate my core
better, stabilize her muscles,increase my balance and
proprioception, and mostimportantly, breath through hard
(06:36):
movements instead of musclingthrough them.
Shelby and Coach Casey havehelped me tremendously in my
lifts.
There have been multiple timeswhere I've had to pause tonal
during one of my job programsand just breathe.
Just be in the breath and stopand regroup myself.
(07:00):
I can't tell you how importantthat has been in my training, is
taking that moment when thebrain and the body starts to go
haywire, take a step back, takea breath, reset yourself.
So before, before I startedreally diving deep into yoga,
(07:22):
when Shelby came.
I was always, I felt like I wasalways fighting for control.
Now I'm training for flow.
You know, the dragon pistolsquat just isn't a goal.
It became a metaphor forbalance, grace and grit, power
and patience.
It became, I know this willbecome something like how I feel
(07:44):
about pushups.
How I feel when I accomplishsomething that so many people
will say is crazy, and why wouldyou wanna do that?
Like I am that shock factor,like that is my goal.
Like my goal is to always shockJoe what I can do.
So my goal now is to shockShelby and be like, look what
(08:04):
you've helped me accomplish.
Look what I've done.
And I think that's such a, it'ssuch a great feeling ex.
For me, when I can shock mycoaches and I can shock my
friends and they're just like,gosh, I can't believe you did
that, because I wanna inspirethem like they inspire me.
(08:26):
So here's the thing I wanna sayall women who lift heavy chase
muscle and live through thathigh performance zone, slowing
down is not a weakness.
Repeat, slowing down.
Is not a weakness.
It's a wisdom.
Yoga taught me how to recover ina way that actually supports my
(08:49):
lifts.
It taught me that rest can beactive, that being present is
just not being, just not hittinga pr.
I used to fear that if I paused,I'd lose momentum, but I've
learned that pausing ismomentum.
It's that reset that allows youto come back and stronger.
(09:10):
If I haven't shown you guys thatI'm, I am going to keep like
shouting it from the root tops.
Yoga is isn't doing less, it'smore, it's more awareness, more
connection, more strength, andbuilding that strength from
within.
I'll always be a muscle mommy.
(09:31):
Lifting weights gives me, givesme life, but yoga gives me
death.
It's helped me, you know, avoidinjuries, improve my form, made
my glutes work smarter.
And honestly, it's just made memore present, more present as a
friend, more present.
As you know, in my day to day, Ican walk into my training
(09:53):
sessions now with lessinflammation, less anxiety, more
focus, and better results,because I've learned how
important it is to centeryourself and just take a breath.
The dragon pistol squat isgetting, it's gonna get closer.
It's far away from me being ableto do it, but it's getting it
(10:15):
because starting is the mostimportant part.
So I know it's gonna be hard,but things that we really want
and really passionate about,life shouldn't come easy and
should enjoy the journey.
Enjoy the failures.
Enjoy the falling over andlaughing at yourself.
(10:35):
So if you've been skipping yoga,you better not be on tonal.
Let me, let me be the sign foryou to click on a Shelby class.
Don't just do it forflexibility, do it for strength,
for breath, for connection.
Do it for the version that wantsyou to feel strong and whole.
(10:56):
All right, so before I let yougo, I, I'm gonna give you guys a
challenge.
Not a dragon pistol squatchallenge, I promise.
But this week I dare you to hitplay on a tonal yoga session.
Choose one with Shelby.
Let your body soften.
Let your breath deepen.
Let yourself feel.
And if you're training forsomething big like a dragon
(11:19):
pistol squat, I know you're not,but maybe you might be.
Maybe after this podcast, you'regonna be like, you know what?
I'm gonna start working on mypistol squats and my dragon
squats and my balance, just likeKatie is.
Maybe, maybe you could beinspired by it.
Who knows?
But strength isn't always aboutforce.
Sometimes it's about flow.
So thank you so much for joiningme on my 20th episode of
(11:42):
Strength in Numbers.
I so appreciate you guysclicking on and listening to me
on these little short, littleconversations.
So if this had shifted your mindin any way, shape, or form, tag
me.
Tag Shelby when you and tagtonal when you take a class with
her.
And tell them.
Tell them your yoga story.
Let's normalize strong women.
(12:04):
Pausing, coming back evenstronger because muscle mommy
yogi is gonna be a thing.
See you guys next time.
See?
Welcome back to Strength theNumbers.
I'm Katie, and guess what?
Today is our 20th episode, and Icouldn't think of a better topic
to talk about on the 20thepisode than my girl Shelby and
Yoga on Tonal.
So today's episode is just forevery woman who thought strength
only came from lifting heavier,going harder, or moving faster,
(00:23):
you are strong.
But what if I told you thatslowing down, breathing deeper,
softening.
Is the missing piece.
I used to think yoga was not forme.
I used to not be able to centermyself because I was so into the
music, the playlist versus beingin the moment being present in
(00:44):
the breath.
So I am, yes, I'm a musclemommy.
I train hard.
I like watching the weight goup.
I love building muscle, thepump, feeling the burn, and
feeling those lovely doms.
But recently I started cravingsomething more, something
deeper, and honestly it camefrom a surprising place, tonal
(01:06):
on yoga.
More specifically, coach Shelby.
Now y'all know I have met, I metCoach Shelby at, uh, at the
tonal training lab in New York,and I can tell you that she is
the most beautiful human beinginside and out.
And it was such a, it was such ablessing when Shelby came to
(01:32):
Tonal because I truly believethat this was something that I
was missing.
Um, and I feel that it hasopened up my brain, my thoughts
to trying new things and gettingout of my comfort zone.
(01:52):
So I used to think that yoga wasjust for rest days or maybe for
people who didn't, you know,really train.
I was totally wrong, way wrong,if I'm being honest.
I saw it as a filler,stretching, downtime, not
something that would help me getstronger.
Again, I was wrong, but what Ididn't see, what I refused to
(02:16):
acknowledge was that my recoverywas slipping.
My flexibility was limiting mystrength.
My joints weren't happy.
My nervous system was up anddown, shot from going hard all
the time, and my goals were juststarting to feel stalled.
(02:36):
Like I was always looking forthat.
What's next?
What could I try?
What could I do harder?
What could I challenge myselfwith?
One of those goals?
For me right now is a dragonpistol squat, if you know, you
know, that's next levelstrength, mobility, control,
balance, and it's a whole lot oftrust in your body and
(02:57):
protecting that face.
'cause I can tell you how manytimes I've fallen over, but I
keep practicing.
You know, I couldn't, Isometimes I couldn't get deep
enough because either it wassomething with my hip.
You know, or you know, my anklemobility wasn't there because I
(03:18):
feel like my ankle mobility isthere when I'm lifting, but yoga
has opened up a whole newdifferent kind of body scan.
For me, strength was not theissue.
Stability and mobility werebecause my balance, man, that
needs a lot of work and that'show I've come to.
(03:41):
Go to yoga to find these missinglittle nuggets that are missing
in my training.
So when Shelby came to Tonal, Iclicked on one of her classes.
I was very excited.
Um, you know, Joe has, I, Ibelieve all, actually, all the
tonal coaches have taken yogaclasses with Shelby.
(04:02):
And, um, I was a, you know, I'malways.
You know, I wanna support allthe, everybody that works for
Tonal.
So I was like, you know what?
I'm gonna take a Shelby class.
I am not a yogi.
I'm just not.
But there was something aboutShelby.
Shelby just, she shows updifferently.
(04:23):
She spoke with calm, with likethis powerful energy and she
wasn't trying to hype me up.
She wasn't, she was justinviting me to connect with
myself in a deeper way.
Her cues made me feel, she mademe feel my body not just moving
it or listening to the music,she made me feel present, so, so
(04:45):
for the first time when I'dstarted taking her classes, it
got from, I don't really wannado this, to, how can I challenge
myself more with this?
I realized I was carryingtension I didn't even know
existed.
My breath was shallow and Ifound that my glutes weren't
(05:06):
firing right, and I've beenhaving trouble with that in my
lips.
So I stopped trying to pushthrough and instead started
learning how to listen through.
That is a huge shift.
That has been a pivotal changefor me.
(05:31):
Is not pushing through, islistening more.
If we listen more, we canachieve all of the goals that we
want to achieve.
So let's talk if you, if youwanna do something like a dragon
pistol squat.
I know it sounds crazy.
People have told me that I'mcrazy that why would you wanna
(05:52):
do that?
But it's the same thing with theArcher pushups and Superman
pushups.
Like, why would you wanna do it?
Because I can and because I wantto, and because we should be
inspired by those around us.
They show us what is possible.
So you can't just be strong, youhave to be mobile.
(06:15):
Stable centered.
That means hips, ankles, court,and most importantly, that
nervous system all have to beworking in harmony.
Shelby's yoga classes havehelped me improve.
You know, my ankle and hipmobility activate my core
better, stabilize her muscles,increase my balance and
proprioception, and mostimportantly, breath through hard
(06:36):
movements instead of musclingthrough them.
Shelby and Coach Casey havehelped me tremendously in my
lifts.
There have been multiple timeswhere I've had to pause tonal
during one of my job programsand just breathe.
Just be in the breath and stopand regroup myself.
(07:00):
I can't tell you how importantthat has been in my training, is
taking that moment when thebrain and the body starts to go
haywire, take a step back, takea breath, reset yourself.
So before, before I startedreally diving deep into yoga,
(07:22):
when Shelby came.
I was always, I felt like I wasalways fighting for control.
Now I'm training for flow.
You know, the dragon pistolsquat just isn't a goal.
It became a metaphor forbalance, grace and grit, power
and patience.
It became, I know this willbecome something like how I feel
(07:44):
about pushups.
How I feel when I accomplishsomething that so many people
will say is crazy, and why wouldyou wanna do that?
Like I am that shock factor,like that is my goal.
Like my goal is to always shockJoe what I can do.
So my goal now is to shockShelby and be like, look what
(08:04):
you've helped me accomplish.
Look what I've done.
And I think that's such a, it'ssuch a great feeling ex.
For me, when I can shock mycoaches and I can shock my
friends and they're just like,gosh, I can't believe you did
that, because I wanna inspirethem like they inspire me.
(08:26):
So here's the thing I wanna sayall women who lift heavy chase
muscle and live through thathigh performance zone, slowing
down is not a weakness.
Repeat, slowing down.
Is not a weakness.
It's a wisdom.
Yoga taught me how to recover ina way that actually supports my
(08:49):
lifts.
It taught me that rest can beactive, that being present is
just not being, just not hittinga pr.
I used to fear that if I paused,I'd lose momentum, but I've
learned that pausing ismomentum.
It's that reset that allows youto come back and stronger.
(09:10):
If I haven't shown you guys thatI'm, I am going to keep like
shouting it from the root tops.
Yoga is isn't doing less, it'smore, it's more awareness, more
connection, more strength, andbuilding that strength from
within.
I'll always be a muscle mommy.
(09:31):
Lifting weights gives me, givesme life, but yoga gives me
death.
It's helped me, you know, avoidinjuries, improve my form, made
my glutes work smarter.
And honestly, it's just made memore present, more present as a
friend, more present.
As you know, in my day to day, Ican walk into my training
(09:53):
sessions now with lessinflammation, less anxiety, more
focus, and better results,because I've learned how
important it is to centeryourself and just take a breath.
The dragon pistol squat isgetting, it's gonna get closer.
It's far away from me being ableto do it, but it's getting it
(10:15):
because starting is the mostimportant part.
So I know it's gonna be hard,but things that we really want
and really passionate about,life shouldn't come easy and
should enjoy the journey.
Enjoy the failures.
Enjoy the falling over andlaughing at yourself.
(10:35):
So if you've been skipping yoga,you better not be on tonal.
Let me, let me be the sign foryou to click on a Shelby class.
Don't just do it forflexibility, do it for strength,
for breath, for connection.
Do it for the version that wantsyou to feel strong and whole.
(10:56):
All right, so before I let yougo, I, I'm gonna give you guys a
challenge.
Not a dragon pistol squatchallenge, I promise.
But this week I dare you to hitplay on a tonal yoga session.
Choose one with Shelby.
Let your body soften.
Let your breath deepen.
Let yourself feel.
And if you're training forsomething big like a dragon
(11:19):
pistol squat, I know you're not,but maybe you might be.
Maybe after this podcast, you'regonna be like, you know what?
I'm gonna start working on mypistol squats and my dragon
squats and my balance, just likeKatie is.
Maybe, maybe you could beinspired by it.
Who knows?
But strength isn't always aboutforce.
Sometimes it's about flow.
So thank you so much for joiningme on my 20th episode of
(11:42):
Strength in Numbers.
I so appreciate you guysclicking on and listening to me
on these little short, littleconversations.
So if this had shifted your mindin any way, shape, or form, tag
me.
Tag Shelby when you and tagtonal when you take a class with
her.
And tell them.
Tell them your yoga story.
Let's normalize strong women.
(12:04):
Pausing, coming back evenstronger because muscle mommy
yogi is gonna be a thing.
See you guys next time.
See?
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