N.C. mom builds national fitness community from her home with new app

From her eastern North Carolina home, Megan Ewoldsen is building a national personal fitness community, guiding women, often moms, along on a journey toward better health.

Today, she's built a Facebook community of about 700 women and seen her app downloaded thousands of times. Strive offers both free and low-price options. Her workouts are no longer than 30 minutes. The recipes are family friendly.

"The community part of this is probably something that I take the most pride in because I think a lot of people miss that piece when they just go to the gym or they're working out alone at home. You just don't get that kind of accountability from your peers," said Ewoldsen, a mom of three kids ages 2 to 7. "This really takes care of that piece. I'm in there coaching, correcting people's form. My nutrition team is in there, helping with recipes and substitions."

Personal fitness didn't play into Ewoldsen's original career plans, but she didn't last at her "first big girl job," as she calls it, for very long. Fresh out of college with a graphic design degree, Ewoldsen was working for a magazine in Alaska when she realized that sitting at a desk all day just wasn't for her. "That only lasted a year," she said.

She quickly found a career replacement - fitness and personal training. While working at the magazine, Ewoldsen started getting into group fitness classes. She picked up a Zumba fitness certification and didn't stop there. Ewoldsen also has earned certifications for spinning and Insanity, a cardio-conditioning workout, Beachbody and personal training, among others. "Then we started to have kids," she said. "It was getting hard for me."

With her husband's busy work schedule and moves away from her extended family, it was tricky for Ewoldsen to find time to get to the gym to actually teach a class.

"It's hard with a newborn when the gym schedules you at 5 a.m. for a spinning class," she said. "You're like, 'I'm on my newborn's schedule right now. So that's not going to work.'"

She turned to social media, building a successful Beachbody business. In 2015, she was the No. 3 coach in the country. Then, in 2016, she decided to launch something on her own.

"I had this fitness entrepreneurial itch," she said. "I missed being creative and being helpful in my format."

That's when Strive was born.

Strive launched in June 2017 after working with Raleigh-based Imaginovation, which offers software and website development for clients.

When you first download the app, you can take advantage of a seven-day free trial - and it won't start automatically charging you once your seven days are up. "I did not want that to happen," she said.

You can opt for a free membership, which gives you five recipes and five workouts each month. Other options start at $7.99 or $12.99 a month and offer more workouts and more recipes. With the $12.99 option, users also get access to the Challenge section where Ewoldsen's team puts together fitness and nutrition plans tailored to the user's goals.

"All of the work is done for them," she said. "It's so straightforward."

Workouts are designed with moms in mind and don't require any specialized equipment other than some dumbbells and a resistance band, which you can find on Amazon or at any big box store. Ewoldsen, who has suffered from some knee and hip issues, said workouts also are designed to not be hard on the body.

"That's been another big area of importance for setting Strive apart from everyone else," she said. "You don't have to beat up your body. You can work out at a high intensity and still get results."

"I've done a lot of plans where it requires all of this hardcore meal prep," she said. "It's boiled chicken and broccoli, and my kids are just not going to eat that. It's hard to prepare for your family and also prepare for yourself. So we have things in there like healthy versions of chicken enchiladas, cauliflower pizza crust, pork loin dishes with vegetables. Things that kids can enjoy."

She added: "A lot of people think they need to get on board with fad diets going around, but I don't really see it being sustainable for me and my mom life. The truth is, if you can't nail down simple nutrition, then it's probably not going to work out for you in the long run."

Now, Ewoldsen is working hard to spread the word about Strive and support the community she's building. From her home, she's waking up early for her own workouts and squeezing in work time between what she calls the "mom cracks." Sometimes her young son "helps" out.

"When I film my workouts, he may run in, hopefully clothed, and I just keep him in the video," she said. "I want moms to see, hey, I do it with the kids running around, you can do it too."