What if elite sports performance could help you thrive as a high-achieving woman – in leadership and in motherhood?

In this episode, I chat with Gemma Jefferson, an elite sports physiotherapist with over 14 years’ experience working with Paralympic athletes and high-performing sportspeople.

Now, Gemma is using the same principles of peak performance to support women like you – ambitious, driven, holding senior roles and raising a family – to perform at a high level without burning out.

We explore how to tap into soft strength and move with intention – even if you’ve only got five minutes between meetings, school runs and everything else on your plate.

🎧 Listen now and discover a new way to perform at your best, without the pressure to go harder or do more.

Top Reasons to Listen

This episode is especially for you if you’re a woman in a leadership role who:

󠁯•󠁏󠁏 Wants to perform at a high level without sacrificing your health – and is ready for something more sustainable than coffee and willpower.

󠁯•󠁏󠁏 Feels your body has changed (post-pregnancy, C-section, perimenopause or burnout) and the old ways of exercising just aren’t working anymore.

󠁯•󠁏󠁏 Craves a softer, kinder approach to performance that still honours your ambition, but doesn’t demand a 5am alarm or punishing gym routine.

󠁯•󠁏󠁏 Is curious about breathwork and nervous system regulation, but doesn’t want anything complicated or “perfect” – just simple, realistic tools.

󠁯•󠁏󠁏 Leads others at work and recognises that how you care for your body and nervous system directly impacts the way you show up as a leader, partner and mum.

Episode Overview

For years, the dominant message to ambitious women has been: train harder, work harder, push harder.

But what happens when you’re already maxed out – running a team, meeting deadlines, holding the mental load at home, navigating hormones and still trying to remember the Halloween costume or school trip form?

In this conversation, Gemma and I explore a different approach.

Drawing on her career in elite sport and her lived experience as a mum to two young boys, Gemma shares how she’s redefined “training” for women whose nervous systems are already overloaded. We talk about the type of movement that truly supports us, and how pregnancy, postpartum, postnatal anxiety and perimenopause change what our bodies need.

We also get really practical. Gemma offers simple breathwork practices, micro-moments of movement and body awareness tools that can fit into a full life – not one that assumes endless time, energy or childcare.

Top 3 Takeaways

1. Softness is not the opposite of strength – it’s a performance strategy.
Gentle, fluid, nervous-system-sensitive movement can actually increase your capacity, resilience and strength. Many high-achieving women are already operating in a heightened stress state; adding more intensity often ramps things up further. Soft strength helps you recover, regulate and perform better over time.

2. Your breath is your fastest, most accessible reset.
You don’t need a 60-minute class to start feeling different. Something as simple as inhaling for a count of four and exhaling for five or six can shift you from “fight or flight” towards “rest and digest” in a matter of breaths. Done consistently, this builds a bridge back to your body and a calmer baseline.

3. Self-trust in your body is a leadership asset.
Learning where stress shows up in your body – tight shoulders, clenched jaw, churning stomach, achy hips – helps you intervene earlier, before you snap at the kids or spiral after a tough meeting. The more you learn that you can respond and make changes, the more you trust yourself-– in your body, in your decisions and in how you lead.

A Note from Nicky

As an executive coach and leadership development expert, I’ve spent nearly two decades helping leaders perform at a high level. But it was my own experience of burnout that truly recalibrated what “high performance” means for me – especially as a mum.

Now, in this perimenopausal chapter, I’m applying everything I know from psychology, leadership and coaching to my own body and life. I know so many of you in the Wisdom For Working Mums community are doing the same: holding senior roles, nurturing families, and quietly wondering how long you can keep going at this pace.

This episode is an invitation to do it differently.

It’s not about opting out of ambition. It’s about honouring that your body, your hormones and your nervous system are part of your performance equation – not an inconvenience to override.

Meet My Guest – Gemma Jefferson

Gemma Jefferson is a chartered physiotherapist and performance consultant who has worked in elite sport for over 14 years, including three Summer Paralympic Games. She has supported Paralympic athletes and other elite sportspeople at the highest levels of competition, and has served as an Athlete Health Lead with the UK Sports Institute.

After becoming a mother to two young boys and experiencing postnatal anxiety, Gemma realised that the high-performance principles she used with athletes were desperately needed by everyday women too – especially ambitious working mums navigating career, motherhood and changing bodies.

Through her business Made For More Movement and her 12-week programme In Her Element, she brings together physiotherapy, sports performance science, breathwork, yoga and a whole-person approach to help women feel strong, grounded and connected in their bodies again.

Made for More Movement Website

Gemma on Instagram

Gemma on LinkedIN

Listen, Reflect, Share

After you’ve listened, you might like to reflect on:

Where does stress show up in my body by the end of a typical day?

What’s one tiny practice (a few breaths, a short walk, a softer movement) I could try this week?

How might my leadership look and feel if my nervous system felt more supported?

Continue the Conversation

If this episode resonates with you:

Share it with a fellow working mum in a leadership role who might need a gentler path to high performance.

Subscribe to the Wisdom For Working Mums podcast so you don’t miss future episodes that support your work, life and wellbeing.

Join my email newsletter to explore coaching or leadership development that honours both your ambition and your life as a mum.

Read the transcript here.

Let’s create a new definition of high performance – one that includes soft strength, self-trust and a nervous system that feels like home. 💛