Angela Holm’s five-month-old started fussing in the stroller partway through a 9pm gym session.
So Angela lifted her out, strapped her to her chest and got back on the treadmill.
The video went up on 8 August. It hasn’t stopped moving since.
A late night at a gym in Utah
Holm, 29, is a mother of five with around 1.2 million followers on Instagram and 1.9 million on TikTok, which means her postpartum routine is not a private matter.
She filmed the session at a gym in Utah, arriving after 9pm, and posted it as part of her regular fitness content.
The stroller worked for a while. When it stopped working, she carried on.
“This would be a big no”
The comments arrived fast and most of them were not kind.
“So dangerous to walk on a treadmill with the baby,” one wrote.
“Yeah I work at a gym and this would be a big no,” said another.
The timing drew separate objections. “After 9pm? The baby needs to sleep,” one commenter said.
Another asked: “I’m confused, couldn’t the dad watch the kid?”
One was blunter still: “I’m tired of y’all – this is not safe.”
Several viewers raised gym noise, arguing that loud music and dropped weights are bad for an infant’s ears.
None of the people objecting identified themselves as a medical professional.
The mums who turned up
Then the other side arrived.
“There is so much hate on this,” one woman wrote. “God forbid a mom looks after herself, good for you.”
Another sounded more surprised than defensive: “I just didn’t know this was an option, good job mom.”
Angela’s answer
Speaking to news.com.au, Holm said she accepts that people hold “different opinions” and that mothers get judged “harshly” for their choices.
“What works for one family may look different for another,” she said.
“My priority will always be the safety and wellbeing of my children, and I’m confident in the choices I make as their mum.”
Why It Matters
Postpartum content is one of the most reliably profitable genres on TikTok and Instagram, and one of the most punished.
The maths is unpleasant for anyone making it. A workout video showing a mother alone gets modest reach.
The same video with a baby in it gets a comment section.
Engagement doesn’t distinguish between admiration and outrage, and both keep the clip circulating.
Creators in this lane end up doing a second job nobody pays for.
Not making the content. Managing what happens to it afterwards.
What to watch
Mum creators have spent the past two years absorbing a harder version of this backlash, as the argument shifts from what parents post about their children to whether children should appear at all.
Holm’s clip sits in the middle of that: no brand deal, no staging, just someone trying to finish a walk.
Whether she keeps filming the gym runs is the part worth watching.
Most creators in her position quietly change what they show and never say why.
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