Get fit, take bub along for the ride
DON’T MISS OUT ON POST-NATAL EXERCISE BECAUSE OF A DEMANDING NEWBORN, WRITES LAUREN PRATT
PHILIPPA Bowman remembers the moment that gyms no longer worked for her.
With a career in the fitness industry, Philippa was keen to get back on the treadmill after her first son was born six years ago.
However, her son didn’t agree with her plans.
“I’ve always worked in the fitness industry and assumed when I had kids it would be nice and easy, that you would pop them in the creche or go for a walk with the pram,” she says. “But my first was the clingiest kid ever.
“He didn’t like other people so I couldn’t put him in the creche. The last time I ever went to the gym, when I picked him up he had been screaming the whole time. He was hysterical with a red blotchy face and was literally twitching in his rocker. Nobody came and got me while I was in the gym doing workouts.
“It was awful that while I was trying to have a bit of me time my son was having the worst time.
“I’d try to push him in the pram but I’d end up walking an empty pram and holding him in the carrier. I just figured there had to be a better way.”
Philippa has a bachelor of sport, has managed gyms, worked in school sport, as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor, so was well equipped with an answer.
She launched Kangatraining in 2013, under her Nurtured Fitness business and is now a specialist in pre- and post-natal fitness.
Philippa says Kangatraining was created in Europe and she was the first fitness instructor to bring the franchise to Australia, launching the program in Cairns when her son was nine months old.
“It’s a baby-wearing fitness class where we have our children on us in the carrier and you can work out knowing they are safe, they are happy, they’re close but you’re still getting everything done that you want as well,” Philippa says
“Most of the time the little ones fall asleep in the carrier so they gently rock to sleep as we dance.”
Up to 25 mums and bubs attend the dance-based program, which is on offer five days a week at Turning Pointe Dance Studios at Bungalow.
Philippa and fellow instructor Kelli Bout take the classes alternatively, which Philippa describes as “lots of fun”.
“Even if kids haven’t been in carriers before or they don’t like it, we’ve been doing this for so long and we know all sorts of tricks to help get baby settled and have a great time,” she says.
“We proudly don’t focus on weight loss, it’s about restoring their bodies and connecting with other families.
“We will start the class holding the babies in our arms, doing a warm-up with them and then we will do the floor work or the core work.
“So it’s all obviously post natal specific in terms of healing the stomach after pregnancy – your muscles have stretched and changed and expanded – then gently getting back into exercise and we jump into the carriers after that.
“Just because we’re postnatal doesn’t mean it’s an easy workout. We can still get a great intensity without all the impact on our body.
“Lots of mums are surprised that they still get quite sweaty and work hard during the sessions but we’ve got nice airconditioned studios to work in.”
Carriers are provided for mums who don’t have them and once babies get older and more mobile, there are other programs to support parents to keep moving, along with a pregnancy program
Philippa is a big fan of the
JUST BECAUSE WE’RE POST-NATAL DOESN’T MEAN IT’S AN EASY WORKOUT. WE CAN STILL GET A GREAT INTENSITY WITHOUT ALL THE IMPACT
PHILIPPA BOWMAN
quality carriers they use, saying they have been a handy tool for her three children — her son now 6, a three-yearold and her youngest, Avery, at 18 months.
“Most mums use them (carriers) a lot,” she says. “It’s a great parenting tool for trying to get dishes done or trying to cook dinner. Carriers are a bit like shoes. You wouldn’t do a bush walk in stilettos so we like having a particular supportive carrier so baby is nice and snug and they are not moving while we are moving and so mum is not getting any back pain during the class.
For new mums, Philippa says the hardest part about exercise is getting started again.
“Maybe you just can’t get out the door but the minute
you get out and start you feel a million times better,” she says.
“Whether you’ve had no sleep or you’re turning up to a class in your pyjamas you’re guaranteed to feel better after class. It’s a bit of an oxymoron but burning energy gives you energy and every mum wants more energy.”