Olympian Samantha Clayton on how she adjusted her fitness regimen when she became a mom
FOR AN Olympian and fitness trainer who is used to exercising practically every day of her life, being ordered by a doctor for a precautionary bed rest of 20 weeks was not an easy thing to do. But it was what Samantha Clayton did to make sure she and her babies, triplets, come out of it okay.
It wasn’t her first pregnancy. Before the triplets, she had a baby boy. Today, Samantha is mother to four lovely kids who seem to have inherited their mom’s penchant for sweating it out. Oh, Samantha’s married to another athlete, so no surprise there.
“Being a mom definitely changed the way I approach staying fit and in shape,” she said.
Samantha realized that she’s no longer this top athlete and that she has to start at level one again like everybody else. The journey back to being fit was a slow process. She got back into walking (with her strollers, of course) and doing 10-minute sessions with dumbbells at home. She admits to falling victim to stress-relief cookies, but quickly turned that craving into workouts.
“Today, I exercise with my kids. We go outside and sweat it out. I assure you, the kids would imitate what you are doing as long as you keep it fun and simple. It feels great to know that I’m teaching my kids the value of being fit and healthy so early in life,” she said.
Samantha, who was in the country recently for an Herbalife event, said it’s not impossible for moms to shed the pounds after child birth.
“My aim as a fitness expert is to help people understand their body. We only have one body for the rest of our lives so we need to treat it right,” Samantha said.
When people find exercising fun and engaging, they end up feeling good, and chances are they would want to do it again. It’s better to approach living a healthy lifestyle as a community when everyone’s having fun in an active atmosphere.
This is where the nutrition factor comes into play. Herbalife has an 80-20 philosophy in health and fitness-80-percent nutrition, 20-percent activity.
“When you are active, it makes you more conscious of your nutrition. When you’re active, you sweat more, so you’ll need to hydrate more. This whole process makes you more conscious of what your body needs,” she said.
For busy moms who are finding it hard to go out to run for an hour, Samantha suggested taking 10 minutes to yourself (perhaps while the kids are sleeping or busy playing among themselves) and do simple exercises. Samantha has lots of videos on YouTube that demonstrates exactly how to do this.
Every one needs to move for 30 minutes every day, five days a week. The good thing is that it doesn’t need to be 30 minutes in one go, she said. What people need to do is to train smart.
She said: “People who supposedly can’t find time to incorporate exercise in their daily schedules shouldn’t set themselves up for failure. Think positive and make success your goal.”