The interactive classes in Boothstown and Walkden are on until the end of April, and are a fun way to exercise and meet new people, whilst bonding with your baby.
The classes include five cardio and resistance tracks, where mums can wear their babies in a sling, two floor tracks, focusing on the core muscles, and finish with a feel-good free dance and stretches.
Laura Burns, 28, owns the franchise for Sweaty Mamas in Salford. She said: “What we do is we work on strengthening and re-engaging the muscles after pregnancy and birth.”
Miss Burns is pre and post-natally qualified to teach safely. The classes allow mums to exercise freely, but keep their babies nice and close, helping with bonding.
She said: “We have a lot of mums that come and are like ‘I don’t think I’ll be any good, I haven’t exercised for years.’ The difference they can see in themselves, even from the first class, gives them that confidence because they’re doing something for themselves, but without leaving the little ones behind and having the mum- guilt with it.”
The sessions, which started in September 2019, run on Mondays at Walkden Community Hub at 10am, and Wednesdays at Boothstown Villiage Hall at 10am, both 45 minutes each consisting of anywhere between 5 and 15 people.
They are planning to add another day.
The smaller babies can be in the carriers. Toddlers, right through to pre- school, are encouraged to participate, but some will just want to play and that’s fine, there’s no pressure, but they find that they do want to get involved and mimic their mums.
Miss Burns said: “This is really good for them because it is showing them a healthy relationship with keeping active.”
She also said: “More than anything, the classes show the mums what their bodies can do and are capable of.
“It’s empowering in the sense that they can still be themselves, and a mum, with the strength that they’ve got.
“The floor tracks we have, the babies lay with us and on us, there’s always that interaction there, they’re not just put to a mat and we exercise, we include them in all of it. We focus on key areas, bringing back the core muscles, and strengthening the pelvic floor.”
The classes work on a rolling basis, every week, even through school holidays, on a six-week block. This helps the mums gain fitness, but also get to know the other mums; it builds more of a community that way. It is £35 for the six weeks.
They offer a trial for seven pounds before committing to a block, as it can be daunting to commit for six weeks without seeing what it’s all about first.
Miss Burns said: “There is a real sense of community in the classes. That’s down to the mums, they welcome anybody new with open arms, they’ll make the first move to go over and make sure they’re alright and help settle them in.
“It’s fab for mental health as well as physical, getting out of the house and being active, it really does help on that side of things through the six weeks.”
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