Sporty Moms & Babies

“Making friends with Exercise”

Every week the new moms in my Sporty Moms & Babies fitness class trudge through snow dressed in winter coats, hats, mitts and boots, arms laden with their babies in car seats, diaper bags, toys and other paraphernalia to gather for an hour of exercise.  The real workout for these moms is actually in just getting to class! They have good reason to make the effort though and it’s not just for the exercise. They also come for their sanity. Getting out of the house and sharing time and conversation with other moms contributes to their mental health just as much as the exercise contributes to their physical health.

I have to confess that I get my own heaping dose of mental health by spending time with the babies. There is real sense of renewal that comes from interacting with a delicious, smiling, adorable new baby. Time stands still and you have no choice but to be fully present, captured in the moment, enjoying every coo, every open-mouth, toothless smile, and every gesture.

I have been teaching the Sporty Moms & Babies class for 13 years now, since my eldest son, Tyler, was a baby. I started up a class in our local church basement in North Toronto, a neighbourhood that is still a hotbed of new, young families and babies. Every eight weeks the program would fill up with 15 new moms and their babies. I now live in Stouffville and I have been leading the program here for 8 years. The Sporty Moms & Babies program has grown to include Stroller Fitness, Mambo Mama Classes and Yoga and Pilates for new moms and their babies.

Week to week we experiment with a different class format, including low impact, kickboxing, boot camp, ball, muscle conditioning and Zumba. Every class includes parachute and puppet time for the babies, which means the moms feel good about doing something for themselves and also for their babies.  The class is also a safe environment to talk about anything from incontinence to mastitis as we address issues not always comfortable to talk about!

It appears that many of the health benefits of fitness classes for post-partum women like these, including improved cardiovascular fitness, improved muscular strength and endurance, better posture and enhanced flexibility actually only scratch the surface. Psychologists and scientists alike are discovering the healing power of female friendships, including lowering blood pressure, boosting immunity, and promoting healing.

The women in my classes are starting a new chapter in their lives, probably one of the most challenging life stages they will encounter. Getting support from other women who are going through the same issues as them creates a comradely that is rare and invaluable. I often run into women from my classes over the years and repeatedly hear that the women not only keep in touch with one another, but that they consider each other their core group of friends.

In June 2001, the renowned Harvard Medical School's Nurses' Health Study concluded that women's social networks play an important role in enhancing her health and quality of life. The study went so far as to conclude that not having at least one good confidante is as detrimental to a woman's health as being overweight or a heavy smoker.

The cardiovascular exercises, and muscular strength and conditioning  we do in our Sporty Moms & Babies classes are important for improving fitness post-partum, but it’s the element of female bonding that makes the Sporty Moms & Babies classes vital to overall health and wellness!

Fresh Start 2011!

Every year after the languor of the Christmas season, I feel motivated to set inspiring and purposeful goals for myself for the New Year. My list usually covers the gamut of physical, intellectual, spiritual, career, personal and financial goals and I can usually happily fill each sub-category with at least two or three action items. Whether I follow through on all of them is another issue, but writing them down helps me to focus and get clarity. You see, my struggle is with what to focus on, as I am a typical Gemini with a restless spirit and multiple interests including writing, photography, fitness, nutrition and cooking among others. My husband Jamie’s pet name for me is “31 flavours”, ie: Baskin & Robbins! “What’s the flavour of the month?” he chides!

Jamie on the other hand is like a vanilla ice cream, but a good Hagan Daz, French vanilla ice cream, pure and simple, not seeking a lot of variety and change. When asked what his New Year’s resolutions are, he answers, “nothing, I’m good!” When I asked Jamie’s father the same question at Christmas dinner, he said the same, “I’m good!” I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! I started thinking about their answers, first critically...who doesn’t have at least one thing they’d like to improve upon...and then enviously...am I missing the key to happiness? Perhaps, I put too much pressure on myself to change and grow. Perhaps, the secret to happiness is just as Mitch Albom suggests in Have a Little Faith, ‘being content and grateful for what you have.’

According to Eckhart Tolle in The New Earth, the need for change or wanting more can be an addictive need, not an authentic one. Instead of enjoying the present moment, people constantly seeking change may feel a sense of unease, restlessness, boredom, anxiety, and dissatisfaction. This is the ego at work not our authentic selves.

Whether you’re a restless spirit or contented with life, the New Year serves to remind us to be grateful for all that we have and to reflect on our priorities in order to be our very best selves! The year 2011 holds special significance as the number eleven represents both renewal and balance, renewal meaning a fresh start and/or new beginnings and balance being equilibrium of work/play, feminine/masculine, and emotion, thought and spirit.

What does 2011 mean for you? Does it mean starting a diet and probably falling off the wagon in a few short weeks like every other time you’ve tried? Or does it mean starting a new exercise program-but this time you're going to stick to it, really!? If that sounds like your track record, why not rephrase your goals to sound more like, "I want to feel more energized, fit, and healthier". Or maybe in keeping with the significance of the number eleven, you simply want to find more balance in your life.

Maybe then instead of a new year's resolution, you can make a choice for just today that brings you closer to being your best. Life is a series of everyday choices- so today it may mean waking up and fitting in a yoga class before work instead of hitting the snooze button. It may mean a commitment to planning your meals for the week on Sunday. It may mean making a promise to yourself to work a little less and start to take control of your stress. You are a summation of all your conscious and unconscious choices in life. Know that you can make little choices for the better every day that add up to the best you can be. It's up to you really!

Get in touch with your authentic self and only seek change that is healthy, achievable and helps you to be your best as opposed to setting lofty goals

and/or seeking change for the sake of change. For me, that means being a little less serious about goal setting. I’m not sure I’m ready to settle for just the vanilla ice cream yet, but perhaps just butterscotch, chocolate and heavenly hash, instead of all 31 flavours!