An exercise you and your baby will love

Kangatraining……kanga-what-now??

I’ve always been a bit of a lazy sod to be honest, but over the years have come to appreciate the need for regular exercise for my general health and wellbeing. After having my second child, however, the chances of fitting in exercise have become as rare as a ‘good hair day’ for Donald Trump. So when someone handed me a flyer for Kangatraining, advertised as exercise designed for mums and bubs, I figured I could at the very least exercise my fingers and give a call to find out more.

It was with some trepidation that I picked up the phone and rang Claire, who runs the local Kangatraining class. As I dialled, I was wondering “will I be hopping around like a kangaroo? And if so, how is my pelvic floor going to cope? And what will my baby be doing? Isn’t bouncing her around too much a bit dangerous at such a young age? And oh my god she’s going to have shaken baby syndrome and….ARRRGHHH!”

Luckily, the lovely, bubbly Claire got on the line and explained exactly what goes on in these mysterious classes. Thankfully we don’t hop around like kangaroos! But we do wear our babies on us, just like a kangaroo mum and her joey. So off I went to check it out. After an initial warm up where we interacted with our babies (and some of us got puked on too! My baby – ALWAYS) Claire expertly fitted our babies safely in the carriers. We then proceeded to do a low impact aerobic exercise class to some rockin’ beats, as well as some strength training and pelvic floor exercises. It is all safe for post-partum women and let me tell you….a simple exercise like doing squats whilst having your 7kg baby strapped to you is a killer. Those legs will burn!

Claire in action with her gorgeous daughter in a rear carrier

And the best part of all? Once the babies are in the carriers they all tend to drift off into sweet slumber. It’s pretty hard to resist giving that soft round head heaps of kisses as she sleeps blissfully on my chest.

The environment is warm and welcoming, and no-one looks sideways if you need to feed baby, or clean up a “code brown” in the corner. Claire’s upbeat personality keeps everyone smiling and I’ve never been given a dirty look despite singing along to Rihanna and Adele in my hopeless croaky voice! There are plenty of laughs and the companionship of other mums going through the same daily chaos.

So I’m a convert! Getting to Kanga classes in between naps and kinder drop-offs/pick-ups is still a challenge for me, but I’m definitely getting more exercise (and stronger legs!) than before. Not only that, I’m also having fun whilst doing it, which is always the incentive I need to get moving!

If you’re interested, go to Kangatraining for class locations and general information.

What are you waiting for? ‘Hop’ to it kangafolks!

Want more? Like us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and  Pinterest for daily posts and upcoming news.