May 29, 2002
Stroller aerobics works out for area moms and babies
Way to Grow offers new exercise class
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
With the BeeGees blaring, stroller wheels creaking and babies squeaking, area moms got a work out last Thursday evening in Central Grade School's gym.
Incorporating their babies into a full aerobics exercise routine, these mothers have found a new twist to Mom's Night Out: fun and exercise with baby in tow.
"This really helps me socialize," said Carrie Guerne, whose son, Henry Urbain, is two-months-old. "We started coming when he was one-month-old."
Ten moms are enrolled with their babies in the Stroller Aerobics class, which has been held every Thursday evening since early April at Central Grade School. The class is one facet of Central Grade School's Way to Grow Program. Way to Grow is a five-county program that offers social and educational opportunities to families with children ages 0-5 at their local elementary school.
Becky Bernhard, the Way to Grow Coordinator for Central Grade School, noted that Stroller Aerobics provides mothers of young babies a great chance to both socialize and exercise. Another plus is no child care needed to attend; one mom of three young children attends with a sister and an aunt to help push the various strollers.
"This is fun, exercise and camaraderie," said Berhnard. "Some moms now, they are really clicking together and that really helps with the isolation new mothers face."
"This class allows them to connect with each other and their kids will be going to school here together one day," she noted.
The idea for providing an exercise class for parents of stroller-bound children, as Bernhard calls them, began as a joke.
"This is the brainchild of my supervisor, Cheryl Bloomquist, who one day mentioned it tongue-in-cheek," Bernhard recalled. "I said, 'Wow, that's great.'"
Bernhard decided this class could be a winner. She soon recruited veteran aerobics instructor Jenn Warren, herself a mother of two young children, to lead the class.
Warren has students complete 30 minutes of aerobic conditioning - often consisting of vigorous walking pushing their strollers - followed by strength training and stretching exercises.
"It's really similar to a normal aerobics type class," said Warren, who has taught aerobics for 14 years. "If we have a fussy baby one day, we just do more walking and movements."
Attendees have found the weekly sessions to be motivational as they struggle with post-pregnancy pounds and little time for themselves.
"We have an appointment to work out every week so we have to be there," said Missy Novak, who attends classes with her four-month-old son, Nathan. "Class is pretty much like a normal aerobics class except it's so convenient you don't have an excuse not to work off the baby fat."