Shevonne Hunt:
This Kinderling Conversation interview is brought to you by Bugaboo, for life on the move. When you’ve got a new baby or perhaps, your kids are older, it doesn’t really matter. If they’re under, I’d say about six maybe, six or seven, it can be super hard to have time to exercise. Either you’re a mum or dad, you might be working, you might be at home. Time just disappears and it’s really hard to steal away those moments where you can even just go for a walk sometimes, on your own. It’s nearly impossible.
Well, there is this form of exercise called Pram Fitness. Their tagline is beautiful chaos that just works. Any parent just goes, ha! She gets it! Pram Fitness is run by Karen Robertson. She’s the head trainer at Pram Fitness and basically what she’s done is she’s grabbed all these parents, not just with babies that sit in one spot, but parents with toddlers who run all over the place and does exercise workouts with them. I actually went along to have a go, which is hilarious. I don’t think I’ve done a squat in about five years and that is part of the program, but we’ll talk about that. Karen, welcome to Kinderling Conversation.
Karen Robertson:
Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.
Shevonne Hunt:
What gave you the idea to do your exercise classes this way?
Karen Robertson:
Well, it just kind of happened organically. I was training a couple of women who were all about the same age and they all got pregnant at the same time. I was training them one on one, so there was four of them actually. When they all had their babies, I sort of introduced them to each other. Rather than them continue with one on one training, I just wanted them all to know each other. Just to be friends.
Shevonne Hunt:
Oh, that’s sweet. You kind of gave them their exercise mother’s group.
Karen Robertson:
Yeah, exactly. Well, the idea was why don’t you exercise before going and having coffee and cake?
Shevonne Hunt:
You know us too well.
Karen Robertson:
Some of the os do, which is fine. That’s all good. We introduce them to each other and we train together. I was like, this is actually a really good idea. Why don’t we invite some other mums to come along and then the whole thing just grew from there?
Shevonne Hunt:
You have dads, too because at my session you had a dad.
Karen Robertson:
We did, yes. Which is very exciting. I started running 6:00 AM morning sessions, so that the dads could come along prior to going to work.
Shevonne Hunt:
Now, I am a parent and most people listening will have that experience with children either as a parent or care. Do you have children?
Karen Robertson:
I do not. No.
Shevonne Hunt:
You’re mad, basically.
Karen Robertson:
I’m pretty much crazy, yes.
Shevonne Hunt:
That’s the thing, right? Isn’t it? As soon as you introduce small people to any kind of mix, it’s crazy.
Karen Robertson:
It’s crazy. Yes.
Shevonne Hunt:
How do you design your workout sessions so that parents still get that exercise?
Karen Robertson:
The workout. It’s tricky. We’ve got a broad plan of what we’re going to do, but then on the day we tailor it depending on what’s happening with the mums and the babies. For example, a baby in Pram might be crying and everyone else might be doing push-ups. I might say to that mum, oh why don’t you go and grab your baby and you can do some squats instead? They’ll still continue moving while the rest of the class is doing something else. It doesn’t matter what the mums are doing, as long as they’re moving and doing something. That’s the most important thing.
Shevonne Hunt:
What I love about that is that when my children were small and I tried to do this sort of thing, I couldn’t stop feeling anxious about leaving them to cry. I couldn’t leave them to cry. It’s nice that you recognize that. You said you think about the mums, and the babies, and wherever they’re at. I imagine when you started this, were your routines or the things that you got the parents to do quite specific because many of those mums would have just obviously, just been through child birth.
Karen Robertson:
Yes. Definitely. Once a mum has just given birth, there are things that they can and they cannot do, depending on how their recovery is going. It’s just really dependent on the mum and where they’re at, at that point in time. For example, we don’t do any sit ups at Pram Fitness because a lot of mums experience what’s called abdominal separation. We’ve just taken them out across the board and there’s so many other great core exercises that we can do to help the mums, rather than giving them an exercise that might or might not be dangerous. Just making sure that everyone’s safe, looked after, and it’s a really positive experience, I think is the most important thing.
Shevonne Hunt:
You’re listening to Kinderling Conversation and we’re speaking with Karen Robertson, who’s the head trainer at Pram Fitness and we’re talking about how Karen started up Pram Fitness. Which was basically helping some women who became mothers while she was training them. Karen, did you have to look into that support for new mums, because as you said, your clients beforehand weren’t new parents. Did you have to look into the specific kinds of exercises that would help them?
Karen Robertson:
Yes, definitely. I actually had to do a lot of education around it. A) Not being a mum, I had to make sure that I knew all the specifics of what you can and can’t do to train mums. A lot of extra study, a lot of extra learning went into learning what I can and can’t do with these mums. Also, looking at the mum and seeing where they’re at. I can just see in a second, whether or not something is working or if it’s not, based on how they move. That’s where once again, it’s a very individual prescription for each mum. We just really are watching what they’re doing. If something’s not working we change it and we make sure that they’re safe, basically.
Shevonne Hunt:
How do you deal with that all-important theme of lack of sleep, because that can affect your energy? I remember doing a class. I got some cheap deal online for MUMS and BUBS exercising at North Bondi. I think it was in the middle of winter. I remember they were just doing laps around Bondi Pavilion, which is not big at all, right? I just couldn’t – I dragged myself there. I was sleep deprived, my body ached. Nothing was as strong as it was. I felt very unfit, even though I had swum throughout my pregnancy and done all that stuff. How do you help parents build up from that start where you can feel really week?
Karen Robertson:
It’s a great question. I mean, a lot of people will feel like what you’ve just described, even nine months on. I don’t think there’s a time frame on it. We do a lot of mindset work in our private Facebook group as well, just around the benefits of exercise. Even though it might be hard to drag yourself there on the day, you’re definitely going to feel better once you finish the session. Sort of coaching mums around that. Also, telling them that – I mean, Pram Fitness has been going for three years now. Some of our mums have been coming for three years. As you saw, some of the toddlers are now three and they’re joining in, they’re doing burpees, which is great.
The thing that I want to stress is I don’t want the new mums who come along, to compare themselves to the mums who have been coming for three years. I really help to educate them before they start. Not to compare themselves and just to feel so great in themselves that they’re there. That they’ve turned up. Even if they don’t work to the same level as what someone else is doing, they’re out of the house. They’re meeting mums, they’re socializing. There’s so much more to it than actually squatting, lunging, and doing push-ups. If we talk about mental health, that’s a real big part of this as well. We’re helping mums with their mindset and feeling good about being in the fresh air, rather than being sort of, a normal day and feeling isolated. I guess that’s another part to it as well. They come along because they want to see their friends.
Shevonne Hunt:
That’s right. There’s nothing as motivating as knowing someone will be there going, hey, where are you? Where’s Julie?
Karen Robertson:
Yes, exactly.
Shevonne Hunt:
That’s huge. The mental stimulation, the friendship, all of that sort of stuff. What’s your aim in terms of fitness goals with your clients? I know there’s been various ones, but let’s say you have a mum who comes to you and their baby’s like, three to six months. They’re starting to crawl out of that fog, of really a newborn baby bubble. Do you have fitness aims? Just general philosophies on what you want them to achieve?
Karen Robertson:
My philosophy around fitness and especially for new mums, all revolves back to functionality. If you’ve got to bend over and pick up your baby 500 times a day, I want you to be able to do that without pain. I want you to feed your baby without experiencing back pain. I want it to be functional. If you can go through those three months to let’s say, to get to 12 months and your body is feeling strong, and your body is feeling fit, and healthy, that would be my goal.
A lot of the mums get to the 12 month point and then they have to go back to work. That’s kind of another area. I want mums to go back to work feeling confident. I want them to go back feeling strong, happy, and just that they’ve looked after themselves, and that they’re feeling in a really good place.
Shevonne Hunt:
Fitness of course, does have an influence on all those horrible lurkies that you can get, that kids bring home once they start daycare. Once you’re fit, you’ve got a bit more resistance.
Karen Robertson:
You do. I think we do see that a lot, especially for mums who put their kids into daycare. It happens. The lurkies come around and we just accept it, and we deal with it.
Shevonne Hunt:
You’re listening to Kinderling Conversation and I’m speaking with Karen Robertson. She’s the head trainer at Pram Fitness. This is part of our series brought to you by Bugaboo, which is very convenient because a lot of your clients use Bugaboo I know.
Karen Robertson:
They do.
Shevonne Hunt:
Of course, I’ve kind of just talked about everything except for the very unique part of your training, which does include the Pram. I imagine it probably does also when they’re little.
Karen Robertson:
Yes.
Shevonne Hunt:
What are the kind of exercises you can do with a Pram?
Karen Robertson:
There’s so many exercises that you can do with Pram.
Shevonne Hunt:
Did you have to get one just to work it all out, or did you just go to Pram shops and test them out? Go, hold on, let me see if one works.
Karen Robertson:
Well, I’ve got a little fur baby. I’ve got a dog. It’s a lot of practice and I do use other peoples’ Prams just to test things out. Some of the main ones that I could talk about is squatting and rowing. If you can imagine doing a squat so, pushing the Pram away from you as you squat down, and then pulling the Pram into you as you stand up. The baby’s getting movement, you’re working your legs as you’re doing your squat, but you’re also working your upper back as you’re doing the row with the Pram. It’s pretty much a win-win and it’s one of our go-to exercises if the baby is sitting in the Pram and is a little bit unsettled. That’s a really good one.
Another excellent exercise is a walking lunge. You can do a sequence of steps where you walk forward and step into a lunge, pushing your Pram forward as you go. Then once again, the baby is moving in the Pram and we often find that if there is movement, the babies are generally happy to be in the Pram. A lot more so than if it’s just stationery.
Shevonne Hunt:
Okay. You’ve got lunges with Prams and it brings that movement around. I guess for mums when their babies are quite small, you do spend a lot of time walking with Prams. Is it mainly leg work that you find the Prams work with?
Karen Robertson:
Well, another thing that you can do, which is really good, is stimulating the baby. Not so much moving the Pram, but using your own actions to stimulate the baby. If you can imagine sitting in front of your Pram with it parked, doing a little push up, and then as you come to the top, giving your baby a little tickle on the toes. Going down and giving them a little tickle on the face, playing a little game of peek-a-boo because they can’t always see you as you go down. As you come up, a little game of peek-a-boo is always really fun.
Speaking of peek-a-boo, another thing that we sometimes do is something like doing a push up, then getting the mum to stand up, do a little jog around the Pram, then come back the other side and peek-a-boo. Do a little push up, then go around the opposite way. Then you’re getting your upper body work as well and the babies are generally happy to be involved in what mum’s doing.
Shevonne Hunt:
Small amounts of cardio because you don’t want too much when you’re starting out.
Karen Robertson:
Yeah, you want to take it to your own level, that’s for sure.
Shevonne Hunt:
How do you feel about jogging Prams?
Karen Robertson:
I don’t have a problem with a jogging Pram, but I just want to make sure the mum is safe.
Shevonne Hunt:
And ready before she goes in.
Karen Robertson:
And ready. The last thing you want to do is go into a jogging program or start jogging before you’re ready because you’re going to do yourself more harm than good. I would suggest if that’s something that you do want to do, go and see a woman’s physio. Get an assessment, get them to check out where you’re at. They might give you some exercises that you need to do prior to doing that. Another thing to do is listen to your body. Even if you do start and you find that it’s not feeling right, or you’re sort of getting a little bit of incontinence, then regress it right back. Go back to your walking and focus on those pelvic floor exercises.
Shevonne Hunt:
There is so much that feels weird after you’ve had a baby when you’re exercising because it’s just like, all your insides are jiggling. It’s very weird. Very weird.
Karen Robertson:
You’ve been through a huge change in your body. It’s so important to listen to what’s going on and I think that’s one of the problems for a lot of mums. They’re like, I need to get in shape, I need to lose weight, I need to get back to where I was. They want to do it within two seconds, but we’ve got a really holistic approach to what we do. My focus at Pram Fitness is not on weight loss. It’s on living a healthy lifestyle, and it’s on incorporating these healthy habits, so that is going to be translated to their families as well.
Shevonne Hunt:
When I came to your class, I cleverly brought Darcy and Harlow.
Karen Robertson:
Yes.
Shevonne Hunt:
They were newbies to that and I just thought it was hilarious to jump on top of me while I attempted to do push-ups When you’re a little bit older, you mentioned you sometimes get the kids to do burpees. What are the other ways you involve the older kids?
Karen Robertson:
There’s so many different things. All the kids just want to be like their mum. They want to do everything that mummy’s doing. I can give you a few examples. Sometimes we set up some shuttle runs within. We’ll put some cones out, the mums might do some jogging from cone to cone. Some mums might be doing power walking, depending on where they’re at. Generally, the kids – I’m talking about the two and a half year olds to three year olds, they will jog up and down as well, following where their mum goes.
Shevonne Hunt:
Or ask you to carry them.
Karen Robertson:
Or ask you to carry them.
Shevonne Hunt:
I love it. I really enjoyed your class even though I perhaps, wasn’t quite fit. Karen, thank you so much for coming in.
Karen Robertson:
Thank you for having me.
Shevonne Hunt:
That’s Karen Robertson. She’s the head trainer at Pram Fitness. She is based in Sydney. If you’d like to know more about her practice, we’ll put links up on our website. Just head to Kinderling.com.au. This Kinderling Conversation interview was brought to you by Bugaboo. For life on the move.
You’ve been listening to a Kinderling Conversation podcast. We’d like to reach as many parents as possible and you can help us by giving us a review wherever you downloaded this episode. It means that more people can find us. I’m Shevonne Hunt, see you next time.
