Moms are not delicate flowers. If you are a mom or know a mom, then that isn’t news to you.
That’s not to say that some gentle yoga or water aerobics aren’t just the thing for some new or expecting moms (or a mom who’s 10+ years post-partem. Or anyone, for that matter).
But for pregnant women and new moms who have a hankering for a good sweat, medicine balls and some walking lunges thrown in for good measure, there’s Warrior Moms.
Warrior Moms is pre- and post-natal women’s fitness class taught by Jessica Aspiras, founder of wholeFIT Maine. (Jessica also does personal training and weekly bootcamps at the South Portland Community Center, among other things.)
The class launched just last month in the studio of also-brand-new Maine Warrior Gym on Spring Street in Westbrook.
Read more about Maine Warrior Gym: A jungle gym for grownups: Maine Warrior Gym in Westbrook is open!
Warrior Moms is for women who are pregnant, who were recently pregnant or women who have lasting physical issues from prior pregnancies. Jessica focuses on exercises for diastasis recti, proper breathing and safe pelvic floor strengthening. This means she avoids many of the core exercises we may be used to doing in other classes.
Instead, exercises focus on “strengthening abdominal muscles, glutes and really – everything – in a specific way to avoid further injury,” said Jessica. “Diastasis recti is a very common condition that occurs when the right and left abdominal muscles ‘move’ to make room for the baby. If those muscles aren’t already strong, they sometimes don’t form back (and you’ll have a distension that some may call a ‘pooch!’). Many levels of this can be corrected by focused breathing and the right core exercises. There are many exercises that you must avoid with this condition as well.”
But you will get an incredible workout in all those other pertinent areas. And you’ll sweat and you’ll grunt through the last round of tricep kickbacks and you might even break into a dance between exercises, because it’s that kind of upbeat class and Jessica is that kind of teacher. Her between-exercise-dancing is contagious. (I can attest to that. I took this class a couple weeks ago and did some dancin’ of my own. True, I am not now, nor have I recently been pregnant, but the Warrior Moms class is welcoming to even non-moms. I had a blast and my arms and inner thighs felt it for days.)
Also cool: Child care is available during class. For FREE. (Child care age limit is 6, on account of the limited space and activities available in the childcare room, which is just off the studio room).
Classes are Tuesdays at 4 p.m. and Sundays at 10 a.m. and cost $10 for drop-in or you can pre-pay for a 6-class pass for $50. If you’ve taken any other fitness classes lately, then you’ll know: That’s a bargain price. Register online here: www.wholefitmaine.com/wholefitmaine-onlineregistration/.
