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aqua bellies & aqua babies!

by Skylar Hill-Jacksonl
published in MomNet News Link, 2003.

It’s been called the perfect form of exercise. It eliminates gravity, lightens body weight, removes stress from joints and spine, and it provides aerobic training, muscle conditioning and flexibility. Everything a woman needs to make her pregnancy more comfortable and everything a new mother wants to get her body ‘back in shape’: aqua bellies and aqua babies!

BABY & ME FITNESS offers aqua bellies and aqua babies classes to Toronto pregnant women at four pool locations: Bloor & Spadina, Dufferin & Lawrence, Bathurst & Sheppard, and Mississauga.

aqua bellies was designed over 16 years ago by Skylar Hill-Jackson and Karen Weinthal, instructors and co-founders of BABY & ME FITNESS so pregnant women could experience the refreshing buoyancy of water while performing a 45-minute low impact workout. Using water resistance to tone and strengthen the muscles required for managing labor, pregnant women also experience lightness and weightlessness.

“Some of our participants have avoided pools most of their adult life. But after experiencing aqua bellies they become converts and these women may even swim a few lengths after the class is over,” says Hill-Jackson. Most of the exercises are performed in the pool’s shallow end but the last 10 minutes includes exercises in the deep end with the pregnant women supported by recycled fabric softener jugs or noodles.

“aqua bellies is one of our most popular BABY & ME FITNESS programs because women at any fitness level can exercise comfortably in water all the way up to their due date,” says Hill-Jackson. It’s also a popular and comfortable class for a woman expecting twins who is often unable to do any other form of exercise during her pregnancy.

aqua babies is a natural extension of the aqua bellies class. This water fitness program was designed so babies (6-18 months) could join their moms in the pool. The babies, sitting in special flotation swim rings, are in constant contact with their moms during the non-stop low impact aerobics. “It’s a fun class for the moms and for the babies,” says aqua babies instructor Marnie Kennedy. “Babies naturally enjoy being in water.”

BABY & ME FITNESS suggests program participants consider commiting to a cross-training fitness schedule of a minimum of two classes per week. Pregnant women are encouraged to join a yoga bellies or pilates class and also a bellies or aqua bellies class. New moms are encouraged to balance out a weekly yoga babies or pilates class with a weekly aqua babies or strollerfit class. Adding opportunities for scheduled daily walks during pregnancy and afterwards (with the new baby in a carrier or in a stroller) rounds out the BABY & ME FITNESS suggested weekly exercise regime. ‘Cross training’ helps pregnant women and new moms achieve maximum health benefits.