Fitness classes for postnatal mums

• Published date: 16 June 2021
• Date: 16 June 2021
• Author: Georgia O'Connor-Harding
• Publication title: West Coast Messenger, The

Living in Auckland at the time, she had been invited by her sister-inlaw, a mum fitness specialist, to a bootcamp especially designed for postnatal women.

"My mind was blown, I was like 'wow, why isn't this sort of exercise being shouted from the rooftops?'" she said.

Shortly afterwards, Mrs Herlihy threw in the corporate lifestyle of working in revenue management for a hotel chain and retrained as a fitness trainer before relocating with her family back to her hometown on the West Coast.

About five months after the birth of her second child, Mrs Herlihy launched B Mum Fit classes to support women before and after giving birth in October last year.

She said the classes have a strong focus on pelvic floor strengthening and healing tummies after birth with every exercise tailored to different levels of healing postpartum.

The classes promote exercising safely - teaching women how to use their breath while exercising and focusing on ensuring they are not leaking.

"It can be really common but it is not normal and there are things we can do to help. Sometimes if we don't work on strengthening our pelvic floor we may be leaking for the rest of our lives," Mrs Herlihy said.

She said she met a 70-year-old woman who is still having problems from her birth from 50 years ago.

"It is really important I am...