FITNESS: Stroller Strides lets mom work out with the baby

Fitness Rarely does Rachel Pustilnik get through an exercise class without someone crying.

But that's OK. This is Stroller Strides. A little crying is to be expected. The tots come along on this exercise hour. They watch from the comfort of their strollers as the moms work up a sweat.

"Of course you get criers," said Pustilnik, owner of the local Stroller Strides franchise. "That's part of motherhood."

Today, Mother's Day, is a good time to think about the parent's role in promoting good exercise habits.

For Pustilnik, the decision to open a Richmond Stroller Strides was largely personal. Her first daughter was 3 months old, and she couldn't bear to drop the baby off at a fitness-center nursery while she worked out.

"I wanted to get back in shape . . . but I just wasn't comfortable leaving her in a gym day care," Pustilnik said.

So she started Stroller Strides, a parent-and-tot workout program that meets outdoors several times a week. The participants bring their little ones in strollers, then use the strollers during the workout by jogging with them and doing exercises in front of the children to help entertain the wiggly ones.

Pustilnik is the owner of the Richmond and Henrico County franchise. There are also Stroller Strides franchises in Chesterfield County and Mechanicsville, she said.

Pustilnik, who was a runner and triathlete before she opened Stroller Strides, is a big proponent of teaching children the importance of exercise. She thinks this program does a particularly good job of that.

"When a mom drops off a child at day care and comes back sweaty, they don't make the connection," she said. Here, they see the parent doing the exercises. Many times, they mimic the exercise, either during the class or later at home.

"I hear a lot of stories about children getting out toy strollers and doing lunges across the floor with them," she said.

The children are learning, at an early age, that it's good to move. "That's a value you're instilling in them from the very beginning," Pustilnik said.

I checked out a recent Stroller Strides class at Maymont.

There was only one crier when I was there, and she didn't last long. The children smiled and laughed through much of the class, which alternated between strength and cardiovascular work. Of course, it didn't hurt that the moms sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider" during their squats and "Wheels on the Bus" with bicep curls.

Jenn Bradshaw was there with 18-month-old Aiden. She's a lifelong exerciser, starting as a competitive figure skater as a child, then branching into rowing and ballroom dancing later in life.

She started with Stroller Strides when Aiden was 6 months old. "My only regret is that I wish I'd started sooner," she said.

She likes the fact that the workout can be as intense as the participants want it to be. But it doesn't have to be terribly intense.

"If you've had a bad night, with not much sleep, you can scale back," she said.

And no one ever criticizes you for bringing a crying baby, Bradshaw added. "It's just so much a part of the environment."

Maria Howard is a group exercise instructor for the YMCA of Greater Richmond. Her column runs every other week in Sunday Flair.