Stroller Strides provides fitness option for moms, kids

Many young mothers would love to get back in shape after having kids but find it difficult to balance the need for caring for their children and going to the gym.

Enter Stroller Strides.

“Stroller Strides is company that provides fitness for mothers, and it’s a type of exercise where moms can bring their babies with them,” says Natalie Richardson, owner of the Maricopa franchise. “We use the environment, strollers and resistance bands to create our workouts. Often we are doing bicep curls to the tune of ‘The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round.’ We’re entertaining baby, interacting with baby and all the while getting in a great workout.”

Richardson says there is lots of power walking and running and that it is a full-body workout.

“The most important part about Stroller Strides is that it’s a community,” Richardson says. “It’s connecting mothers and similarly minded people, and it turns into so much more than losing weight and losing inches. It’s more about supporting each other and providing strength for motherhood.”

***ADVERTISEMENT***Richardson first got involved with the organization as a member in 2007. Eventually she purchased the franchise after having her second of three children.

“Jody Cox had the franchise and I exercised with her through my third pregnancy and saw a major difference from the first two,” Richardson says.

Stroller Strides isn’t limited to mothers of infants. School-age children sometimes join during the summer. Richardson notes that many of the older kids have been coming to Stroller Strides for several years, and she sometimes tailors classes for them. She says they have seen the classes for so long that they consider exercise playtime, not a chore.

For more information, visit  strollerstrides.net/maricopa or call Richardson at 480-329-9173.