Sweaty Mama is a parent-baby workout class aiming to offer mums a safe support network.
Anna Holvey, leader of the Salford West branch, and mum of a 14-month-old, is passionate about nurturing for women’s mental health in her Sweaty Mama classes, “I’m there to motivate them and make them feel the best that they can feel when they’re in that class”
The classes not only offer Mums a place to exercise without childcare, but also mingle with likeminded women along their pre and post-natal journeys.
“It’s nice to speak to other mums who are going through what you’re going through and just understand it is okay to feel like that, you’re all feeling like that as well, that’s how I should be feeling, it’s normal. It makes people feel that you’re not on your own.”
Sweaty Mama classes are designed to target different muscle areas, particularly, building strength back up in the abdominals and pelvic floor whilst listening to funky tracks.As well as offering support within the parent community and social opportunities before and after classes.
According to the MentalHealth Foundation, 68% of women who suffer from mental health problems are parents. The most common mental health problems are experienced during pregnancy and after birth are anxiety, depression, and PTSD.
Anna Holvey, trained as a Perinatal Mental Health Support worker with Parents in Mind for the National Childbirth Trust, which has given her first-hand experience to support women struggling during pregnancy and after childbirth. When asked about stigmatising in mental health conditions, she said: “I think that most mothers may be frightened that if they say they are suffering from mental health problems whilst they are pregnant, they will be judged in a negative way for having those feelings, and that they are not coping”
“Sweaty Mama is a place where you’re not isolated and it’s something where you’ve got like-minded people with you who are all feeling the same feelings as you and it’s a way for you to relate and feel okay.”
One of Anna Holvey’s classes operate at Transcend Studios in Eccles. The studios are an intoxicatingly calm oasis, with gorgeous décor and a super trendy coffee shop for relaxing or just browsing the crystals.
Below are some other venues where Sweaty Mama dance classes take place.
Pregnant women and mums with children up to the age of 5 are welcome to participate.
To find out more about Sweaty Mama classes or to book in for a session, click here
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