Super mum Christina Francotte has come up with the perfect idea to exercise after childbirth - using your baby as a dumbbell.
And she’s got dozens of other mums joining in with her classes as they get back into shape after pregnancy.
First-time mum Christina has been a pre and post-natal personal trainer and fitness instructor for almost seven years.
But she now practises what she preaches after having little Theo 10 months ago.
And the 28-year-old is pushing the fitness regime for mums after she lost the 12 kilos (1 stone 9 lbs) she put on when pregnant with her little one.
“Theo loves it, to see his little face smiling when we are exercising is beautiful. The bond we have by doing this is incredible and other mums are getting the same experience,” said Christina, of Whickham, Gateshead.
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“We use our children as the weights or dumbbells, it’s heavy going so we swap babies during the sessions. Mums love it and the babies love it as well.”
Christina had Theo on June 8 2018 weighing 6lb 6oz.
But her delivery was quicker than most when she had him in the back of neighbour Ashleigh Coulson’s car who was driving her to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
“I had him in less than an hour, we pulled into the car park of the hospital and Ashleigh opened the door and he just popped out. My neighbour delivered my baby, it was a lovely thing.”
Christina, who runs the Super Mummy Bootcamp, is walking proof that her fitness sessions are a success after she shed her baby weight and is back down to 70 kilos (11 stone).
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“When I first started as a pre and post-natal fitness instructor about seven years ago there were other classes such as buggy fitness and yoga but not many classes using your own baby as a weight. I was one of the first to do it.
“My ladies experience a beautiful bond with their babies when exercising like this. It is all positive for their mental health.
“Every day mums are picking up their children, just by carrying them, picking them out of the car, out of their prams and everything else we do. But we don’t do it in an exercise session.
"We are showing ladies we can do it this way and that we can use our babies to exercise.”
Christina, whose partner is Richard Krakowski, 33, added: “Most mums don’t have time to go to the gym to get back into shape but by exercising with your baby it makes everyday life easier. We do it with fun.”
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Christina, who is also a freelance PE teacher in Newcastle’s West End and is a nutritionist who specialises in child nutrition and obesity prevention, runs her classes in Battle Hill Multi-Use Centre, North Bray Close, Wallsend, North Tyneside on Mondays from 9am to 10am and on Wednesdays from 9.30am to 10.30am, and at FSI Gym on Bugatti Industrial Park, Norham Road, North Shields, on Mondays and Wednesdays at 10.30am to 11.30am and on Fridays at 9.30am to 10.30am.
Sessions are £5 each or £45 for a block of 10.
For more information you can call Christina on 07584242596 or visit her Facebook page at here and here.
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