Mommy and Me Workout at Healthworks Back Bay in Boston

I found another fitness class in Boston where you can bring your baby with you a couple weeks ago. Reader Erica told me about a class held at the Healthworks Back Bay location and it took me 4 months to finally make it!

Using my ClassPass membership, I booked a spot for the Wednesday class at 10:30 am. The class is called Mommy and Me and is 45 minutes long. I visited twice before writing this little review.

“Perfect for new moms, this muscle conditioning class may also incorporate your little one. To help build endurance, cardio may be added to some class formats.”

The class is restricted to non mobile babies and most stayed in their strollers or played on a mat by their moms (so bring a blanket to put on the mat if you want to do this). Tommy stayed in his stroller for both classes until he needed his diaper to be changed…

To start, you need dumbbells, a weighted bar and step. The weights varied across the room. Some women went really heavy, others went lighter. I was shocked as how many women there were in class to be honest. I grabbed sets of both since I had no idea what to expect.

The class started with your typical group ex/aerobics warm up. While I didn’t notice the workout to be choreographed to specific songs, we focused on specific body parts for like 5 minutes and then moved on to another one. We did go back to certain muscle groups and in between were little cardio spurts that lasted 2-3 minutes. A fellow mom said it reminded her of BodyPump.

Based on the weight you chose at the beginning of class, some of the sequences were really hard, and others slightly challenging. The first few times you take a class, this is usually the case.

There are always options to make the class harder or easier given by the instructor. She does a great job at making this class a perfect blend of strength and cardio for new moms. If you are like me, used Barry’s Bootcamp/Burn style kick your ass workouts, you might find it too easy, but my suggestion would be to grab heavier weights. I wasn’t particularly sore after either class, but I’m pretty much back in pre-baby shape, I probably would be saying something different if I took class sooner after Tommy was born.

If your baby is upset, you can hold them but they are not incorporated into the workout. I prefer this! I’d much rather focus on form than safely holding or wearing my baby. He’s already over 20 lbs and my lower back appreciates the time off.

My only constructive criticism would be the lack of postnatal safe ab exercises at the end. I would have liked a few more minutes dedicated to abs, especially planks and less crunches which aren’t the best for postnatal women.

You can sign up for class even if you are not a member of Healthworks or do not have ClassPass, so check it out on Wednesdays at 10:30am. They also have prenatal workouts too with a similar policy I believe.

If you do have ClassPass, you can actually sign up for an hour to use the Healthworks gym and use their babysitting as well as another option for moms looking to get their sweat on. You need to sign up for the babysitting in advance but this allows you to take other classes or do your own thing!