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Having a child can seriously cut into a workout routine — just try squeezing in even an hour at the gym. Exercise instructor and grandmother Barbara Colby has come up with a solution: "Mom & Tot Workout" (Kiddie Village, 2006), a fitness DVD that moms can do solo or with their young children.

"Mom & Tot Workout": The beauty of this beginner-geared DVD is that it's meant to help moms get back into shape, but doesn't exclude children. The various segments include warm-ups for kids and moms, muscle toning and moves for the abs and lower body. The muscle conditioning (done with light dumbbells) incorporates easy movements, such as stepping side to side, to boost cardio benefits. Some modifications are provided for pregnant women.

Infants can be stretched and moved by mom in the warm-up section, which features leg and arm stretches, while bigger kids can do the exercises by themselves. Toddlers and older children can mimic the movements of mom during other segments that target the entire body, such as shoulder presses, tricept kickbacks, planks and lunges (kids should use plush dumbbell-shaped toys, not the real thing).

"My whole concept is to be involved with your child [during exercise], not to use the child as a weight," says Colby, a fitness instructor and certified personal trainer in Boca Raton, Fla. "The workout is about the mother, but the children can watch or you can incorporate them to keep them interested. When I teach classes, the kids are right there with them, having fun, jumping around."

— Jeannine Stein

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Sun-Sentinel
All editions, page 10E
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Fitness Profile

This fits for mom
A post-baby workout turns into a healthy get-together for mother and child.

by Margo Harakas

When Tamara Ronkin became a mother, she found herself struggling to lose the weight she'd gained.

When her daughter Leah was 3 months old, she discovered, while thumbing through a magazine, a "post-natal fitness class that welcomes babies, toddlers and preschoolers to work out with their mom and grandmas."

One visit to Barbara Colby's Fit for You class and Ronkin was hooked.

"I looked around the room and saw a lot of women in my same situation," says Ronkin, "and I felt inspired."

In time, she lost not only the weight she'd gained during pregnancy, but 10 additional pounds as well.

"I never thought I'd get back down to 120 pounds, which is what I was in college," says Ronkin.

Four years later, she's still showing up twice a week at the Sugar Sand Park Field House in Boca Raton with her second daughter at her side.

So you didn't have to push yourself to make it a part of your weekly routine?

I was meeting other moms ... and the teacher was fun and knowledgeable. It didn't feel like I was working out.

Did you continue to work out through your second pregnancy?

Yes, and I gained a lot less weight and lost it quicker afterwards. With the second pregnancy, because my muscles were in better shape, I had no lower back pain and I had more energy. I only gained 35 pounds [instead of 50]. I was able to work out until my 39th week.

The children don't get bored?

My little one, when the workout starts, I let her out of her stroller. She walks up by the teacher and begins to do squats. ... The teacher even brings out hand weights for the kids, which are really plush dog toys. It's wonderful. I get a workout and my child is socializing as well.

The class includes special activities for the kids, right?

They bring out a bounce house to keep them engaged until we start the circle time. Then we sing and dance the Hokey Pokey, and we have a beanbag toss and we play Red Light, Green Light. They don't even realize they're working out. ... After that, my daughter falls right asleep in the car going home.

Describe your routine.

We start out with a warm-up. You're trying to raise your heartbeat a little bit and stretch to get ready for the workout. Then we go to floor exercises, do sit-ups and leg lifts. The classes started as a post-partum workout and then evolved into a program for mothers who wanted to keep going. A lot of it focuses on getting the tummy back in shape. After the floor work, we do weight work. Then the class ends with a walk around the gym to cool down. After that we do 15 minutes of ball work and do more for the core. And then a lot of us stay for the Mom & Tot class that follows.

How often do you work out?

I go twice a week. And I do a yoga class on the weekend.

Do you watch what you eat?

I try to make decent food choices, but I don't deprive myself of anything. The only thing I did, I stopped eating as much fast food. I also drink a lot of water. I keep a bottle near me all the time.

What would be a typical day's menu?

For breakfast, I'll have coffee and a bagel with melted cheese. Lunch might be a sandwich and some fruit. Dinner is whatever my husband fixes. Usually, it's a meat, a vegetable, a starch and bread. And then maybe a couple of nights a week, I'll have a dark chocolate for dessert.

Had you ever tried working out before?

In college, I coached softball and worked out in the fitness center. ... I tried biking or walking but my frustration was that anything I was trying wouldn't last.

So what was different this time?

I was really impressed when I first showed up. The teacher is very warm and funny and very fit. Everybody was so nice. After that, I made some girlfriends and we formed a playgroup out of this class and four years later, it's still going.

And the bottom line?

My energy is great. Even with my little one occasionally waking up through the night, I find I have the energy to do what I have to do. And I like the way I look in my clothes. I don't feel frumpy. I feel happy. I remember the first day I went, I wore baggy pants and an oversized T-shirt. Now I wear biker's shorts and tank tops.

Sun-Sentinel
Palm Beach Edition, Page 3B
July 15, 2005

Post-Partum Recovery: Six-month-old Dylan anchors her mother, Christina Haligman of Boca Raton, during a Mom & Me post-partum workout at Sugar Sand Park. Patti Schiff, right, of Tamarac, also takes part in the workout Thursday in Boca Raton. For more information, call Barbara Colby at 561-756-1290.

The Palm Beach Post
April 30, 2005
Page 8C

BOCA RATON - Eva Giordano (left), 4, keeps a loving eye on her 4-month-old brother, Bruno, as their mom, Sally, tones up during a Mom & Me workout this week at the Sugar Sand Park Fieldhouse.

Boca News
June 8, 2003

"Moving with the Generations"
by Tom Glucksmann

Fitness instructor Barbara Colby teaches a variety of fitness classes at the Sugar Sand Park field house that offer an inexpensive and interesting alternative to the area’s gyms. Colby, a 52-year-old certified personal trainer and fitness coordinator has been teaching classes in the Boca Raton area for 23 years through the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. She offers classes like ABCs (Abs, Balance and Core Strength), Weight resistance training and body dynamics through her company Fit For You by Barbara, Inc.

About two and a half years ago her daughter Jamie had a daughter and Colby had the idea to offer classes for new mothers to help them get back in shape. What was unique about the classes was that instead of going into a daycare center or staying home, the babies became part of the class. It’s called Mom and Me and the point is to help moms get in shape, while they socialize with other new mothers.

“A lot of moms deal with post-partum depression,” said Colby, a native of upstate New York. “This gets them up and out and that to me is very fulfilling.”

The Mom and Me class was so popular many of the mothers wanted to stay together as their babies became toddlers. Hence the Mom and Tot class, which focuses more on the kids – age one and a half to three years old – developing motor skills and learning balance and socialization skills.

Delray resident Donna Rizzo has been bringing her two and a half year old daughter Dawn to the classes since she was just four months old. “Its great for moms to get out of the house and talk about other functions and develop friendships,” she said. “Dawn has learned coordination too.” Rizzo also said that the Mom and Me class “helped me get back in shape after the baby.”

Dorothy Hudson recently started bringing her 19-month-old fraternal twins Brooke and Trent to the Mom and Tot classes that are held in one half of the Sugar Sand field house’s double gym. “It’s nice because anywhere you look you can see your kid,” she said. “They learn a little coordination and get to play with other kids.”

Kids in the Mom and Tot class can walk a balance beam, play with an assortment of balls and play games like red light, green light, as well as other activities.

Boca Raton-resident Laura Finelli has been bringing her son Nicolas to the classes for the last two months. Nicolas, just a year and a half old, can do the balance beam she said. "I like (the classes) because it wears him out,” Finelli said. “It’s nice because of how hot it is outside it gives him someplace to play inside.”

As well as the fact she became a grandmother, Colby said she decided to start the classes because she noticed a trend of mothers staying home with their kids. Her Fit For You business works in conjunction with One Family Place, the maternity and pediatrics wing of the Boca Raton Community Hospital.

Many of Colby’s customers come to her through referrals. “A lot of people that come to me don’t want to join a gym,” Colby said. “It’s too big, there’s no personal touch. I get a lot of referrals. People who are happy with me and refer their friends.”

Suzanne Katz was at a recent Mom and Tots class with her son Jason. “It’s low key and inexpensive,” she said. “What other exercise class can you change a diaper and breast feed?” Katz said the classes have helped her lose weight but that for a “heavy duty person it wouldn’t suffice.”

Colby said she has plans to expand her classes to Coral Springs, but her main base will always be Boca Raton because, “It’s where I have already built my reputation. People have gone to school with my daughters,” she said. “This girl came in about a week ago and said ‘I think you used to go to the beach with my mother when I was a little girl.’ Now she’s 30 years old and coming to my class. We’re talking about moving through the generations.”

(This story is part of a series that will run this summer reviewing the area's health clubs. If you have an idea for the article please email Tom Glucksmann at glucksmann@bocanews.com)