KIWI WOMEN CHANGING LIVES FROM THEIR LOUNGES
Ren and Jen have been working as personal trainers for a combined 16 years.
Words: Kristie Boland Photos: Supplied
Two Kiwi mums are leading a women’s fitness movement live streamed from the chaos of their own lounges.
Jenna Smith and Renee Norman, otherwise known as Ren and Jen, launched their fitness programme She Moves in 2016 after spotting a gap in the health and fitness market for pregnant women and new mums.
The more popular workouts are live-streamed to over 1000 women at a time.
The model is similar to the livestreamed YouTube hit PE with Joe but is designed for women of all fitness levels and includes pregnancy-safe exercises, as well as exercises aimed at restoring a woman’s pelvic floor.
Both Ren and Jen are experienced personal trainers as well as mums to two young children (with another on the way for Jen), and have designed the fitness programme to fit around the demands of motherhood.
Workouts are only 20-30 minutes long and can be streamed live on Facebook or replayed on demand, and need no special equipment – just enough space to move on the lounge or bedroom floor.
Christchurch local Gemma Dean is a nurse and well aware of the complications that can occur after giving birth if women rush back into exercise. After seeing a women’s health physio, she was cleared to exercise again but felt nervous and wasn’t sure where to start.
“Being so used to high impact workouts I didn’t think there was an option for me,” she said.
“(But) I just find Ren and Jen really encouraging. The fact that they’re mums too, they’re so relatable. Like sometimes you have rough days and they’re real about it.”
The pair believe that exercise is key to helping women stay mentally fit and healthy, too, and have a mantra to ‘move your body, move your mindset’.
Jen said exercise was “one of the most underutilized anti-depressants” there was. Just twenty minutes of exercise could turn a day around and help women cope with this “mum-life gig”.
Brenna Bradley is 27 weeks pregnant and has been doing the workouts throughout her pregnancy. “I probably work out more now than I did before I was pregnant!”
“Jen is only a few days ahead of me in her pregnancy so I feel we are in this together and as she’s modifying her workouts to suit her growing bump, I am too!”
Brenna says “I really believed it’s pushed me to be more active and healthy for my pregnancy which makes me feel great”.
She Moves isn’t just for new mums. The fitness programme has 1200 members whose ages range from 18 to 69.
Grandmother Christine Dean has just had her 60th birthday and is taking part in Move it May with her daughter-in-law Gemma.
“It’s for anyone and everyone,” she said.
“They are so relatable, even for me!.”