Puyallup Stroller Group Takes Motherhood, Fitness in Stride

Codi Howell is making a career out of being a mom.

And yet, Howell never would have guessed she would become a fitness professional. She was working as a graphic designer when her second child passed away shortly after birth.

“I couldn’t handle sitting at a desk, being alone, so I started looking for something that would get me out of the house and around moms,” said Howell, who lives in Puyallup. “My husband was deployed and I needed support.”

About three months after losing her daughter, Howell came across Stroller Strides, the nation’s largest fitness program for moms. It offers a unique opportunity for women to exercise alongside their babies and toddlers (six weeks to four years) doing a combination of power walking and jogging, strength training and abdominal exercises.

And don’t forget about songs, games and the occasional diaper change.

Howell became certified as a pre- and post-natal fitness trainer and Stroller Strides: Puyallup launched in January 2011. She also runs Body Back classes, which help moms get back in shape whether they just gave birth – or had a baby 20 years ago.

“I might have been slightly crazy, but it is one of the best decisions our family has made,” she said with a laugh. “It has been awesome.”

Howell said the move to working in fitness was natural because she was active in sports in high school and college, especially distance running. In fact, she added, she was only doing graphic design so she could work from home. Her husband deployed to the Middle East twice before their daughter was two and a half.

Now, the Howells’ oldest daughter is three, and their son will turn one next month. Both come to work with her.

“I found out I was pregnant the day after my grand opening,” she said. “So my first nine months doing Stroller Strides, I was pregnant.”

That, in turn, gave Howell firsthand knowledge of what she was teaching to other pregnant women and new mothers.

“I didn’t slow down,” she said.

During the summer, Stroller Strides: Puyallup works out at Bradley Lake Park, but starting this week, the moms will move to the South Hill Mall. Their hour-long workout through the mall’s corridors is complete by the time it opens for business.

Each class starts with a “dynamic warm-up” with the strollers in a circle or line. Then they break into a walking group and a jogging group. As they move, they do cardio and strength exercises, all the while singing, tickling and jumping with their children. At the end, there are abdominal and core workouts and stretching.

“It’s a really good workout,” Howell said. “Every mom who comes in is like, ‘Wow, that is not what I expected.' Stroller Strides sounds like ‘Hey, let’s walk around the park.’ ”

Howell said that despite running the class “like any other class – we just have our kids with us” – she encourages attendees to put their babies first. That may mean stopping to nurse, or providing extra comfort to a little one who doesn’t want to stay in their stroller.

Still, she added, that’s a rarity.

“If you’re doing jumping jacks and jogging away from them and jogging back, there’s a lot of visual stimulation,” she said. “People say a baby won’t sit in a stroller for an hour; I say they’ll be surprised.”

Not to say that an occasional 3-year-old starts demanding a snack in the middle of a workout, though.

“We get it,” she said. “We’re moms.”

Howell runs classes from 9-10 a.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and they average about 20 moms each time. Some come once a week; some come every time. Some have one or two children; one woman brings four. There is an unlimited membership for $55 a month, as well as 10-class passes for $100. And if a mom just wants to try it out, they are welcome to just show up for one free class.

Additionally, the group holds a weekly playgroup that is free and open to anyone, and a monthly moms’ night out. They also do local 5K races together and community service projects.

“It’s so much more than an exercise class,” Howell said. “We call it mommy sanity. It gets you out of the house and finds friends for your kids.”

So, why would people want to pay money to jog in a park or walk around a mall?

“Even for me, as a trainer, to walk into a gym or walk outside, it’s overwhelming,” Howell said. “You don’t know where to start or what to do, so to have someone who understands your body and what you need to get to your goals … You can show up, have the accountability, and have the commitment.”

Howell said that many women just walk or jog, but that Stroller Strides also focuses on full body strength. Having a strong core and abdominal muscles aids the immune system, metabolism – and even helps during labor.

She has been contacted by city officials in Lakewood and Tacoma to expand her franchise, but plans to keep striding with the women from Puyallup, Edgewood, Sumner and Bonney Lake, among others.

“I have moms who say their lives have changed, and that’s why I do it,” Howell said. “It really is a passion.”

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For more information about Stroller Strides: Puyallup, or to register for a class, visit http://classes.strollerstrides.net/puyallup/location/index.aspx.

You can also find Stroller Strides: Puyallup on Facebook.