Sport England And Ukactive Launch This Mum Moves Workouts

Sport England and ukactive have launched a series of This Mum Moves workouts to support pregnant women and new mums to be physically active at home, after 53% reported they have been less active since the Coronavirus lockdown.

As part of a collaboration between ukactive’s This Mum Moves programme and Sport England’s new Join the Movement campaign, the pair have developed a new website showcasing online workouts, reviewed by a panel of experts, for antenatal and postnatal women. 

“We’re delighted to launch the new resources as part of This Mum Moves with ukactive today, which will help direct women to safe at-home workouts and activities for their pregnancy and beyond,” said Kate Dale, Campaign Lead on Join The Movement, Sport England.

“Our Join The Movement campaign is designed to inspire everyone to keep and stay active during the pandemic, and on the website we are curating content that’s specific to certain audiences. 

“Often, women can feel unsure about which activities and moves are safe to do and the guidance from This Mum Moves is a way to address these concerns and encourage women to get active in a way that works for them.”

Ukactive’s This Mum Moves, funded by Sport England and the National Lottery, aims to support pregnant women and new mums to stay active, by providing healthcare professionals with tools and training to deliver clear, consistent, and confident messages regarding physical activity. 

The organisation says a survey carried out by the Active Pregnancy Foundation and in association with ukactive, shows the impact that lockdown is having on pregnant and postnatal women. 

According to the organisation, 35.57% of respondents believe they are ‘a lot less’ active each week than before the lockdown restrictions began, and 17.39% believe they are ‘a bit less’ active – meaning more than half report being less active than before. Meanwhile, 88% of the survey’s respondents say they believe being more active is important for their mental health.

Rachel Lawson, Project Manager, ukactive, said: “Working with our partners at Sport England, ukactive is proud to support pregnant women and new mums to stay active at this challenging time by introducing new workouts specifically for them.

“We hope that this bespoke resource will help more pregnant women and new mums to feel comfortable and confident about trying these activities at home.

“Not only will these workouts help women to have fun being active while keeping both mother and baby physically healthy, they have the potential to improve mood and wellbeing, which we want to celebrate as part of Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week.”

Ukactive says that the campaign’s resources have been reviewed and approved by leading public health experts in the area. The collaboration with Sport England’s Join The Movement campaign coincides with Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week.