Earlier this month, many organisations marked International Women’s Day, a wonderful reminder to acknowledge the strength, resilience and achievements of women everywhere.
On Manly’s beachfront, that celebration quietly happens every morning at Buggy Bootcamp.
Why Mums and Bubs Fitness is About More Than Movement
Not just once a year, but every single morning Buggy Bootcamp supports the new mums of the lower Northern Beaches as they become experts in a new human, a new routine and often a whole new identity.
We celebrate the quiet and often unrecognised wins of motherhood, being the resilience, patience and adaptability that our mums develop each and every day. We celebrate making it out of the house with a newborn, high-five a four hour window of overnight sleep and cheer when our babies take a bottle for the first time!!
We highlight the physical wins too, quite literally as a mum confidently graduates to a heavier dumbbell after a few sessions, or feels confident enough in her pelvic floor to go for a run.
We believe that strength in women, in all its forms, deserves to be recognised every single day.
The “Village” Behind the Prams
Since 2012, Buggy Bootcamp has been gathering on the grass at North Steyne with prams, coffee cups, and a whole lot of life happening in between. What began as a postnatal-safe fitness group for new mums has grown into something much deeper. A daily meeting place for connection, support and movement. A community.
The early months after having a baby can feel isolating. Sleep deprivation, identity shifts, physical recovery and the unpredictability of newborn life can make even the simplest routines feel overwhelming. This is where a local community of women in the same season changes everything.
Forgot wipes? Borrow mine.
Awake-window math? Let’s solve it together
Need a cry? We are here for you.
Safe Postnatal Exercise (and so much more)
Thousands of local mums have come through our sessions over the years, generally arriving a little nervous about their fitness, usually tired, and sometimes just grateful to get out of the house. What they find is a welcoming, judgement-free group of women all navigating the same stage of life.
Yes, there are squats and lifts. Hearts start pumping again after months spent in pregnancy’s “exercise-maintenance phase”, and postnatal core strength is rebuilt slowly, led by highly qualified trainers with MumSafe accreditation and informed by women’s health physiotherapy principles.
The real magic happens, though, in the conversations in between sets.
Sessions are deliberately friendly and chatty.
Prams line the grass (no crèche needed when you have trees!) and the babies sleep, wake, feed and occasionally protest. No one minds… In fact, it often becomes a discussion point on how to deal with teething or referrals to sleep consultants.
One mum recently joked we should market our sessions not as a workout group, but as group therapy… and while we are probably not licensed to say this, it IS!!
A Manly Institution Since 2012
We get new mums moving, yes, but also, and perhaps more importantly we bring them together.
Over the last decade Buggy Bootcamp has become a Manly beachfront staple and an iconic Northern Beaches maternity leave experience. Locals will recognise the familiar sight of the “ladies in blue” training along the promenade in the mid-morning magic hour.
A Ready-Made Mothers Group
Many reminisce to me about their Buggy Bootcamp days, and the friendships formed on the grass at North Steyne. Our community continues in this growing alumni, with some mums staying well into their kids’ school years, others returning with their next baby, and many moving into the next chapter of training through our big sister business, OzSquad right here on Manly Beach.
That’s the thing about community: once you find it, you tend to stay connected to it. And when mums feel supported, connected and strong, the ripple effect reaches families, friendships and the entire community.
International Women’s Day reminds us to celebrate women globally. But on this small stretch of sand in Manly, that celebration happens every morning.
