‘Cat Curls’ Could Be Latest Workout Trend

WASHINGTON —  Exercise equipment now includes cats and babies.

“One day, I was doing my bicep curls and my cat wanted to be held,” said Stephanie Jackson of San Rafael, Calif. “I picked her up and started to pump her up and down, and the more I pumped, the more she purred.”

And what Jackson did with her cat, Bad, aerobics instructor Elizabeth Brooks of Washington does with her baby, Jedah.

“I was looking for something--a class that I could go to and take my baby with me and he could be there with me,” Brooks said. “Most places, it’s really hard for moms to find that kind of thing.”

Lifting living things as a form of exercise has its limitations, but its proponents say it also has its joys--among them, a chance to cuddle as you work out. And although it is far from a major trend, it has experts watching with a combination of bemusement and anxiety.

For Jackson, a cat lover and exercise enthusiast, it started around nine years ago during a workout at her home. The curls she was doing with her 9-pound cat developed into a full-body workout, she said. “I have 23 exercises which you and your cat can perform with every muscle group.”

And that led to a book, “Catflexing” (Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, Calif., $12.95), on how to make a workout fun for a person and a pet. “If your cat wants to do this, by all means,” Jackson said.

A cat that doesn’t feel like a workout can make its wishes known in ways ranging from squirming to clawing, but it can be introduced to the idea that being held is fun, Jackson said. You can start with simply holding the cat, and you can progress into a workout that includes squats with the cat draped around your neck, she said.

As for lifting babies, that’s being done in an exercise class at Results: The Gym, in Washington’s Adams Morgan section. It’s a great way to help new moms work back into shape while playing with the baby, Brooks said. For instance, in bent-arm push-ups, the moms lean down to kiss their babies, who are lying on the floor. In bent-leg sit-ups, the babies are cradled against their moms’ legs.

“I have a baby who is high maintenance, and I cannot leave her with a baby-sitter, so I just thought it would be perfect and I could exercise and bring her along,” said exerciser Rachel Laser, with 10-week-old daughter Emily.

In both cat and baby exercise programs, the little loved ones function as light weights. The relatively low-demand workouts of about 45 minutes aim to tone, not to develop big muscles in the women. The cat also might get better tone, as it holds itself steady while being lifted, Jackson said.

Cat exercise can be an important bonding experience, said veterinarian Leslie Sinclair, director of companion animal care for the Humane Society of the United States in Gaithersburg, Md.

“If your cat enjoys interacting, I would think they would think this is a great game,” Sinclair said. “I have five cats. I can tell you, if I try to do any type of exercising at home, they have to be involved. If I am doing sit-ups, they will be in my lap. They figure any time you are on the floor, you are fair game.”

And a pediatrician thinks the mother-baby workouts might help both humans. “We encourage any interaction between mother and kids, and any formal opportunity to do that is probably good,” said Dr. Steven J. Anderson of Seattle, who chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics’ sports medicine committee.

But the AAP does not endorse the workouts, and Anderson saw a potential for dropping or shaking the infant.