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MAMARONECK, N.Y. -- Kelly Stineman brings her child with her to Memorial Park every Tuesday and Thursday morning where she and six other new mothers catch up and swap stories about raising their children during their Baby Boot Camp workout.
"It's been a great way to meet other moms and get back in shape," said Stineman, a Larchmont resident who has been with the Larchmont group since it began this past April.
Baby Boot Camp is a national fitness chain founded in 2001 to, "balance the fitness needs of new moms with their desire to spend time with their baby," according to the Baby Boot Camp website.
"I feel it's the best way to do excercise," said Jenny George, whose 9-month-old daughter Sophia sits in her stroller while the Larchmont resident performs strength and cardio excercises around Memorial Park. "It's just nice to be out with other moms and their children."
Kopal Goonetileke, the instructor, involves the children in one of the excercises where mothers walk their strollers down a hill, then push them back up. Goonetileke, a New Rochelle resident certified in pre and postnatal fitness, began instructing camps in San Francisco, where the company originated.
The mother of three moved to New Rochelle in 2009 and started a camp in Tuckahoe, which is about the same size as the Larchmont camp and meets on the Bronx River path on the Bronx and Tuckahoe border.
"It's a great way to meet other moms and share questions or concerns about raising your child," Goonetileke said. "They've all become really great friends, which is great because a lot of new moms don't know anybody and haven't even left the house."
After their Thursday workouts, one of the mothers will host a play group for the children of the other mothers, George said. They also have a moms night out on Fridays, go to the Larchmont New Comers Club and attend events at the Voracious Reader, a bookstore for young readers, together.
The camp will meet in Flint Park after Larchmont's summer camp ends the week after Labor Day. In case of inclement weather, they will meet in the Hommocks Community Room behind the ice rink.
Have you heard of Baby Boot Camp? How do you stay in shape? Comment below, on Facebook or Twitter.
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