Brooke Jowett: 'I had my first baby 14 months ago. Exercising is nothing like I expected.'

Thanks to our brand partner, Fitness First

Personal trainer and reality star Brooke Jowett knows a thing or two about pushing through pain.

Brooke is best known as a contestant on Australian Survivor, which she dominated for two sensational seasons. More recently, she was a finalist on The Challenge: Australia.

Aside from her professional success, Brooke and her fiancé Chris Cavanagh welcomed their daughter Parker in 2023.

As someone who has had a lifelong love of fitness, Brooke's experience during childbirth presented significant roadblocks to her postpartum exercise journey.

"I gave birth 14 months ago and did it naturally, which was really something else [laughs]," she told Mamamia.

"In terms of my recovery, I actually had my placenta left in me, which was a nightmare. My body kind of started shutting down about three days after birth and I was extremely ill."

Brooke ended up with a prolapse, which "made things quite difficult post-baby" when trying to get back into exercise.

For the fitness expert, she knew her journey back to exercise would be a slow one, as she needed time for her body to recover.

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"You can't plan for everything. I went in thinking that prolapse was not even on the cards for me. It was just not on my mind," she said.

"I've been into high-intensity exercise, so I knew that might take a little bit of time to get back to, but I didn't realise it would take me a year to get back to where I was. I still pee my pants every time I try to do high knees [laughs], but it's definitely much slower than I had thought it would be."

Brooke found that joining Fitness First made the baby steps feel less daunting and empowered her to juggle motherhood and work while still prioritising her health and making time to move her body.

"I like to keep things exciting and mix it up a lot. Fitness First has so many different areas: they've got Reform Pilates, they've got boxing and a really good variety of group classes," she said.

"With a baby, there is no telling when you'll leave the house. But with Fitness First, there are so many different times and there are classes that I feel have been designed for mums — they're perfect for working to that schedule."

The help of expert personal trainers ensured that Brooke could gradually get back into the correct form, relieving some of the mental load.

"The classes are run by expert trainers who focus a lot on the form and foundation, making sure you're doing the exercise correctly which is really important, especially postnatally," she said.

"When you're in that recovery period, you don't want to be doing anything incorrect — for your body's sake — so that's always nice. And to get a little bit of extra attention from the trainers makes the class more enjoyable."

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Brooke leaned on the support of her fiancé Chris as her performance partner who offered her encouragement and motivation.

"We actually first bonded over running — that's how our whole relationship started," she said.

"We knew having a baby would obviously shake things up a lot. We made ourselves a promise that the moment she was born, we would give each other at least 30 to 45 minutes of time each day.

"He would have her and I would be able to do my yoga, my recovery or a run and vice versa. We've managed to keep that up, which has been amazing so it definitely helps."

Chris is a source of comfort when an inevitable bad day in motherhood comes.

"He's extremely motivating, so if I am having a day and Parker is just being a nightmare and you kind of get in your head and feel like not doing anything, he's quite motivating in knowing what I need to do. He'll be like, 'You'll feel so much better after you do this, go take your time.' I think that helped me so much."

Brooke has learned that she's had to adapt her exercise routine to her new fitness levels.

"It is just like working out in a completely new body and it's hard to get your mind around it because mentally you're still the same. But physically, your body can't do what you think it can," she said.

"Especially with my running — like, I wasn't a crazy marathon runner or anything, but I would easily be able to run a 10k and feel great the whole time."

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For postpartum women who are struggling to start working exercise back into their routine, Brooke says it's important to set approachable goals.

"I would definitely say my number one advice is to start slow. And my next one would be to try everything. As long as you're feeling safe and comfortable with what you're doing: try different group classes, try working out on your own, working out with friends or just walk here and there. But try not to focus on what you used to be able to do," she said.

"That's something that I think has held me back so much. In terms of strength, I lost a lot of my upper body strength and it would leave me feeling frustrated. Flush that out and start anew, start your new journey and focus on your new body."

For Brooke, she's excited to set new goals and a new personal best for herself.

"I've done Survivor and The Challenge, which were huge tests for me. After having a baby, I was kind of sad to let all that go. I need to have new goals to push myself," she said.

"My next goal is to run a 10k again in February to see if I can get back to where I was pre-baby. I'm still setting myself physical targets. They're a little less intense than what I used to do, but they're still a real challenge for me."

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