At first, the sight of 20 red-faced women lying on the damp grass of a central London park and juggling newborn babies is quite worrying.

Mothers exercise with their babies on Clapham Common in London May 17, 2006. "Powerpramming", a new craze, is sweeping Britain in which new mothers are encouraged to use their offspring - and the inevitable baggage that comes with them - as exercise aids. Picture taken May 17, 2006. [Reuters]

But this is "powerpramming", a new craze taking off in Britain in which new mothers are encouraged to use their offspring and the inevitable baggage that comes with them as exercise aids.

Fitness expert Liz Stuart is immune to comments by bemused passers-by as she cajoles her students into doing another 20 deep squats or fourth set of bicep curls using their precious babies as weights.

"Engage your pelvic floor and give your bum muscles a good squeeze as you come up," she cries. "You can use your babies as resistance for this one."

An elderly man walking past with his dog snorts: "That's just weird!", but the mothers just smile and push on.

Stuart, a qualified post-natal exercise instructor set up "powerpramming" after the birth of her son because she was keen to get back to her pre-pregnancy shape and wanted a way of keeping him with her and meeting other new mothers while she worked out.

"I invited the girls from the local mother and baby group to get fit with me," she told Reuters in an interview. "We started off ... with our prams and I gave instructions to everyone for various exercises. We really worked hard."

"Within a few weeks we had a real routine going and the number of mums joining in just grew and grew."

Now she runs classes in parks across London and is franchising her exercise concept throughout the country and the world.

Stuart's programme starts out with a power-walk or jog across the park with the babies tucked up in the prams and enjoying a high-speed ride.

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