Finally, Cats Able To Make Selves Useful

Put down the weights. Pick up the cat or the baby.

“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.”

For Jackson, a cat-lover and exercise enthusiast, it started around 9 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 working out fun for a person and a pet.

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. It’s a great way to help new moms work back into shape while playing with the baby, Brooks said.