The British Army has announced that a new fitness suite has been established at Colchester’s Merville Barracks to assist pregnant soldiers and officers in maintaining their fitness both before and after giving birth.
The facility, located within the headquarters of the 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, provides a private space equipped with specialised gear tailored to the needs of pregnant personnel.
The initiative was led by Staff Sergeant Ben Swinfield, the senior Physical Training Instructor (PTI) at 2 PARA. The suite is designed to support service members throughout their pregnancy journey and help them regain their fitness post-birth, ensuring they are ready for operational duties.
“This is here to support service personnel in their pathway through pregnancy and the journey beyond, and ultimately it is about helping them maintain and restore their fitness to be ready for operations,” said SSgt Swinfield, reflecting on the significance of the new facility.
Lieutenant Grace Wolfenden, an education officer at 18 Army Education Centre, who is expecting her first child in late September, expressed her appreciation for the facility. “There’s a lot of conflicting guidance out there about exercise during pregnancy, and it’s great to have access to these facilities and expert advice,” she said.
The fitness suite was created with a £15,000 grant from The NAAFI Fund and is open to all personnel on the barracks. It includes machines for both cardiovascular fitness and strength conditioning. SSgt Swinfield, who developed an interest in pregnancy fitness through his wife’s work as a midwife, emphasised the importance of staying active during pregnancy but advised caution and patience in the post-birth recovery process.
“You have to accept the massive changes that your body has endured through pregnancy,” he noted. “It will take time to get back to previous levels and do not run before you can walk – but you can get your fitness back to where it was.”
Lt Wolfenden highlighted the progress the Army has made in supporting female soldiers, saying, “If a female soldier got pregnant 30 to 40 years ago, they’d have been kicked out of the Army, but now we’re in a place where pregnant soldiers are being offered support in a dedicated facility. I think it’s fantastic to be a part of this progress.”
This is really good. It makes me wonder if there is support available across the wider establishment for pregnant women working at other locations. They may not all have dedicated spaces but is there guidance for PTIs to help them support women through pregnancy for instance?
Not really. I think Colchester is one of the first. Really I doubt it’ll happen anywhere outside of Colchester and Tidworth in the medium to long term.
Catterick would be the other major garrison that springs to mind.
Great news, and gosh how times have changed.
I remember in the early 90’s when all those who had been discharged for getting pregnant got compensation.
No, was going to go full “infantry sarcasm” mode but will wind my neck in 😂
I know this could be read with a bit of a sneer, but personally think it’s a good thing.
We talk a lot about looking after our forces (and their families, presume this fitness suite isn’t solely for uniformed personnel at the barracks), retention of experienced people, etc. and then we moan at anything that isn’t directly related to killing the enemies of the free world. Improving the quality of life of our people is good, giving them access to a little perk that even civvies don’t get is even better!
Exactly. Returning to work is difficulty enough without having to deal with several months of limited to no PT.
Is this really a perk? It is operationally vital that pregnant service women stay fit and healthy and those who have given birth return to full fitness and military duties as soon as is possible.
Fair question. I don’t know of many/any private companies that have this level of provision, even those where physical fitness has a bearing on their ability to do the job. And it’s certainly not extended to partners of employees, which I presume this is?
It’s certainly a common sense approach, but that doesn’t mean it’s widely used- in or out of the services.
Pregnant ‘civvy’ partners of soldiers would surely not have use of this facility. I have never seen a wife in a military gym – they are not intended for family use.
Oh, fair enough, my mistake. I presumed that there would be military families on the base and that they would all have access- clearly not.
This may help towards with retention of female soldiers. Let’s place same facility in our other super garrisons, HM Naval bases and Royal Air Forces Stations.
As much as I instinctively want to turn my nose up at this, if we assume female troops are going to grow as a percentage of the army (which seems likely) then pregnancy killing the fitness of a non-negligable amount of our soldiers each year is probably a geniune concern. This is therefore an unusually well thought-out idea for the army.