Shakira Akabusi: ‘Finding the fun in fitness makes it sustainable’

Pre- and postnatal fitness expert and mother-of-four, Shakira Akabusi talks to us about redefining exercise in motherhood and carving out a love of movement for life

Words: Joanna Ebsworth | Photography: Beki Hayler of Hayler Studios

‘You’ll never have time to yourself.’ ‘You’ll always be tired.’ ‘You’ll never get your abs back…’ These are just a small sample of the many negative things people said to Shakira Akabusi (@shakira.akabusi) when she gave birth to her eldest son, Rio, back in 2014. Not surprisingly, these words also provided the fitness expert and now mother-of-four with the catalyst she needed to embark on her ongoing mission: to shatter stereotypes surrounding motherhood and fitness, and help mums everywhere to thrive through an active lifestyle with her fitness and maternal mental health platform, StrongLikeMum (stronglikemum.com).

‘I found people spoke to me about motherhood as being the end of a lot of things,’ explains Shakira, who, as the daughter of Olympian Kriss Akabusi and corrective-exercise-specialist-turned-over-50s-fitness-expert Monika Akabusi (@strong_like_oma), was always taught to see exercise as fun, never just another thing to add to the to-do list. ‘People were saying I’d never be able to do all the things I once enjoyed, even though I’d had a really active upbringing and fitness was part of my daily life. And I was like, “But that’s just me”.

‘That was the reason I started blogging about my experience of trying to retain who I am,’ adds Shakira. ‘Obviously, I talked about fitness because that was what I enjoyed, but I think it was less of a fitness blog and more about showing women that you can be who you are and be a good mum at the same time while doing whatever you are passionate about – whether that’s wanting to sustain your career, business, relationships, social life or fitness. I just wanted to see what it’s like to do that and be a mum, and that has remained at the heart of what StrongLikeMum life is really about.’

Paving the way

Beginning her career in musical theatre – she performed as one of the Dynamites in the UK Tour production of Hairspray – Shakira says that retraining to become a qualified personal trainer three years before she became a mother felt like a natural choice after an operation on her vocal chords went wrong, forcing her to change careers completely. With ideas of starting a family also burning bright, the subject of pre- and postnatal fitness quickly became of interest. But Shakira tells us that interest skyrocketed after she read an article that stated that only 5.5 per cent of fitness industry professionals were qualified in pre- and postnatal exercise.

‘I remember thinking this was a huge failing for women from the fitness industry, because many women will at some point be pre- or postnatal, and if only 5.5 per cent of the fitness industry understands what happens to our hormones, posture, muscles, ligaments and joints, how can we serve women in the community and encourage them to lead healthy, active lives? That’s when I began to study pre- and postnatal fitness,’ she explains. ‘And it was around the time that Rio was born that I started to specialise in postnatal fitness specifically, working with women in pregnancy and immediately afterwards.

‘It all happened simultaneously, so I was able to learn from a professional perspective and a personal lived experience at the same time. Actually living it gave me a whole other level of compassion and understanding for how it can feel, because everything that you learn in a textbook only takes you so far. During my first trimester with Rio, I was so ill I barely moved at all. So, understanding how that can feel for some people, and then understanding the recovery process – I have four children, and every single pregnancy, delivery and postpartum has been different – helped me learn so much and bring that to my work.’

Sharing and caring

Since launching her StrongLikeMum platform in 2018, Shakira has continued to lead the way in women’s health, regularly appearing on TV, radio and podcast shows, including ITV’s This Morning and Lorraine, BBC Radio 5 Live, and Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy Mum Happy Baby community, as well as presenting her own podcast alongside talks and workshops for clients such as Bupa, Adidas, The National Run Show and Gymshark.

All the while, her brood has expanded to include Ezra, born in 2014, and twins Asher and Aryana, born in July 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, and during her last pregnancy Shakira found the time to write her book, The Strong Like Mum Method (Little Brown Book Group, £18.99), published in 2022. If that wasn’t enough, Shakira recently launched the StrongLikeMum app in June 2025 and is following that with a YouTube channel in September, called StrongLikeMum, to offer free, accessible advice and workouts to mums. But just why is it so crucial for Shakira to keep sharing information about pre- and postnatal fitness?

‘I remember being given a piece of A4 paper in hospital after having Rio that had one or two pelvic floor exercises on, and then some advice on contraception. And that was it. I thought, “That’s all that you’re giving me?”. Then they sent me out into the world 24 hours after having a baby. It’s really not enough!’ she affirms. ‘Part of StrongLikeMum is about being able to give women the tools they need to feel knowledgeable and empowered in themselves, so they’re able to advocate for their health. Because I think one of the things that becomes overwhelming for so many providers in the health industry is when a woman comes to you with lower-back ache, incontinence or another postnatal issue, there’s not one way to rehabilitate or recover.

‘There can be many things that cause incontinence, and many ripple effects of having a prolapse or diastasis recti, the latter being the separating of the abdominal wall during pregnancy,’ she continues. ‘There can be so many different causes and so many effects that it’s difficult to give general advice. But what I’ve tried to do through the Knowledge Hub on my app is share that advice by collaborating with other experts in the field of women’s health, such as exercise specialists, midwives, nutritionists, psychologists and pelvic-floor physios.

‘Everything is covered with lots of detailed sessions and programmes to help you break down the elements of your recovery, whether that’s rehabilitating your pelvic floor, improving your fitness level, building strength or fighting anxiety,’ says Shakira, ‘But I’m launching the YouTube channel because there are things every woman should know. One of the other challenges we face is there are lots of people in the space who aren’t necessarily qualified, who are sharing misinformation, so you’re having to battle those voices, too. I’d rather put the correct information out there for free and be helpful.’

‘There are lots of people sharing misinformation… I’d rather put the correct information out there for free and be helpful’

Mind over matter

The strapline for Shakira’s StrongLikeMum method is, ‘Instinct. Knowledge. Exercise’, which she says defines the holistic mind-body approach she takes to postpartum recovery. While ‘knowledge’ and ‘exercise’ are self-explanatory, Shakira says, ‘instinct is about mental health, because the connection between body and mind is so strong through motherhood. Research shows that emotional stress can trigger scar tissue regrowth. So, for women working with scar tissue rehabilitation after a Caesarian, mental health is a key to recovery, alongside massage and rebuilding the core. But it’s also about offering that emotional support women need during motherhood.’

It’s here that Shakira points to her own experiences of suffering from extreme anxiety and debilitating perinatal obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), which developed after the birth of her first child. At its worst, Shakira would take around four hours to get to bed at night, but tells us, ‘Hypnotherapy and exercise formed a huge part of my recovery, and they remain the ways I maintain my mental health today.

‘When you become a mother, you don’t get the time and space to think through your thoughts,’ she adds. ‘They can be so rapid, it can feel really overwhelming. For me, the real trigger came when my son was ill. Doctors would say to me, “Trust your instincts”, but I was so anxious I couldn’t tell the difference between anxiety and instinct. I didn’t have the space or capacity to slow my thinking and distinguish the difference, but hypnotherapy and exercise gave me that space. Now, I know if I can just move my body it can really impact me to lead a happier motherhood.’

Redefining motherhood

One of the things Shakira is most passionate about is challenging people’s perspective around motherhood and fitness so mums can exercise without fear of being judged for sometimes prioritising their physical and mental wellbeing over family time. Indeed, she points to a survey by Sport England that reveals that 61 per cent of mothers feel guilty about taking time for exercise. ‘The majority of my friends who are mothers, particularly those who have preschool-aged children, don’t do the recommended amount of exercise because being active is something they have to fit into their day, as opposed to being a part of their day,’ she says. So, what’s the solution?

‘Firstly, we have to help women to feel motivated’, says Shakira. ‘And I think a huge part of that responsibility lies with fitness professionals to change the perspective and narrative in the industry right now, so it’s not just about unattainable aesthetics and fast fixes to get back to your pre-baby body. Let’s change that narrative and talk to women about their health and longevity instead. Let’s give our bodies that level of ultimate respect for what they have achieved, and also understand that movement is not just about what you are weighing on a scale. It should be about giving your body and mind the support it needs to support you for your whole life, not just for the summer holiday when you want to wear a bikini, because having a real deep motivation rather than an external motivation can really change our approach.’

Second, Shakira tells us we need to help mothers find ways of making exercise a natural part of their day, and says one of the best ways we can do that is through community. ‘For me, community was everything during that early motherhood phase, and I surrounded myself with mums who had young children so we could talk about our anxieties and give each other the support we needed.

‘The same applies to movement. Creating a group, even if it’s on WhatsApp, to motivate and support each other and hold each other accountable can be really empowering, and social media can also be great if you want to find a likeminded community,’ she continues. ‘Just make sure to follow accounts that give you the knowledge, inspiration, motivation and practical day-to-day tips you need to positively impact your life, and close down anything that focuses on aesthetics.’

Leading by example

Finally, Shakira says you should never be afraid to ask for help from others so you can find time to be active. ‘I want my children to see that occasionally I can take an hour for myself, and make my health a priority because, while I want them to know that they matter, I want them to appreciate that other people matter as well,’ says Shakira, who sits down weekly with her partner so they can both schedule time in their diaries for exercise. ‘I want my children to see that as parents we can still take some time to ourselves and remain good parents. I would want them to believe this of themselves as they grow up also.

‘It’s all about finding balance. Those little spaces for yourself while also understanding that there needs to be some flexibility, because life can get busy, children can get ill and obstacles will come up. It’s about fostering a positive relationship with exercise so that if you can’t exercise for some reason, it’s not the end of the world.

‘Sometimes we need to rest when our body is stressed,’ says Shakira, ‘but we also need to remember when we feel tired that exercise creates a chemical process in the body that creates energy. And, most importantly of all, we need to realise that fitness doesn’t have to be structured and serious. Finding the fun in fitness, especially in the early days of motherhood, is one of the best ways of making it sustainable for life.’