It can be hard for mums to find the time to keep fit – but the trouble is, not doing so can make their, and their children’s, lives even harder.

New research by Cambridge University suggests the amount of activity that a mother and her young child do each day is closely related, and a lack of activity in Mum is often mirrored in her offspring.

As the study also found that maternal activity levels were strikingly low – with only 53 per cent of mothers meeting recommended exercise guidelines – it paints a worrying picture for the health of many families.

Previous research has already shown active mothers appear to have active school-aged children, but this new research is one of the first large-scale studies (500 mothers and children) to look at activity levels of those with preschool age kids.

It’s findings included that for every minute of moderate-to-vigorous activity a mother did, her child was likely to do 10 per cent more, and if a mother was one hour less sedentary per day, her child was often ten minutes less sedentary per day.

Kathryn Hesketh, who led the study, says: “Such small minute-by-minute differences may therefore represent a non-trivial amount of activity over the course of a week, month and year.”

She acknowledges that there are many competing priorities for parents, and making time to be active may not always be top of their list.

“However, if activity in mothers and children can be encouraged or incorporated into daily routines so that more time is spent moving, activity levels are likely to increase in both, increasing long-term health benefits.”

But while such studies clearly illustrate the need for mothers to increase their exercise levels, they don’t suggest how they can actually fit it in their already busy lives.

Which is where personal trainers like Vicky Warr come in. Vicky, who runs The BeezKneez physical training programme for mums and mums-to-be (beez-kneez.co.uk), says even mums who were active before they had children often find it difficult to exercise once they become a mother, and it’s understandable that many fail to meet the recommended weekly levels of at least 150 minutes of moderate to intense activity.

“Mums aren’t just looking after themselves any more, they’re looking after other people, and that always comes first,” she says.

“I get ladies saying that they didn’t think about exercise or fitness when they had their baby, but four or five years down they line they have health or fitness issues and want to get back into shape.

“They need to do exercises that take into account a body that’s had babies.”