Sam Blakey
I moved back to the UK in 2017 from Singapore, where I had built up an award-winning fitness company. Since returning, my focus has been mainly on women’s health/rehab issues, such as back pain and low fitness. I also run regular Pilates (for both sexes) and HIIT classes and 1-1 sessions.
I have always worked closely with both physios and medics, to ensure my clients get the best fitness programmes for their conditions, over the years building up a bank of shared knowledge with many other professionals.
I also hold webinars and in-person training for GPs, physiotherapists, and other medical professionals to highlight diastasis risks (abdominal separation) and to demonstrate how to check a patient/client for separated muscles.
The Studio Pilates International Matwork Instructor’s certification I undertook whilst working overseas, was designed and taught by Australian physiotherapists. Based on classic Pilates, it enables me to offer safe, effective exercises for clients of all fitness levels. I am also certified in Pilates ball, circle and band.
I recognise the importance of designing programmes to carefully restore strength from the inside out, and this is a core (pun intended!) part of my classes, as it should be.
As a Personal Trainer, Pilates Instructor and Pelvic Health Specialist in Singapore, I was able to build up a strong reputation across the island, culminating in my company Ooberfit being awarded the accolade of Best Fitness Provider by a national magazine two years in a row (2015 and 2016). I also featured as a headline trainer at Singapore's inaugural fitness event, FitnessFest 2017, and introduced a groundbreaking pelvic floor restoring technique called Hypopressives over there. I am the only senior trainer in this method in Morth Yorkshire. Since arriving back in the UK, I have twice been a finalist in the annual Harrogate Mumbler Awards.
When I’m not training clients, you might catch me writing an article or two on fitness and health, drawing on my previous skill set as a journalist and sub-editor on daily, evening, and national publications.
Aside from offering weekly classes and one-on-one sessions, I also lead corporate workshops and staff wellness sessions and teach Pilates in schools. Using Zoom, I work with women with abdominal separation/pelvic floor/prolapse and other rehab issues across the country and in Singapore.
Why work with me?
Although I played sport at a high level in school and at university, I stopped training once I became a mum and only got the bug again after the birth of my third child to help me lose the baby weight. I didn’t start running until just before turning 40, taking part in my first 10k two months later. I entered my first marathon nine months on from then and have now run eight marathons on three continents - in the cities of London, New York, Paris, and Singapore.
My goal is to show other people, particularly those with little or no history of exercise, that fitness is not an exclusive club, but something everyone can do, whatever their background.The part of my job that gets me out of bed every day is the part where I help a client to be the best they can be; so, they can feel great about themselves!
To keep fit, aside from doing Hypopressives and Pilates, I run for headspace and love working out with my TRX (I’m a certified instructor), one of my favourite pieces of equipment. But I can also do couch potato like a pro, you cannot beat a lazy afternoon or evening watching TV!
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