Member of the month

December 2020 – Alison Beadle

Alison Beadle has beenworking as a Group Exercise Instructor and Personal Trainer for 20 years. She loves working with pre and post natal women, as it’s just a great feeling to help them work though, understand and support themselves through the changes in their body. More recently she has certified in Yoga, Menopause Health and Optimal Hysterectomy Recovery. The more she learns the more she wants to know! Her favourite tools for pregnancy, or just in general is a ViPR, as it stretches you, supports you, and works you. She used to have a ViPR pregnancy class. The ladies always looked unsure when they met a ViPR for the first time, but always loved the freedom it gave them. She is also a massive advocate of barefoot training. 

November 2020 – Louise Carson

I set up my own Personal Training business in 2017 after completing my level 3 Personal Training course, kettlebell training, metabolic resistance conditioning training, gym based boxing and advanced nutrition strategies courses.

I am a mum of 3 and passionate about helping other women to feel strong, fit, healthy and confident no matter what stage of life they are at. In order to be able to help my clients further I went on to do a Women’s fitness specialist qualification and pre and postnatal exercise.

I joined the Female Fitness Academy as a licensee where I was further trained in pre and postnatal exercise and regularly undergo training workshops in all aspects of female fitness.  I have since also joined The Guild of Pre & Postnatal Exercise Instructors where I am also a committee member as a recipe co-ordinator.

I deliver my personal training sessions in my private home studio and also do some sessions in my client’s own homes.

September 2020 – Nicola Tilley

This month’s member of the month is Nicola Tilley. She has been specialising in women’s fitness as a Personal Trainer, including run coaching and pre/postnatal exercise in her hometown of Sawbridgeworth since 2012.

As well as her 1:1 personal training and small group sessions for the past 8 years she has been running her ‘Moving Mums & Buggies’ and ‘Ab Rehab Core Strength’ classes. 5 years ago she started a ladies only running group, Moving Mums and runs twice weekly sessions as well as regularly holding 0-5k Beginner 10 week courses.

As an “older” mum, having had her two children in her early 40’s she realised there was a lack locally of resources for new mums to maintain their health and wellbeing. Exercise and mental health go hand in hand, and this interested her immensely having suffered with anxiety and depression.

Her philosophy is that life is for living, keeping active, having a greater sense of mental wellbeing and most importantly enjoying – it’s all about being realistic and getting a balance. She believes that as we age the need to keep active, maintain mobility, flexibility, bone health and cognitive function becomes greater than the aesthetics of our bodies. The ever-changing female body needs a structured approach to maintain all of these and she loves working with women from prenatal through to menopausal (where she is now!). 

She is a passionate runner and she regularly compete races and in 2018 was overwhelmed to have achieved a “Good for Age” entry into the London Marathon. She only took up running at the age of 40 so she hopes to prove that it’s never too late and you’re never too old! ​

As well as being a UK Athletics Running Coach (CiRF), Run Leader (LiRF), and Level 3 Personal Trainer, Pre & Postnatal, Diastasis Detective and Burrell Education Meno Strength qualified She is currently training to be VTCT Level 3 Pilates Teacher. She is also an official supporter of the “This Girl Can Campaign” and “Mental Health Champion” for England Athletics in association with the mental health charity Mind. 

One of her proudest moments since working in the fitness industry was in November last year when she won the Herts Sports Partnership’s “This Girl Can in Herts” Service to Sport Award 2019.

Way to go Nicola! It’s great to have you on board. Watch out for Nicola’s guidelines on running in future newsletters.

August 2020 – Liz Denton

My passion in life was to become a midwife and I worked as such for several years, working in both the hospital and community and carrying a case-load. Sadly, the job
became unmanageable, trying to cope with 3 young children, long and unpredictable working hours and childcare, with my husband working abroad a lot of the time.
Exercise has always benefited me both physically and mentally so training as a Pre and Postnatal Exercise Specialist seemed the ideal way to combine my passions. More recently I was able to add a Level 3 Mat Pilates to my areas of expertise.
I wanted to use a holistic approach, using physical activity to boost general well- being, confidence and overall sense of ‘wellness’ rather than to be about building the
‘perfect’ physique so, ‘Liz Denton – Fitness for Health’ came about. I work mainly with pregnant and postnatal mums, but the general population too. I provide one-to-one training and run small group classes and buggy fitness sessions in Walthamstow,
Chingford and Wanstead.  Currently though my classes are all running via Zoom, like many others, to help with the isolation of being a new mum under current conditions, I’ve offered a second class free each week. Of course, I have to make a living, but
I’ve always kept the cost of these classes low as I don’t want anyone to feel excluded. I also still work as a Nurse in General Practice, mainly dealing with Women’s Health and baby immunisation, which puts me in an ideal place to offer support to new mothers (and partners). My special areas of interest are maternal mental health, management of diastasis recti and pelvic floor issues and I’m planning on furthering my learning in this area.

June 2020 – Charlotte Wright

Charlotte Wright is the proud founder of WomenFIT. Charlotte set up her own business in 2016 with the aim to help support and guide women on how to exercise safely and effectively throughout their pregnancy and following birth. Charlotte prides herself on offering safe and effective personal training and group exercise for Pre and Postnatal women across Manchester and Cheshire.    

Charlotte is a level 4 personal trainer specialising in pre and postnatal exercising programming and has just recently completed the Burrell Education Advanced Pregnancy Wellness Practitioner Certification. Charlotte is also an advanced Les Mills instructor and group exercise instructor.

Charlotte has her own personal training studio in Didsbury Village where she welcomes both pre and postnatal women to train. Charlotte also offers home and online personal training and runs weekly Aqua natal classes in her local area of Didsbury & Stockport, ‘Aqua natal is one of my favourite classes to teach, I just love seeing the benefits and enjoyment it can bring during a woman’s pregnancy’.

Charlotte is passionate and committed to helping mums and mums to be on their fitness and health journey at such a special time in their lives. As a new mum herself Charlotte has first-hand experience on how keeping active during and after pregnancy can have a positive impact on your emotional and physical wellbeing. Charlotte is also a proud mum to Alba.

Way to go Charlotte!! It’s wonderful to have you on board and as part of the team!!

July 2020 – Grace Lillywhite

I am Grace Lillywhite and I’m the owner of Centred Mums; exciting and innovative pregnancy and postnatal wellbeing programmes in St Albans and online designed to support women throughout their motherhood journey. I have been working with this wonderful population of women for the last nine years and can’t imagine doing anything more enjoyable or rewarding. My sole intention is to spread the word to all women that pregnancy and postnatal exercise, wellness and nutrition is VITAL and LIFE CHANGING. The way you treat your body during the pregnant and postnatal years is something that will stay with you for the rest of your life. I want to teach as many women as I can how to look after their pregnant and postnatal bodies and how to connect to their body to enable them to exercise safely, effectively and in a way that is sustainable for the rest of their lives.

I have successfully rehabilitated Diastasis Recti, pelvic floor dysfunction, Pelvic Girdle Pain, sciatica, sacroiliac joint problems, disc issues and general back pain in the pre and postnatal period. I have taught teacher training workshops for the Pilates Foundation and I was recently honoured to be asked to become part of the Faculty for The Center for Women’s Fitness. I have attended the following Women’s Health workshops;

Pre and Postnatal Pilates (The Center for Women’s Fitness)

Pre and Postnatal Pilates (The Thoughtful Body)

The Center Method for Diastasis Recovery

Diastasis Detective CPD with Claire Mockridge

Pelvic Floor Health & Dysfunction (The Center for Women’s Fitness)

Triyoga Pregnancy Teacher Training with Nadia Narain

How to Teach Active Birth two day course with Janet Balaskas

Pilates for Menopause (The Center for Women’s Fitness)

UK Hypopressives Level 1 course

Optimal Nutrition & Lifestyle for Postnatal Healing & Recovery (Burrell Education)

Future Fit Nutrition Advisor

Independent Hypnobirthing training with MamaSerene

Burrell Education Advanced CPD in Modern Pregnancy Functional Exercise & Birth Preparation Programming

Birth Bliss Doula training with Kicki Hansard

Pink Ribbon Program with Doreen Puglisi

Buff Bones with Rebekah Rotstein

The Pelvic Floor with Judi DiFiore

Practical Fascial Release methods for Movement Professionals

Postnatal Recovery Massage (Sophie Messager & Teddy Brookes)

Closing the Bones (Sophie Messager)

I am currently working towards the Burrell Education Advanced CPD in Modern Post Natal Assessment, Core Restore & Functional Exercise Programming

APRIL 2020 – Gina Craig

Our member of the month is the lovely Gina Craig who works in the Chichester area of West Sussex. Gina runs Precision Poise, teaching Pilates where she specialises in working with Mums through pregnancy, the early postnatal months and beyond. She has a strong focus on connecting women with their bodies throughout every stage of motherhood, so that they feel informed, in control and confident in their own body’s ability to birth, heal, and restore. 

In addition to the VTCT Level 3 award in pre and postnatal exercise, she is trained as a Pre and Postnatal Pilates SpecialistTM with Carolyne Anthony’s The Center for Women’s Fitness and in The Center Method for Diastasis Recti RecoveryTM. She has also completed the Burrell Education Advanced Pregnancy Wellness Practitioner certification. 

She works with Mums and Mums to be in small group classes as well as on a 1:1 basis.  She has a strong belief that working with Mums is an absolute privilege, as we get to support women through some of the most important phases of their lives. Its so wonderful to see our members striving for the best in the industry for both themselves and women.

MARCH 2020 – Claire Gregory

This month we have surprised Claire with member of the month. Many of you will know Claire for all the hard work she does for us in her role as Guild Hon. Secretary. She works hard behind the scenes to maintain our website, update our membership and serves on the committee. 

For those of you who don’t know her she is the co-founder of The Female Fitness Academy. FFA does not only deliver specialised antenatal and postnatal exercise classes but has been specialising in women’s wellness for the past ten years.

Claire has worked in the fitness industry for over 18 years and has specialised in Pre and Postnatal Health. Not only is she a mum to two beautiful girls but she is currently completing a Masters in Exercise Rehabilitation with a strong focus on Diastasis Recti. Great to have you on board Claire and thank you for everything you do for us 

FEBRUARY 2020 – Meg Walker

We are delighted to make the very lovely Meg Walker
member of the month and 21 st year this month. Meg has taught exercise and fitness
in the Stroud Valleys for over twenty years and has specialised in Pilates, having
trained for her Stott certification in 2002. She is the author of the Easy series book;Pregnancy and Postnatal Pilates; now published in English, French and Italian and available on Amazon.

We would like to especially thank Meg Walker who has been a constant member and leader in the field from the very beginning of the Guild. I remember meeting Meg for 
the first time about 18 years ago and her love and her passion for this work still shines through. Along with her husband Eliot they have supported the Guild through
thick and thin. As a recognition of her work the Guild Board is awarding Meg a Lifetime Membership in recognition of her vision and commitment to us for many
years.

Thank you so much for all your hard work.

AUGUST 2019 – Sarah Pearce

Sarah Pearce BSc FCMI – Pre and Postnatal Fitness

Mom of two energetic young boys (William, 4 and James, 1), Sarah has a background in fitness, sport (both in competition and management) having endured the physical rigours of a 16-year Royal Navy career. Fifteen years ago, Sarah served at the Royal Naval School of Physical Training before becoming the Physical Training and Recreation Officer at one of Europe’s largest military air bases.

It was in this role that Sarah first began working with Service women and military families (including pre- and postnatal women). Among her priorities during this assignment were: the development of female-friendly sports programmes; improvement of facilities to make them more family-friendly; and supporting military women on their return to busy-operational careers. A military spouse, Sarah transitioned from full-time military service and  moved with her Army Officer husband, Charlie, on his posting to Canada in 2016. They currently live in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Sarah holds a BSc from the Open University and trained with the PT Academy in London as well as Future Fit Training in Hampshire, UK. She was awarded Level 2 Active IQ Gym Instructor and Level 3 NCFE Personal Trainer qualifications, and further qualified in Pre-and Postnatal Exercise Design (VTCT) and Nutrition (Future Fit Training-AfN).

On moving to Canada, Sarah began working at the local military base gymnasium part-time, designing and teaching a buggy-based postnatal exercise program for the local community and military personnel. During this time it became apparent that there were a significant amount of her clients living with abdominal separation and/or pelvic health issues – and with limited knowledge on returning to exercise safely. To better support her Canadian clients, and to help design more holistic programs, Sarah decided to undertake additional CDP with Claire Mockridge, qualifying as a ‘Diastasis Detective’ and ‘Your Pelvic Matters’ instructor.  For Summer 2019, Sarah has temporarily rented her own studio space in central Fredericton.

Sarah currently instructs a range of baby-friendly, low-impact classes, collaborative pregnancy and postnatal workshops and courses, and also works with a variety of pre and postnatal personal training clients on a 1:1 basis – primarily focussed on the Your Pelvic Matters program. Married to a barefoot running enthusiast of 10 years, and now courtesy of Claire Mockridge’s contagious enthusiasm for barefoot living – Sarah now owns an ever-expanding collection of barefoot shoes (for walking!) and is improving her range of whole body classes and courses to better support pregnant and postnatal women in the local community.

 A proud member of the Guild of Pregnancy and Postnatal Exercise Instructor, Sarah is concurrently both a UK REPS and CanFitPro member and can never remember who she has uploaded CPD for!

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