Sarah Gibbings became a personal trainer and Pilates teacher specifically to work with people with physical or medical problems, after seeing the transformative effect of exercise on her husband, who has rheumatoid and osteoarthritis.
She is a passionate believer in the benefits of getting active for everyone, whatever their age, whether they simply want to look and feel better or are living with chronic or acute conditions, such as arthritis, asthma, back pain, diabetes, osteoporosis and high blood pressure. Age-related issues are a particular interest.
Sarah has specialist qualifications in working with people with these and other common conditions, so she not only knows what works – she knows what to avoid.
Her clients range from people who simply want to lead a full and pain-free life to those preparing for or recovering from operations or looking for rehab after injuries. Others are dealing with autoimmune conditions such as hypothyroidism and polymyalgia rheumatica or dealing wth the after-effects of illness or infection.
She is involved in pioneering work to help people going through cancer treatment to be more active – an interest triggered when her mother was recovering from bowel and liver cancer. Emerging research shows that exercise can improve the chances of recovery by as much as 50 per cent. Sarah works alongside the Chemo Cookery Club team, who promote optimum nutrition, exercise and wellbeing for cancer patients.
She has run roadshows and group exercise classes for bowel and breast cancer charities and has been a volunteer for Macmillan Cancer Care, running classes for the friends and family of cancer patients, who can easily neglect themselves while caring for those they love.
An Oxford English graduate and former national junior sportswoman who went on to make a career in journalism and corporate communications, she is now bringing the different strands of her life together by explaining and demonstrating how simple activity can improve wellbeing and outcomes. Books and Youtube videos are in the pipeline.
Sarah is a member of FitPro and is fully insured.