Oobermama offers specialist advice and exercise programmes designed to help women regain their core post-natally.  Its founder, women’s health coach and personal trainer Sam Blakey, is a Harrogate based internationally recognised PT and expert in women's pregnancy exercise. She has worked closely with physios both here in the UK and in Singapore, where she ran an award-winning fitness company for five years. Sam has a wealth of knowledge on postnatal care and support.Trained with the American Council on Exercise (ACE, 2012), She is a certified Matwork Pilates Instructor (with Studio Pilates International) and a senior trainer with UKHypopressives. Sam has also added several pre/post-natal qualifications, cardiovascular nutrition and fitness, a TRX certification and kick boxing to her portfolio. She was a headline trainer at Singapore’s inaugural FitnessFest in 2017 and works with women across the UK and overseas in person and on Zoom, as well as providing wellness programmes for corporate bodies. “As a mum of five myself, I know first-hand the toll pregnancy and motherhood can have on the body and mind and whilst the end results are so worth it (most of the time!) I can appreciate how hard it is for mums to give themselves the time to prioritise their own well-being and fitness,” says Sam. She is passionate about women’s health and using a combination of Pilates and the unique low-pressure tool that is Hypopressives, she has helped her clients to regain their core and see real improvement and even complete reversal of symptoms including… •Pelvic floor dysfunction •Abdominal separation •Prolapses •Postural issues •Backache •Bladder/incontinence •Post surgery recovery In September 2022, following her own abdominal incision hysterectomy, she developed a programme to help women prepare for and recover from both laparoscopic and abdominal incision hysterectomies; a programme which also benefits women post C-section. Sam loves all things fitness and as an older trainer enjoys working with clients (both male and female) of all ages. Her youngest clients have been primary school age and her oldest have been in their 80s. “Age really is just a number,” she says. “I didn’t even start running until I was 39, after the birth of my fourth child, in a desperate bid to shape up. I ran my latest marathon aged 59.” She now has eight marathons and four half marathons under her belt, across three continents. A journalist before swapping careers, Sam worked on a variety of newspapers, including a national tabloid, as a writer and sub-editor. She keeps her hand-in, writing fitness articles and blogs when she can find the time.