Leanne

I'm Leanne, a Pain-Free Movement Specialist, Pilates Teacher, Fitness Instructor and Coach. I am also the Chief Executive Officer and one of the directors so I am working in the background on the strategic direction of Mobilates and the running of a thriving company.

I founded Mobilates as a sole trader in 2019. Then as Mobilates got bigger I realised it would be unsustainable to be solely in charge of such an important community, and also risky. If something happened to me I'd want everyone to still be able to access accessible exercise and the support associated.

So in 2024 I changed our constitution to a not-for-profit Community Interest Company. This means that everything we do is in the best interests of our amazing community - Da Mob, and not to make a profit. So all income gets fed back into paying the teachers, facilitators and running costs and enables us to grow so we can help more people than ever before.

I understand what it is like not to be the fittest in a fitness class or the person hiding at the back doing all the wrong moves. In my classes you won't experience any of this. Or if you are going in the wrong direction, I probably will be too! You will be fully included in the group. You may find you work hard but we will keep you safe and I can guarantee you will also have fun. Everyone who attends is so friendly and welcoming that you will soon start making friends and look forward to every class.

How I got here...

Having struggled for years with mobility issues and pain, I was very lucky to find Pilates.

In 2016 I was diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (the hypermobility type) after a lifetime of joint pain, headaches, and gastrointestinal and respiratory issues. It was amazing for me to finally know what was wrong. The only problem was, that there is no cure and no one really knows how to help. I had countless appointments with physios, occupational therapists, consultants, and doctors. I tried all sorts of medication, acupuncture, massage, osteopathy, and hydrotherapy and nothing was helping. I started looking for a wheelchair so that I could get around more easily and even that wasn't successful as the self-propelling wheelchairs hurt the joints in my arms and made everything worse. I was spending longer and longer in bed and was losing hope. I also have trouble with my lungs and was diagnosed with POTs and Endometriosis. A lot of us in mobilates have extensive lists of multiple long term health conditions!

Until, one day, my remedial massage therapist suggested I try Pilates. I joined a Beginners' class and pretty much cried my way through the first 6 weeks as it was so painful! However, I stuck at it as I'd learned that one of the biggest enemies for people with chronic health conditions is "deconditioning". I was very deconditioned after limiting my movement due to pain and on the ill-informed advice of many physios. From beginners, I joined a Pilates Lite class. This gave me the confidence to take part within my own limits as the class was specifically for people who needed to take it a bit easier. My confidence grew and grew and I found I was having fewer dislocations, the pain was reducing and I was feeling so much better in myself. It took a couple of years of Pilates classes and doing Pilates at home on a daily basis to become the person I am today.

That is when I realised I could help other people enhance their lives through Pilates and so trained to become a Pilates teacher. I'll never be the fittest "fitness instructor" that you meet. I still have the occasional injury and often I'll be breathless while teaching.... but I know that Pilates can help everyone to be the strongest they can be.

I have a dream of helping more people with long term health conditions and disabilities to become fitness instructors so that there are more people with lived experience able to deliver sport and physical activity for people like us.

​
Recent additional training undertaken includes:
"Pain-Free Movement Specialist" - Fitpro
"Coaching clients in pain" - Fitpro
"Pilates for MS" with Sara McGowan, Lead Physiotherapist at Samson Centre for MS
"Training clients with long term health conditions" - FitPro
"Spine Safe Pilates" - Cherry Baker Education
"Cancer and Exercise" - FitPro
"Pilates for Hypermobility" - APPI
"COVID 19 Awareness Training" - ReActivate
Nutriri facilitation, teaching people to find food and body ease, coaching and hypnotherapy
"Parkinson's Awareness training for exercise and physical activity providers" - UK Parkinson's Excellence Network
"Cancer and Exercise - Movement Matters" with Professor Anna Campbell MBE - FitPro
"WalkFit" with Rachel Holmes - Choreography To Go
"How to Help Clients with their Pain: a Neurophysiological Perspective" with Kevin Murray - FitPro
"Sit Fitness Teacher Training" - Choreography To Go
I'm also covered by First Aid Level 3 Award and Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Level 1