As part of our Wellness Week, Rob Lunn from Mamafit UK will be hosting a live session on our Instagram at 11am on Thursday 15 January. It will be a 30 minute HIIT session aimed at all members of the family, including pregnant mothers, new mothers, fathers and children. Before our session, we sat down with Rob to speak all things well-being, Mamafit & Liverpool.
Tell us a bit about yourself! How & when did you start your craft? What inspired you?
Hi, I’m Rob, Dad to two little boys; Max (4) & Harry (1) and the founder of Mamafit®.
I was inspired to create the Mamafit® programme as I wanted to help pregnant women, mums & families become more active, improve their health & boost mental wellbeing.
Through experience and research, I realised there was lots of opportunities to help and ways I could make a difference for local families.
I established Mamafit® before becoming a dad, but my personal experience supporting my partner, Charlotte, through two pregnancies and becoming a parent has helped me grow and develop the programme.
What about Mamafit! Can you tell us a bit more about it? How did it start?
I created the Mamafit® programme after many years working in private & public sector gyms.
It is common to see gym goers cancel their memberships when finding out they are pregnant as they are unsure what they can do or if it is safe for them and, importantly, their baby.
Often, these women do not return to the gym or go back overweight, tired, stressed and unhappy with their bodies.
Having achieved my antenatal & postnatal fitness qualifications in 2003, I thought I could do something to help, so I put together a plan and took my idea to Liverpool Public Health & Liverpool Women’s Hospital who were extremely supportive of the idea, agreeing to partner me to deliver the programme across Liverpool.
Initially, we started with a pilot scheme in a local children’s centre and it snowballed from there! Pre-COVID we were delivering physical activity & lifestyle courses and fitness classes across Merseyside in children’s centres, community centres, schools, local parks & hospitals.
How have things changed for you over the past year? What was the transition like to more online teaching?
As for every small business the last 12 months have been extremely challenging.
COVID has led to huge changes to how we deliver the programme and support we offer, it has, and continues to be a bumpy ride, but are so thankful for all our loyal customers who have stuck by us throughout the pandemic, helping me to stay motivated and look at the positives.
During the first lockdown in March, it was of high priority that we reacted quickly to continue supporting our attendees.
Within a week we had Facebook & Instagram LIVE classes up and running, which not only helped families stay active at home but also brought some normality and structure into people’s days.
The feedback throughout was amazing, it was fantastic to see so many people join in with our workouts and it will always be something I look back on fondly, despite the chaos going on around us.
We now have a strong online offering, providing weekly pregnancy, HIIT and mums fitness classes through Zoom as well as FREE smartphone app which contains a range of home workouts.
We have also developed our FREE physical activity & lifestyle courses to enable online delivery, these courses are fantastic way for mums to not only get active but also connect with other mums and find out more about how to be healthy during pregnancy and into motherhood.
Fully funded courses are available for new & expectant parents living in Liverpool, Knowsley or receiving care at Liverpool Women’s Hospital.
Classes can be booked here: www.bookwhen.com/Mamafit
Do you have any exciting projects in the pipeline? Anything to get the Good people of Liverpool excited about?
Our main focus post COVID is to get back to what we love most; ‘in person’ classes!
We know from talking to past & current attendees mums not only value the education and exercises we provide but also the opportunity to socialise and meet other mums, I think the last year has shown us more than ever how important ‘in person’ contact and connection is to our mental health & wellbeing.
Once restrictions allow, we cannot wait to start bringing more mums & families together!
We are all about supporting our neighbours and local independents, if you could give any advice to other Liverpool businesses, what would it be?
Talk to and involve your potential customers in all key decision making. Mamafit® is proud to be built around local people, they are at the heart of everything we do.
If you make a difference to just one person, then you are doing a good job.
Smile and let your personality shine.
Being a Liverpool based marketplace, what do you think makes Liverpool so special?
Diversity, we love supporting and talking to people from all different backgrounds & cultures.
We have mums from across Liverpool and around the world attend our classes, over the last few months alone we have had mums from Spain, Italy, Africa, Portugal, China & Brazil attend our classes.
The blend of mums from across all areas of Liverpool mixed with mums from around the world at classes is fantastic; Mamafit® encourages, and provides a platform for, people to meet and develop friendships with people from all types of backgrounds and situations.
One of the most rewarding aspects of what we do is seeing mums come together to support each other in many different ways.