A PERSONAL trainer, who has been recognised for the fitness classes he provides for people with special needs and disabilities, has been nominated for a Proud of Barnsley award.
Colin Dobson, 43, owns a training studio, Dobson Fitness, at a unit on Wharncliffe Business Park at Carlton, which he runs with his best friend Jamie Pearson.
As well as the usual work you can expect to receive at a fitness centre, Colin and his team provide health and fitness to special needs clients who can’t train in a mainstream gym because they find it too difficult or uncomfortable.
This has been a huge success and they are now running between 18 to 20 sessions per week.
Colin said: “The idea started when I began training Steven Symonds, who is autistic, he is one of my success stories and is the first person I started delivering training sessions to at the gym.
“I started off by giving Steven the odd half hour session here and there, whenever I had some free time. It has transformed his life, increasing his fitness, lowering his anxiety and helping him control his stress levels.
“When he first came he was morbidly obese and never moved from his bedroom, he had no motivation to anything and his mum was trying to get him to do voluntary work just to get him out more.
“Since this he has gone from one session to two sessions a week, he’s started a part time and his confidence is improving. His sleep pattern has improved. The difference is amazing.
“It really made me think to myself, if I opened up these sessions to more people with special needs and disabilities, I could help so many people.”
People who visit the special needs fitness classes not only benefit from weight loss and improved health, but it also helps to build their confidence and give them a sense of independence they may not have necessarily had before.
In March, Dobson Fitness launched a Crowdfunding campaign to expand the fitness studio so they could beef up the number of classes to meet demand.
“The response was fantastic,” said Colin. “It was much better than we expected, we raised more than £21,000 which allowed us to not only expand the facility but also take on another member of staff, it’s grown so much.”
The money also paid for disabled-friendly alterations to the new unit and helped to buy some specialist equipment.
David said: “I don’t profit at all from that side of the business, I just want to help as much as I can.
“There’s nothing else like this in the area, the NHS, care homes and community groups often do not have the facilities or a big enough space to offer exercise to those with disabilities or special needs such as autism or cerebral palsy or if they do it is basic classes, nothing dedicated or targeted.
“Sensory overload is the biggest barrier to using a public gym, it seems to cause a spike in anxiety.”
Colin started by trying a small class of people with learning difficulties, some had Down’s Syndrome, others had cerebal palsy, and they were all young adults aged 16-30. This quickly grew from two clients to 12, another community group then got involved and it continued to grow.
Colin said: “I can’t quite believe I have been nominated for this award, I didn’t expect it at all but it’s brilliant.”
