Revive Fitness Classes is husband and wife team, Amanda & Simon Pickstock, with friends Katy Harris, Sharron Norman and Karin Barker. Amanda founded Revive Fitness in 2017 after falling in love with fitness in her mid-40s. Both Amanda and Simon were both self-employed retailers and previously worked in the magazine publishing industry. Revive began with a single class taught by Amanda and has grown to around 25 classes a week, held online and in community spaces in South and East Bristol.
Our customers describe Revive as a caring, friendly community, where anyone can walk into a class and feel welcome, confortable and included. Revive instructors are dedicated, passionate and provide fun, creative class formats to ensure your body or your mind never gets bored, to keep you coming back for more.
Revive offers a wide variety of class styles to suit all ages and fitness levels. Simon specialises in Personal Training & Nutrition, as well as teaching many strength-based classes. Amanda is a MenoFIT™ Coach and specialises in women’s wellbeing and older adult fitness, when she isn’t dancing to Clubbercise tunes in neon lycra or swinging a kettlebell. Katy also teaches Clubbercise, Body Tone and her favourite class Boxercise, voted Revives favourite class! You’ll find Karin and Sharron jumping around on rebounders and in rebound boots or teaching Legs, Bums and Tums and Shred.
Amanda
I was a late comer to fitness. Age 43 and peri-menopausal, I had to take some positive action towards improving my health and fitness. I struggled with weight all my life, yo-yoing constantly and never sticking with exercise. I started the couch to 5k and quickly found that I loved the feeling that running gave me, but sadly my joints didn’t. So I tried rebounding and bounced around in a pair of crazy boots which remove most of the impact and this is where it all began.
I became a Group Fitness Instructor in 2017 and qualified as and Level 2 Gym Instructor and Exercise to Music. I went on to do a Personal Training Qualification in 2019 and L3 Acive Older Adults in 2020. I am certified in Chair Fitness, Clubbercise®, Step Aerobics, Spinning®, Jumple®, Kettlebells, Circuit Training, Pure Stretch, Boxercise®, MenoFIT™ Coaching and ReBounding.
I love teaching older adults and my visits to a local assisted living home, where I help the residents with improving their mobility is the highlight of my week. In 2018 I designed an older adults class called Happy Hearts and there are so many women up to age 90 enjoying movement with me each week. My other favourite sessions are Clubbercise, Kettlebells and Legs, Bums and Tums. I love getting sweaty with cardio and dance classes, but its the Kettlebells and body conditioning that has really helped me shape my body. I want other women to feel like I do about exercise and eating healthy. If you enjoy exercise you are more likely to stick with it. I turned my life around in my 40’s and always aim to inspire others to get involved and do the same. Its never too late.
Simon
As someone who has often struggled with weight management, exercise has always been key for me to keep my weight under control. I’ve always enjoyed recreational cycling as well as commuting to work by bike and I started attending Spinning® classes in 2017, enjoying it so much that I decided to become a Spinning® instructor, gaining certification in early 2019. This was quickly followed by the completion of my Level 2 gym instructor & circuit training certification. I then moved straight onto my Level 3 Personal training qualification, also obtaining a certification in Kettlercise®, shortly afterwards.
Cycling six miles to work and teaching four classes a week was a great way to keep fit, but since becoming a full-time instructor I have been able to push not only our class attendees to reach new fitness goals, but myself, as well. Exercise gives me such a buzz and seeing everyone’s happy, smiling faces at the end of a class is a great reward, too.
As a former technology journalist, I specialised in breaking complex subjects down into easy-to-understand steps and I bring that approach to my fitness training, helping you to understand exactly why form & technique are so important.
As a Personal Trainer, I help clients achieve specific goals, such as building muscular strength, recovering from illness or injury, weight management and improving general fitness. I have a L2 qualification in understanding nutrition and health, which enables me to help clients understand how their diet impacts their health and fitness.
Katy
For around four years I knew I needed to change my lifestyle as I was overweight, unfit and making poor choices. I had tried various gyms, workout DVDs, etc. but my commitment just fizzled out, over time.
My fitness journey began on 2nd January 2018 when I committed to the ‘new year, new start’ and joined Revive fitness classes. I started with Boxercise®. I will never forget the way I felt after the first class – I left with a spring in my step and couldn’t wait for the following week. Before I knew it, one class per week became two, three, four and the list goes on!
Amanda and Simon made me fall in love with exercise and after a few months, I soon realised I wanted exercise to be a permanent part of my life. I decided to start the journey into teaching fitness and signed up for my Level 2 qualification. I am qualified to teach Kettlebells, Boxercise®, Kickboxercise® and Rebound (Mini-trampolines).
Revive fitness classes have changed my life for the better – I am happier and healthier than I have ever been and now to be on the teaching side of Revive fitness classes is a privilege.