{"id":5974,"date":"2014-08-20T15:09:18","date_gmt":"2014-08-20T15:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fitproblog.mysites.io\/fitness-professional-of-the-year\/"},"modified":"2014-08-20T15:09:18","modified_gmt":"2014-08-20T15:09:18","slug":"fitness-professional-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/fitness-professional-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Shehan left humbled and says thank you to his children"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fitness Professional of the Year Award winner John Shehan tells\u00a0<strong>Olivia Hubbard\u00a0<\/strong>what it means for him to be recognised after 17 years of presenting at fitness conventions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>John Shehan has an impressive portfolio. More than that, Shehan has an impressive personality, honing and successfully demonstrating his fantastic people skills to the group X fitness industry. It is no surprise, then, that Shehan has been working in the industry for over 15 years as a group exercise manager, with extensive experience as an international fitness presenter. Shehan has also appeared in Australia, as well teaching his classes throughout the UK.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-318\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/John-award-resized.jpg\" alt=\"John award resized\" width=\"289\" height=\"434\" \/>To say winning the Fitness Professional of the Year Award at FitPro Live 2014 didn\u2019t mean an awful lot to him would be unjust, off beam \u2013 a complete lie. A fairly emotional Shehan remarks that winning the award was \u201cthe cherry on top\u201d, using the words \u201chumbled\u201d and \u201chonoured\u201d to sum up the applause.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The group X instructor reveals that he didn\u2019t particularly campaign in order to secure votes. \u201cIf I\u2019m honest, I didn&#8217;t really do much campaigning for the award. I did put out a couple of messages on Twitter and Facebook but wanted to leave the rest up to the public to make their own decision without feeling obligated to vote because I had asked them to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So, as the interview panel arrived and all eyes began to pinpoint the prospective trophy winner, Shehan was calm and collected as he soaked up the \u201ceclectic\u201d energy inside the ExCeL centre. \u201cI tried not to think about the interview process; I wanted to enter the room without any perceived ideas about what they might ask. I decided I would just wait to see what they wanted to ask me and answer openly and honestly on the day. I never want to try and be something I\u2019m not or give an answer I think someone wants to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Business insider<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The group X instructor remarks on his class technique, saying, \u201cThe way I run my classes and give the most to the participants that show up for class is to leave <em>my<\/em> life outside the studio doors. When I walk into a studio, everything I do becomes about them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He adds, \u201cBefore I start each class, I think \u2018these people came here tonight to be fulfilled and I need to deliver\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Champagne corks pop<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Lamb shanks consumed, the party of well-fed fit pros eased into an evening of top-quality DJs, dancing and conversation. FitPro director Jane Waller was on stage to offer a warm congratulations to a bewildered Shehan. Eagerly accepting the award, Shehan thanked those industry professionals who have offered not just expertise but also the support that helped Shehan to break the rules. \u201cI allowed myself to believe that I was worthy of winning the Fitness Professional of the Year Award!\u201d exclaims Shehan.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Shehan has watched the FitPro event dramatically develop over the years, from Loughborough\u2019s foundations to the ultimate fitness event at ExCeL London. \u201cThe energy and atmosphere are in the same place at the same time at ExCeL and not spread out over a huge university campus. It brought everyone together and the positivity and camaraderie was electric,\u201d Shehan enthuses.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If the group X instructor was to highlight his ultimate moment of the entire weekend, then we would have to isolate his applause to Katie Piper\u2019s noteworthy opening speech. \u201cKatie Piper was an inspiration. She is truly a wonderful and special person, and she totally blew me away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Off stage and away from the jazz and the joyous chorus of lively chants, who is Shehan\u2019s biggest inspiration? \u201cI would have to say my two wonderful children. They go through life thinking anything and everything is possible and don&#8217;t allow anything to stop them from achieving their dreams,\u201d he concludes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fitness Professional of the Year Award winner John Shehan tells\u00a0Olivia Hubbard\u00a0what it means for him&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5976,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[54,47,55,56,57],"class_list":{"0":"post-5974","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-group-exercise","8":"tag-after-party","9":"tag-fitpro-awards","10":"tag-fitpro-live-2014","11":"tag-group-exercise","12":"tag-john-shehan"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5974"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}