Sheridan defends trip to glamour of Dubai
A fitness influencer who escaped the third lockdown to work in Dubai has hit back at those who have slammed other social media stars for doing the same.
Personal trainer Sheridan Mordew, 24, arrived in Dubai on January 2, which was just a few days before the third national lockdown, and planned to film live workouts to inspire her clients back home in the UK.
Since then, the social media star, who runs Sunderland-based business ‘Shape Up With Sher,’ has been sharingglamorous,sunshine-filled content with her 12,000-plus Instagram followers as she enjoys the relaxed restrictions in the United Arab Emirates.
Sheridan, from Hebburn, who usually runs classes in
Sunderland, flew from Manchester with initial plans to stay for two weeks but now plans on staying until the end of March.
She said :" I was doing classesin my garden during the first lockdown. I was doing the live workouts but then when the second lock down hit, I couldn' t do anything other than the live stuff. So I just thought; 'Why not go to Dubai?'
"I was already doing the live workouts from home but I knew I could do it from Dubai. It didn't matter where in the world I was.”
Sheridan initially travelled to Dubai in December for eight days and returned home before travelling back out in January.
She is currently staying in an apartment where she is filming regular live workouts for clients back home and says she has funded the trip herself.
"Other personal trainers might not necessarily jump on a plane to Dubai to promote themselves,” she said.
"They might do things in the house and take photos in the mirror. There is not much you can do.
"So I thought: 'How can I get clients in my area that will benefit myself by getting business?'Mental health and physical things aside, booking a trip to Dubai is business.
"That is how I can increase my clientele so when I come back at the end of March, when gyms start to re open, I am pretty confident in knowing that I can carry on the online stuff when I am back in the UK."
Since then the fitness star has seen her number of clients increase and believes being in Dubai has helped to motivate and inspire those who take part.
"Because I am in Dubai, it motivates them as well,” she said. "A lot of the girls are like, ‘Oh my God! You are such an inspiration being in the sun when everyone else is stuck in the house’.
"Sometimes, I feel guilty and feel like I shouldn't really be out here because it is unfair on everyone else but then, at the end of the day, they could have gone out as well.
"I was going through a tough time during the lockdown – my business was declining and I wasn’ t making as much money during the start of the year becauseof the classes shut down.
"The only way that I was going to be happy was to do what I was doing but to be in the sun, to get fresh air, to exercise, togo to the gym.”
Sheridan says that those who criticise may not understand the industry and the need to be in such locations to sell products.
"Influencers get paid per post."You need to be in places where you are going to make money – which is not sitting in the house on the sofa watching Netflix."