At 15 years old, Blake Peters knew what he wanted to do in life: personal training. But he could not have anticipated the meaningful niche he would find within the field.
Peters now owns his own business, BP Healthxfitness, primarily working with clients who have brain and spinal cord injuries. “I would say that 75 percent of my work is with special populations … they chose me, is how I think of it. I didn’t have any idea it was coming my way, but I’m glad it happened this way. It’s made it all the more special.”
It started back in 2016 when Peters began working as a trainer at Recreational Sports Outdoors Program (RSOP). While working there, he was assigned a client with a disability.
“It raised some questions for me,” Peters says. “Instead of how I can make people more fit, how can I take a basic exercise and make it more functional for life?”
Taking that approach changed Peters’ viewpoint on personal training and its options. Combining his experiences from UMD with his previous work in a group home gave him opportunities to develop his business.
“Working at a group home and RSOP set me up to not have any bias in my work. I focused on fundamentals—look at how they move, then make modifications to best suit them.”
The exercise science major helped with his confidence, understanding, and passion for personal training. “Without the experiences that the major gave me, I wouldn’t have had such a well-rounded scope of knowledge,” Peters says. “I was really surrounded by people who could support me, whereas now I really have to do my own research.”
Classes and labs helped further develop Peters’ understanding. “We were exposed to so many different avenues of where you can take exercise,” he says. “There are options for hospital testing, fitness testing, so many options people don’t think about.”
Now, Peters is continuing to build his business, with a wide variety of options for people to consider. His newest addition will be a yoga class for people with spinal cord injuries. “It’ll be a group of people with some limitations and we’ll be working through it together,” he explains. “It’s been really cool to see all my years of training lead up to this.”
About the Exercise & Rehabilitation Sciences program
This story was written by UMD student Erika Doetkott, who recently graduated with an undergraduate degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Erika assisted Lissa Maki with communications for the College of Education and Human Service Professions.