Sam Wood: the private world of our new wellness coach
Right about now, The Bachelor’s Sam Wood and his fiancee should have been saying “I do” at a secret location on the Amalfi Coast, but the appearance of two blue lines on a pregnancy test suddenly changed the horizon.
The impending arrival of The Bachelor’s first baby is the latest development in a thoroughly modern love story, sparked when Sam and Snezana Markoski from Perth locked eyes in season three of the reality show.
When Sam allowed himself to be talked into applying for the show (by a client of his fitness studio who was an ardent Bachelor fan), he never really believed he would be the chosen one, much less find the love of his life and a ready-made family.
Two years later Snez and her 12-year-old daughter Eve have moved to the other side of the country.
“We live together and are having a baby. It’s as crazy as it seems,” the 37-year-old Sam cheerfully admits, with the wide smile that bedazzled more than just the 21 bachelorettes on season three of the Channel Ten show.
The couple, with faithful labrador Hendrix at heel, arrive at The Woodshed – Sam’s Brighton fitness studio, which houses 21 personal trainers, exercise therapists and a health food cafe – looking so wholesome they could launch a Weet-Bix range. Oh, that’s right, they did!
Their appeal to advertisers and the public alike is borne out by the numbers. Before The Bachelor, Sam had 320 Instagram followers and Snez “could barely even post a picture, let alone have a following”. Now more than 600,000 people follow the combined Insta and Facebook worlds of Snez, Sam and his online fitness program, 28 by Sam Wood.
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Since he launched the program 18 months ago, 60,000 people have taken up the challenge to transform their lives in 28-minute daily exercise sessions, with 12,000 people doing the program on a monthly basis.
And while Sam – who has been a highly respected fitness professional for 17 years – wasn’t so naive as to think appearing on The Bachelor wouldn’t help his business, he has been “amazed by the reach and strength of social media”.
“I think when you can show people that you are real too, and that you understand the challenges they face, it really helps build connection and empathy, and your ability to help people on a more real level,” he says.
“We don’t live in this perfect bubble and can understand where they are coming from – particularly if they are a mum and their world is thrown into chaos on a daily basis.”
“Oh yeah!” confirms Snez, 36, who, now in her third trimester, has only recently stopped suffering “all-day sickness”.
Sam – who has always loved kids and founded Gecko Sports, a fun-fitness program for primary school children, in 2006 – is delighted at the prospect of becoming a dad.
“It wasn’t so much that we were trying to get pregnant as we weren’t not trying,” he laughs. “Snez knew something was up and did the test while I was at work, and then when I got home she did it again and shared the news once she was certain.
“It was just lucky we hadn’t quite sent out the wedding invitations, but it was close.
“As much as I want to get married, having the baby is a much bigger thing. Us being married doesn’t change much; us having a baby changes everything.”
Eve is also eagerly anticipating the baby. “She can’t wait. She keeps looking at little outfits and toys for her baby sister,” Snez says.
There was no question about Snez keeping the sex of the baby a secret. “I can’t not know,” she says. “I don’t think it ruins the surprise, I think it helps you prepare. It will be a beautiful surprise anyway because you have never met this little person growing inside you.”
Snez and Sam acknowledge it’s Eve who has had to make the biggest adjustment to their new life in Melbourne.
“Our absolute focus was whether Eve was comfortable with the rollercoaster crazy world that we have thrown her into that includes moving schools, moving states,” Sam says.
“My friends joked and said, ‘Mate, could you have made it any trickier? Couldn’t you have chosen a Melbourne girl?’. But geography wasn’t one of the criteria. It was, ‘Is there a girl I can genuinely fall in love with?’ – and there was only one.”
Eve was privy to the relationship from the earliest days and, in the 11 weeks between filming the finale and it going to air, she knew her mum was going to win The Bachelor.
“Snez and I were being flown to obscure remote locations around Australia in this undercover, Jason Bourne-style operation, where we would go into carparks and swap cars and drive out the other side. We weren’t able to fly into the same state on the same day in case the media put two and two together – and this little girl was a vault, she didn’t tell a soul,” Sam says.
Snez’s pregnancy has inevitably escalated the media interest in the couple, but they both accept it as part of the territory.
“You can’t go, ‘I want all these opportunities that I would never have had without the show but, no I don’t want you to take a photo’,” Sam says.
“I remember one of the producers said to me, ‘Mate, you need to understand just how much your life is going to be turned upside down by this. You are going to go from complete obscurity to people noticing and whispering everywhere you go’.
“I probably brushed it off, but he was so right. Mind you, he didn’t say anything about a baby,” says the totally ex-bachelor, laughing.
Sam’s tips for staying in shape in winter
Set yourself a winter goal
So you do not hibernate.
Don’t resort to heavier foods because it is cold
Choose healthy options like winter salads and soups to make sure your portion size/calorie intake doesn’t blow out.
Choose workouts that you know will work for you
Embrace workouts at home to eliminate excuses about it being too cold or too far to travel.
Lay out your clothes at night
And set the alarm on the other side of the room so you can’t just snooze it. If you have to get out of bed to switch off the alarm and your workout gear is ready to go, the excuses won’t beat you.
Team up with a workout buddy
So you can keep one another in check and get through winter together.
Look out for Sam’s regular wellness column starting next week in The Weekly Review!
