Fourteen years ago, fitness guru Shaun T was showing viewers of his TV infomercial how they could get rock-hard abs by following his hip-hop dance program. Today, the 43-year-old lives in Arizona with his husband and their two sons and is less focused on promising quick results.
These days, he hopes to“take people on a journey” rather than encourage them to focus on physical results.
“If your main focus is to get abs, I’m probably not your guy,” he told The Arizona Republic. “I have to (help) build the confidence muscle more than anything.”
Shaun T’s newest Beachbody workout, Let’s Get Up!, is a 30-day cardio and dance program of 24 videos that promise to “lift your booty and lift your spirits.” Prices and streaming options can be found at www.letsgetup.com.
“I can help you find consistency,” said Shaun T, whose fullname is Shaun Blokker. “I can help you dig deep into your reserve so that you can make fitness a lifestyle — and more than a lifestyle — just a part of who you are.”
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‘100% real, 100% authentic’
Blokker has accumulated a fan base of more than 4 million followers across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube. By The Republic’s count, he is one of the most-followed Instagrammers living in Arizona.
Since Hip Hop Abs, he has created programs such as Cize, Focus T25 and Insanity. He started posting short workout videos on Facebook around eight years ago, he said, and decided to expand his online presence after seeing their success.
“I just kept doing what I do best, which is be 100% real (and) 100% authentic,” Blokker said. “The majority of the people in this world, they need to be inspired to move.”
Blokker has a degree in sports science from Rowan University in New Jersey and says he specializes in health promotion. He has taught aerobics, cycling and cardio kickboxing, among other exercise styles.
“I know how to promote health, and I know how to talk to people,” he said. “My first love is cardio fitness — dance fitness — because that was the first class I taught. That’s how I lost my weight. It’s near and dear to my heart.”
Finding joy after ‘the toughest time in my life’
When Blokker projects “fun, joy (and) realness” in his workouts, his inspiration is his 8-year-old self — an age that was “the toughest time in my life,” he said.
That is when a family member — as he told NJ.com in 2016 — started sexually abusing him, he said.
“I’m a sexual abuse survivor, so I have a lot that I had to climb out of,” he told The Republic. “I lived in quicksand for half my life. Now I know how to find joy and help people find the joy.”
Blokker spent his childhood in New Jersey and Philadelphia, according to the NJ.com profile.
“I actually utilize (my) 8-year-old self to give me the power because he was the strongest person I knew. He was the person that had to go through the turmoil of being sexually abused, hiding it and also knowing that he was gay,” Blokker told The Republic.
“A lot of times (I) have to go back to my 8-year-old self to find the strength, to find the confidence, to tell (myself), ‘You’ve been through worse things, and I know you can do it.’”
(Anyone who suspects or is experiencing child abuse can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline, which is staffed with professional crisis counselors 24 hours a day, at 800-422-4453. They are also available over live chat at https://www.childhelp.org.)
Though he’s most known for his fitness videos, Blokker emphasizes mental health in his other content, which includes a podcast, “Trust and Believe With Shaun T;” a blog called Shaun T Life; a paid membership community called the SafeSpace and a Facebook group called Dig Deeper Nation, which has 67,000 members.
“I want to give them a different place to go to where they feel supported,” he said.
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How Lizzo started doing Shaun T’s new workout program
It appears that Blokker can count singer Lizzo among his millions of fans.
On April 23, he shared a video of himself surprising the musician in her garage for her birthday. Chawntá Marie, who dances with Lizzo on tour and owns a dance school, connected the two after filming Let’s Get Up! with Blokker.
According to Blokker, Chawntá Marie would go back to Lizzo’s house after filming and share the routines.
“Lizzo saw her having fun (and) staying fit,” Blokker said. “And Lizzo said to Chawntá, ‘What are you doing? I want to do that.’”
After the birthday surprise, they had a small group workout session in the garage.
“I’m freaking out because I’m surprising Lizzo, and she’s freaking out because Shaun T is about to work out with her in her garage,” Blokker said. “She is amazing and just 100% real, which is my kind of person … I think we both have such great respect for what each other stands for and what each other does.”
Why Shaun T and husband Scott live in Arizona
Moving to Mesa from New York City was “a big shift,” Blokker said. But it didn’t take long for him to fall in love with the weather, resort spas and restaurants.
He and husband Scott Blokker moved to Arizona shortly after getting married in 2012 because Scott’s parents lived in the Valley. They moved into a home owned by Scott’s parents, which is now Shaun Blokker’s “transformation center.”
“One of our fears of moving here is we’re gay, and New York is so liberal,” he said. “So we had some reservations culturally, if you will, but (we) literally haven’t run into any issues in that way.”
Here, there are fun places to take their two sons, and Blokker can play tennis outside almost year-round.
“We live in a really great neighborhood,” Blokker said. “We’re really happy to raise our kids here.”
Reach the reporter at kimi.robinson@gannett.com or at 602-444-4968. Follow her on Twitter @kimirobin and Instagram @ReporterKiMi.
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