Why are you here now? You might be at a crossroads in your life and thinking of a career change or retiring soon or thinking of trying something new, you might not be happy in your current job?
I’ll be honest, I’m not very good at writing blog posts and making them seem snappy and interesting, which isn’t the best thing when you’re hoping to start a movement and make the lives for older adults around the country better, but I will do my best.
Starting out
If you’re interested in becoming an exercise instructor for older people to deliver strength and balance classes in your community then I can guarantee you’re in the right place. I left the NHS 6 months ago to start Forever Active which is a strength and balance class for seniors and I’ve been amazed at how it’s grown over that time. It was difficult at first, only a handful of people turned up after doing some quick advertising locally, online and in-person. But word of mouth got round and with a focus on making the classes fun and interactive and teaching seniors that exercise can be fun, it doesn’t have to be grueling or boring.
Building what needs to be built
I have poured over the research to find out what is the best type of exercise older people can do so they can stay strong and independent as they age. The answer is clear, resistance training. Lifting weights builds and maintains muscle strength which is what people need to stay independent for longer. As we can see in the image below we know that as we age we naturally lose muscle strength but we lose up to 44% in our legs. So when it comes to developing an exercise class, this is where we will be focusing on building leg strength. I won’t go any further in this post but rest assured I’ve delved deep into the research and theory when developing these classes. We are putting the research into practice and the best thing is that it really works!
What I feel very strongly about is that our exercise classes are standing and moving, if a person can get themselves to the class then we adapt our classes to keep people safe but also modify and regress/progress an exercise to enable them to gradually build strength and ultimately confidence. If we want people to be able to cope with the demands of moving around when they leave the exercise class then we as instructors need to challenge them so they can thrive and move with confidence, not confined to a chair.
Becoming part of a community
It’s a real privilege helping older people to keep strong and independent as they age but also to help people recover after an illness or injury or an operation. We’ve had a woman join us recently who was in intensive care for six weeks and she’s making great progress already. There’s a real art to creating a strength and balance class that’s fun. It’s not easy but I think that anything of value is never easy.
For me the best part of it all are the changes you notice in people and how you see their confidence improve because they’ve got stronger or when they come and tell you a story about how they’re able to do something now which they weren’t able to do a few weeks ago. You look in their face and you see the pride and happiness in their eyes and smile as they speak and you can’t help but smile and feel that buzz, that energy, that pride. Whenever I have any of these moments with the people that come to the class it’s beautiful, it gives me a great sense of purpose. And they absolutely deserve it too because there are times in the class when it isn’t easy and the people work hard and that’s why when they do notice these improvements I know that they truly deserve it because they’ve worked for it they’ve worked hard for it, they’re investing in themselves, it just takes a bit of creativity on our side as an instructor to help them.
Creating human connection
The way the classes are designed is to get people meeting each other in the class who they didn’t know 30 seconds ago. Rubbing shoulder to shoulder working together, building that camaraderie and togetherness, it’s not rocket science but for some reason as we get older meeting new people just becomes a little bit more difficult. It does make me laugh though because sometimes you have to tell everyone to quieten down so you can carry on with the class but I do like to leave them talking for a little bit, not too long though because there’s work to do!
I see relationships grow in the class, it might sound corny but it’s special, when someone hasn’t come to the class for a couple of weeks you might have someone coming up to you and saying this person hasn’t been recently which then prompts me to give them a little text or call to see how they are. It’s that little community, people looking out for each other. It’s very rewarding to know that something you’ve created helped contribute to this.
Saying no to online
Our classes are face to face, we’re moving away from classes being delivered online. In the modern digital world it seems that everything is moving towards delivering classes online and there’s a part of me that thinks we’re sacrificing what makes us human, that connection. The pandemic has probably sped this up and now for some reason or another it seems that some people think that this is the better way to go about things or see it as progress but I’m not so sure when it comes to an exercise class. For me, the atmosphere when there’s lots of people in a room together talking and laughing, there’s no better way to exercise.
Other benefits
There are other benefits too, the flexibility to work your own hours so it fits around your life but also if you’re considering or enjoying retirement it still allows you to enjoy the things that are important to you such as your family and friends and your interests. Your age has no bearing and your ability.
We’re starting a movement, join us
Our goal is to empower people to age well and to offer local high-quality classes to older people. We want people around the country to have a brilliant exercise class that’s fun but also they get real physical improvements that can improve their lives. Also for people who have had an illness, injury, or surgery and want the chance to regain their physical strength and can continue to do the things they enjoy and love.
We want to add years to life and life to years.
If you would like to join Forever Active and complete our training so you can start your own business as a Forever Active instructor, please get in touch.
Also, if you are an exercise instructor for seniors, what do you love about it? Let me know in the comments.
