Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

How to buy the right exercise equipment for your residents


NIFS | Management ServicesThere are a lot of news releases lately outlining new construction or expansion projects in senior living. Many of those projects include outfitting a brand new or dramatically overhauled community fitness center.

Because the construction projects are typically significant and encompass more space than just a fitness center, it’s easy to get lost in the details about treadmill features when you need to answer questions about flooring, HVAC demands, city permits, and more. And even within the four walls of the senior fitness center, there are several other things to be concerned about beyond simply selecting the equipment.

[Read More: 5 things to avoid when building a fitness center for senior living]

To help you streamline decision making about your community's new fitness center and increase the chances that the purchase decisions you make are the right ones, we've offered some key questions to ask before you buy fitness equipment to outfit your updated space.  The list isn't comprehensive (you should hire a consultant for that), but it will provide a solid starting point to get to the bottom of determining what’s best for your residents.

Short on time? Download the list of questions here. >

As you’re working with the reps, make sure you’re clear about the age and ability level of your intended user. The same is true if you want to send out residents to test equipment at a local gym (sales reps may offer this). Make sure you send residents who are a good representation of those you expect will use your updated fitness amenities.

And one last note of clarification before you dive into the questions. NIFS does not sell any exercise equipment, nor do we receive any benefit from equipment manufacturers. These questions are based purely on our years of experience helping clients design and equip their fitness centers for a range of audiences.

Strength Equipment

It comes in a lot of shapes and sizes.

  • Pneumatic: An air compressor regulates the amount of pressure against which the user works.
  • Selectorized: Plate adjusted, with the user pulling out and reinserting a pin for the desired weight.
  • Band technology: Weights are replaced with bands used as pulleys to generate resistance.
  • Body resistance: The user works against his or her own body weight (and gravity) to generate a workload.

When it comes to thinking through questions for your sales reps, consider these:

  • How is the resistance adjusted by the user?
  • What is the starting weight for each piece and can that be lowered in our order if our population needs that?
  • Are the seat heights, leg positions, seat backs, etc. adjustable per user? If so, how are they adjusted?
  • Is there any other equipment I need to purchase to make your equipment fully functional for us? (Some equipment requires a computer, other equipment requires a compressor, etc.).
  • What is the warranty on the equipment?
  • (When the equipment comes with a software component…) Do you provide training to our onsite staff to learn how to make the best use of your software? Do you offer technical support?

Cardiovascular Equipment

In general, your fitness facility should have a range of cardiovascular equipment, including treadmills, ellipticals, recumbent cross-trainers (think NuStep or a similar product), and bikes. In some cases, we’ve seen rowing machines included, too. (They provide a great workout; we’re just not sure it’s an ideal piece for most residents.)

Some basic questions are true for each type of cardiovascular equipment:

  • What’s the warranty?
  • Who is the warranty-certified repair company in our area?
  • What are the power needs for this piece?
  • Can I see the detailed screen of the computer console? (You’ll want to see how user-friendly it is for your audience.)
  • Does it connect with any wearable technology, or can we opt for an interactive console?
  • If we don’t elect an interactive console now, can we change them out later?
  • Treadmills
    • What’s the step height on your treadmills?
    • What’s the starting speed?
  • Does the unit decline or only incline?

Ellipticals

  • Is the piece rear- or side-entry?
  • What is the clearance threshold or step height to access the piece?
  • Does it come with stationary arms?
  • Does the elliptical require external power? If not, (1) ask what the starting wattage requirement is, and (2) ask if there is an optional AC adapter. If no adapter is available, note that we’ve found anything requiring a starting wattage higher than about 15W is too difficult for many residents to power.

Bikes

You’ll want to consider traditional upright bikes and recumbent bikes. Matrix offers a hybrid bike that presents an interesting option as well.

  • Do you have an upright bike with a pass-through design?
  • Does the bike require external power? If not, (1) ask what the starting wattage requirement is, and (2) ask if there is an optional AC adapter. If no adapter is available, note that we’ve found anything requiring a starting wattage higher than about 15W is too difficult for many residents to power.

General Questions

These are general questions to ask any vendor regardless of the type of equipment you’re considering buying.

  • What’s the primary market your company serves? (Ask for clarity in sales volume.)
  • Can I talk to a practitioner who has used your equipment with an 85+-year-old population?

This last round of questions has nothing to do with the function of the equipment for the residents. It’s really focused on details for your overall fitness program and the role the equipment plays in your fitness center, which should be a hallmark space in the community.

  • Can I customize colors on frame and upholstery (for strength equipment) to match our brand?
  • Are you able/willing to customize your equipment with our logo?

You’re making a significant investment by building a new fitness center or overhauling your current community fitness space. Make sure you get the right equipment to increase the chances for a vibrant and successful fitness program that will support this generation of residents and the next. These questions will help guide and inform your equipment decisions, but if you want to better understand how to design the fitness center with your resident's needs in mind, consider downloading our quick read below.

How to design your fitness center with the resident's needs in mind

Topics: nifs fitness management CCRC fitness center resident wellness programs fitness center for seniors

Top 5 things to avoid when building a fitness center for senior living communities

senior fitnessWe work on a lot of build/design projects in retirement communities where the project is either new construction for a new community, or the plan is part of a repositioning that includes enhanced wellness spaces and services.  If you follow industry trends, you see it all the time in press releases, RSS feeds and other media avenues:  ground breakings for projects that include a state-of-the-art wellness wing, indoor/outdoor pool complex, etc.  Communities are  serious about folding resident wellness into their broader business strategy to remain viable in the market. Over my years at NIFS, I’ve had the pleasure of working on dozens of fitness center builds.  As you can imagine, I’ve learned quite a bit along the way. Below are our top five recommendations (in random order) on pitfalls to avoid during your design journey.


#5 – Don’t let your design team talk you out of consulting with an expert who is used to programming fitness spaces

You should rely 100% on your architectural team to provide all the elements of the space that speak to code, compliance, overall flow and esthetics as those elements relate to the  broader project goal.  But it’s not reasonable to expect them to understand how your personal trainers and fitness manager will work with your residents in the space.  Unless your architect had a previous career managing a fitness center for an active older adult audience, my hunch (based on my experience) is that he might miss some key elements in the design that would ultimately inhibit the end-user experience. 

#4 –Don’t overlook the value of qualified management for your fitness areas.

There is nothing worse than pouring money into fabulous state-of-the-art digs than to have them sit idle after the grand opening.  We know that senior living fitness centers are not an “if you build it they will come” proposition.  Your resident audience will be expecting support to use the pool, fitness center, and other health-related spaces.  Plan to hire a qualified manager who is dedicated to running this physical dimension of your wellness strategy.  (Note – this is not the same as your fee-for-service personal trainer.)  You’ll be glad you did.
 

#3 – Don’t assume that what you’re planning for today will fit you tomorrow.

If you follow #5 and #4 above, you’ll be quite pleased with how well-utilized the exercise programs are in your community.  And it won’t be long before you need to add another treadmill, a mat table, or another piece of equipment.  If you design with growth in mind, you’ll be able to do some subtle shifting of existing equipment to make new pieces fit.  Similarly, if you anticipate that the space and services will quickly become wildly popular, you may need to add staffing.  Planning for additional staff workspace is also essential.
 

#2 – Don’t get swept up by a sales pitch from an equipment vendor. 

Exercise equipment comes in a lot of shapes and sizes – it is not one size fits all.  Treadmills can vary widely on the marketplace in terms of features, cost, warranty, and ease of use.  Do your homework (or hire someone to help you) and avoid being swayed by the sales pitches from equipment retailers.  All of them will put together a layout for you at “no extra cost”.  All of them will tell you they’ve been in the active aging market for decades.  All of them will tell you that they have the best science behind their product.  It’s a very buyer beware market.
 

#1 – Don’t get tunnel vision on what a quality fitness program (bricks and mortar + management) can do for your residents and the greater community. 

Expand your vision of what’s possible in the space.  If you can dream big on this project, you’ll be able to anticipate where the market is headed for resident wellness.  Do you have an opportunity to capitalize on your local neighbors for some revenue by opening up your fitness center and services to the 55+ community who does not yet live on your campus?  Can you see a path to combine therapy and wellness in your new space where the transition of care is seamless for your residents? How do you need to design the space to support these concepts as part of your future?  Think about separate entrances, equipment, user privacy needs, data lines and medical records storage.  What has to be in place for your dream space to become a reality and potentially a new best practice in resident fitness programming? It can be both exciting and daunting to embark on a substantial construction project. Getting the right stakeholders to the design table early will help you carefully navigate some of the common pitfalls I noted above. 
 

NIFS Expertise Makes Our Approach Unique

We have designed dozens of client fitness centers to maximize function and flow in the space with diverse equipment options that meet the needs of active older adults. Check out our case study on how we took the guesswork and the legwork out of a large scale project for a client in Brentwood, Tennessee.

Find out more about NIFS consulting services by clicking below. We can help you bring the best programming, fitness center design and staffing to your community.

Find out more about NIFS Consulting Services >

Topics: active aging nifs fitness management senior center solutions CCRC fitness center staying active

Using the NuStep for Building Cardio, Endurance, and Strength

Nustep (1)The NuStep is a great multifunctional piece of equipment. Did you know the NuStep can be used for more than just building endurance? You can build strength, cardio, AND endurance depending how you use it. This is what makes the NuStep such a versatile piece of equipment in a senior living fitness center and why NIFS has partnered with NuStep for Pump it for Parkinson’s on Tuesday, April 11! This one-day event invites senior living communities across the country to come together, learn how Parkinson’s Disease affects our friends and neighbors while raising awareness on the benefits of exercise for those fighting back against the disease! We’ll be utilizing, you guessed it, the NuStep! Participation is free and communities will have a chance to win a NuStep T6 Cross Trainer. We’d love to have your community help us meet our goal of 1 million steps to honor the 1 million people in the US with Parkinson’s Day! Visit our Pump it for Parkinson’s page to complete your community’s registration and receive free tools to help in your planning.

As for taking your residents’ workouts to the next level on the NuStep, check out these great coaching techniques!

Using the NuStep for Endurance: Besides just getting on and going, have a plan when trying to build endurance with the NuStep. To help build endurance, make sure the resistance of the machine is moderately set. About a 4-6 on your 1-10 RPE (rating of perceived exertion) scale. Make sure you are maintaining your steps per minute! To help improve your endurance over time, add one to two minutes to the duration of your exercise session every week. This can help you go for a longer amount of time without taking a break.

Using the NuStep for Strength: To build strength with the NuStep, try this simple workout. After a warmup of about five minutes, turn your resistance up to a challenging level, about a 7-9 on your RPE scale. Using only your arms (feet are resting off the peddles), row at a moderate to quick pace for two minutes. After the two minutes, switch to just using your legs (arms resting on the arm rests), also peddling at the same pace for two more minutes. After the two minutes are up and now using your full body, peddle for five minutes on the same resistance. Repeat the cycle for the duration of your workout. Building strength can help you maintain independence, increase bone health, and increase muscle mass.

Using the NuStep for Cardio: To increase your cardiovascular fitness, you can try interval or high intensity interval training (HIIT). This will help increase the functional ability of your heart and lungs. Make sure you warm up for at least five minutes at a low resistance. After your warm up, increase the resistance to a moderate-vigorous level, about a 7-9 on your RPE scale, and peddle quickly for 60 seconds maintaining your steps per minute. After the 60 seconds is over, lower your resistance to a 4-5 on your RPE scale and decrease your steps per minute for a 60 second recovery. Repeat for the duration of your workout. You can adjust the amount of time as necessary. 30 seconds on, 90 seconds off, and so forth.

Make sure you are finishing your workout with a cooldown and some light stretching. Also make sure you are using the NuStep with good posture and that the machine is adjusted correctly for you. Before starting a workout, consult your physician and exercise professional if certain types of exercise are right for you. The NuStep can be a great alternative to other equipment which may be confusing to use, difficult to get in and out of, or aggravates an ailment. Check out a variety of NuStep workouts by visiting their website!

Join us for our Pump It for Parkinson's Event and receive a free program guide and resources to host this event at your community, April 11! Click below for more information. 

Learn More: Pump It for Parkinson's

Topics: CCRC fitness center senior living senior living fitness center equipment resident fitness exercise and aging Pump It for Parkinson's

The NuStep - a Senior Living Fitness Center Must Have

PUMP IT FOR PARKINSONS SOCIAL (11)When designing a senior living fitness center, there are many factors that aid in the decision process when choosing equipment for our clients and their residents. We want to incorporate equipment that is cost effective, easy to move, applicable and safe for many individuals, and of course enjoyable. Here are five reasons why the NuStep is a staple in the senior living fitness centers managed by NIFS!

  • Confidence Builder – We often have residents with limited exercise experience, or they may have joint pain that they feel limits their ability to exercise. The thoughtful step-thru design and swivel seat make the task of sitting and getting into position comfortable and safe for many users. The low impact motion is a great way for residents to move their upper and lower body to gain the confidence that they can exercise, and they feel better by doing it!
  • Size of the NuStep – The size of models will vary depending on the year manufactured but, in most cases, a NuStep is about 3.5 ft tall x 5 ft in length and 2.5 ft wide. With these dimensions, it doesn’t take up too much space in your senior living fitness center. The average weight for a NuStep is two-hundred pounds. Once the machine is in use, it stays sturdy in one location for our senior living community.
  • Ease of Use – NuStep cross trainers are beginner friendly and designed to be applicable to a wide range of individuals. Residents don’t even have to press buttons or try to understand complicated display monitors to turn it on or off. As soon as they start pumping their arms and legs, the machine turns on automatically. The NuStep then tracks helpful metrics for how long they have been on the machine, along with total steps if they are going for a particular goal.
  • Intensity – The NuStep can cater to ranging levels of strength and endurance in residents. This is done seamlessly by participants using a green handle located on the right side of the machine to adjust the workload. NuStep intensity levels range from one through ten. Pumping at the high end of that range gives our advanced residents a more intense working to accomplish their goals and our beginner exercisers can continue to safely build strength and endurance by increasing the workload over time.
  • Ability to Move/Fix – The mobility of the NuStep is very convenient. Wheels on one end make it easy to relocate if needed and since a variety of models do not require electricity, it can accommodate a variety of floor plans. The need for repairing the machine due to mechanical issues are quite low due to the durability. The most popular “fix” is to simply replace the batteries in order for the monitor to turn on so your residents have that feedback as they get their steps in each day.

We love seeing the confidence our participants gain by having an exercise option that meets their needs in a senior living setting and the NuStep continues to be one of the most accessible, durable, and loved pieces of equipment by our residents! We love it so much that we developed a whole program centered around the NuStep!

Pump it for Parkinson’s is a nationwide event on World Parkinson’s Day where we are putting NuSteps to work in senior living communities across the US! This day-long NuStep-a-thon on Tuesday, April 11th will help raise awareness on the benefits of exercise for those with Parkinson’s. Communities will receive expert resources from NIFS on how to support their residents with Parkinson’s and there will be a chance to win a free NuStep T6 Cross Trainer! Visit our Pump it for Parkinson’s event page to complete your community’s free registration today and help us spread the word!

Learn More: Pump It for Parkinson's

Topics: CCRC fitness center senior living fitness center equipment senior lliving CCRC Programs and Services Pump It for Parkinson's

Improve your senior living fitness program by outsourcing the staff

If you believe it's time to offer more to current residents and prospects through your exercise program, but you're not quite sure what that "more" entails or how to get there, outsourcing might make a lot of sense for your community.

Outsourcing isn't just for therapy

The primary benefit to looking at a partner for management of any area of your community is the value of the depth and breadth of the firm's experience. Communities don't think twice about outsourcing therapy but when it comes to taking a closer look at the reasons to outsource management of the fitness center and related programming, I sometimes get blank stares from leadership. And I can't explain it. Certainly, how we provide service, the nature of our contracts with our clients, and the credentials of the staff we provide for community fitness is different from therapy groups, but the overall concept is the same. If you want an expert-run fitness program, you have to work with the experts. 

I’ve had the opportunity to work with NIFS for many years with multiple communities and I can say without exception that they have taken the wellness program in our communities to a new level. They are the best in the industry at what they do, and I would not hesitate bringing them in to any senior housing community that I am affiliated with. Our communities are stronger with NIFS on their team.  ~Mick Feauto, COO, LifeSpire of Virginia

NIFS math | LeadingAge | Senior Living

NIFS Math

NIFS staff in your community are backed by an our organization that is uniquely focused on the specific work of elevating your fitness program. We're regularly supporting continuing education for our team and we have a proven model for effectively sharing resources so our clients get far more than the one NIFS manager on the ground. We like to call it "NIFS math" where 1 + 1 = 3.

 

What to expect from your fitness program

4399_KF_3163.jpgYou need your fitness center to be a hallmark, a standout for the community. For your current residents, it should be one of the most praised offerings both because the staff are well-loved and because they are effective at keeping residents engaged with new, consistent, well-done offerings. The fitness program should also be on the list of reasons prospective residents choose your community. But if the group fitness calendar and the personal training services look the same as all the competition, and if you don't have the necessary data to tell key stories about how resident's lives have been improved by participating, then you're missing out on an opportunity.

NIFS clients see a lot of value in their partnerships because they gain much more than "just a trainer" for their gym. Check out some of the services we provide that aren't common to most community fitness programs:

  • Balance Redefined includes rich programming and services focused specifically on balance training and fall prevention; our Balance Redefined offerings were built from, and regularly evolve because of our experience with dozens of communities over the last 15 years.
  • Key data points for the fitness program are regularly reported and smartly used to continuously improve what we're offering in each client setting. From tracking participation per resident to evaluating outcomes and goals on our programs, we are constantly checking in on and reporting our progress.
  • Reaching residents in assisted living and memory care environments with quality fitness services can be a real challenge. Our staff provide that outreach through strong relationships with community lifestyle coordinators. Modified balance assessments, group classes, personal training, and hybrid health-related programming are all tailored for the unique needs of residents in those settings.

[Related Content: 4 Keys to Getting Data You Can Actually Use]

Find out how you can put NIFS math to work in your community. Contact us or stop by and see us at the LeadingAge Expo.  We'll be hanging out with our calculators doing NIFS math in booth #1261.

Topics: senior fitness management CCRC fitness center senior living communities senior fitness group fitness for seniors fitness center for seniors leading age LeadingAge senior wellness consulting

Are You Talking Senior Wellness TO Residents, or WITH Them? (Part 1)

4399_KF_3334-1.jpgIn the fitness and health field, we are asked for advice continually. It is our job to build fitness routines that are safe, comfortable, and something our clients will actually build into an overall resident wellness lifestyle. The difficult part always seems to be creating a program that they like that also fits around all contraindications of diseases and ailments, and having them not give up after a week.

The Importance of Communication in Senior Fitness Education

After observing many fitness professionals with their clients and many years in practice myself, I noticed that one of the greatest obstacles is neither of those two problems, but our ability to communicate with the client and find that connection for them. I’m not talking about the connection of personalities and ability to get along, but that connection where the client understands your thought process and why you are putting them through the “torture.” Education is the key to our success with the clients, and it is how that education is delivered that matters most.

So stop and think about how you deliver your educational pieces. Most likely you lay out your fitness plan. Then you demonstrate the plan. Then at the end of the talk you ask if they have any questions. Of course they reply “no” or “when do we get started?” They have not asked the one most important question that we learn to ask when we are two, but become afraid to ask as we get older: “WHY?”

  • “Why are we doing this exercise?”
  • “How does it help?”
  • “You mentioned the muscles that we will be working—what do they do?”

Anticipating and Answering Residents’ Senior Wellness Questions

We as practitioners already know why we are doing this, so we forget to pass that knowledge on. We move on to demonstrating the exercises and correcting their movements and posture as they do the exercise, until they look like a pro to anyone coming in, but they still are not quite sure why they are doing that exact movement.

I may be one of the biggest “older” kids out there, but I still love the question “Why?” I truly feel that if we understand why we are doing what we are doing, we will stick to it better. Also, if we understand a subject it is more interesting to us. If it is more interesting, we tend to want to try to learn more and become proficient. The trick becomes how to properly educate and make a lifelong plan with our clients rather than just doing it to our clients. We have to know that those why and how questions are running through their heads and take the initiative to help them answer the questions they don’t even know to ask or how to form.

Making Wellness Communications Easy to Understand

The next challenge is the client understanding what you are saying. The Quick Guide to Healthy Literacy, a fact sheet produced by the United States Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, states that “only 12 percent of adults have proficient health literacy.” Impact Information Plain Language Services’ newsletter reports that all health and safety information should be delivered at a fifth-grade comprehension level.

Health information is difficult for most people to understand. There is no difference in the world of wellness. We are asking our clients to trust what we are saying and what we are telling them to do, but many do not understand why they are doing the exercise we are teaching or how those exercises will help make them feel better, possibly decrease potential for chronic diseases, and even lessen the severity of other chronic diseases.

Think about this information and think about what you do. Do you work with your clients, or do you talk to them? You will probably find there is a little of each happening. Watch for part 2 to learn some tips on how to work with your clients and help them enjoy the wellness they are working with you to achieve. 

Senior living communities commonly miss out on the opportunity to have a qualified person on staff to help guide residents in the fitness center.  

Click below to check out our quick read, The Impact of Staff on Senior Fitness.

Download Now

 


Topics: senior wellness CCRC fitness center senior fitness education communication

Senior Living: Fitness Center Design for Current and Future Residents

father_daughterSeveral months ago, my parents were prospects in the market to relocate to a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) from their 4.5-acre home of almost 20 years. There were a variety of reasons for them making this move consideration, but age and ill health weren’t on that list. 

My parents (at the time of writing) are both 72 years old and in quite good health. My mom walks up to an hour with friends most days of the week; she’s done that for as long as I can remember. My dad is an avid exerciser and he’s the reason I’m a runner today. He gets significant cardiovascular exercise for more than an hour four to five days per week, along with rigorous strength training at least three days per week in his home gym. They are both very active in their community and in the extensive gardens and rich woods on their property.

They aren’t frail, and they don’t fit into the more typical average age of 80+ in most CCRCs. 

Checking Out a Community with My Parents

So when they started shopping and had narrowed down their list to a primary community that held their interest, they asked my family to join them for a tour. We walked through the community center building and got a great look into the typical areas including the bistro, the formal dining room, the library, the craft areas, and the fitness areas. 

After we left the community, and 100% without my prompting, my dad asked me why their fitness center had “all of that strength equipment for old people” in it. Those were his words, not mine. This comes from a man who has never belonged to a gym, who has exercised in his basement with modest equipment for decades, and who doesn’t bear an ounce of pretension. Yet he very quickly identified the “old people” equipment in his community’s fitness center.

Senior living community operators are in a tight spot when they try to cater to current residents but build space, programming, and services that they hope will appeal to future residents. The fitness center tour and post-tour discussion with my dad is no exception, and it’s exactly the reason that any operator engaging in a fitness center build—whether as part of brand new construction or as a positioning project—needs to thoughtfully and carefully establish their fitness center layout.

Design of the space and the equipment you select matters. Both elements can profoundly impact the residents’ experience in the space. And when your community is continually battling someday syndrome as a barrier to getting prospects to make the move, how you outfit the fitness center can also be a factor.

CCRC Fitness Center Equipment and Design Considerations

Here are a few things to think about with respect to senior living fitness center design and equipment that engages current residents and attracts future prospects: 

  • Create your group fitness studio and your fitness center as distinctly separate spaces. We see a lot of first-draft designs come with an accordion or partition wall between the two rooms. There is no actual utility for that design; and in fact, it may limit how both rooms can be used. 
  • Build size for the future. If your community is poised for a phase two or three that adds residential units and creates more potential fitness center members, build the initial fitness spaces for growth. 
  • Lay out the equipment with accessibility in mind. Put the equipment most likely to be used by your most frail residents nearest to your main entrance so that it is easy to access. 
  • Create clear sight lines for the fitness management staff. Design the spaces so that staff will have the greatest visibility possible for all areas. Part of the reason for having staff managing your fitness program is for participant safety. It’s tough to keep people safe when you can’t see them exercising.
  • Choose equipment that is built with an older adult in mind, but that doesn’t scream “old.” While there is currently a gap in the marketplace for a complete line of strength and cardio equipment well suited for this audience, that doesn’t mean you can’t buy beautiful and functional equipment that will work well both now and in the future. Contact me to get an operator’s perspective on the equipment that’s available

No doubt you have a lot to consider with a fitness center design project. If you’re a visual learner like me, you might get some inspiration from looking at a few of the projects we’ve been privileged to support.

Click on the button below to download a sample of our work!

Fitness Center Design

Topics: CCRC senior fitness management CCRC fitness center senior living communities fitness center for seniors nifs fitness center management senior wellness consulting

Is Your Senior Fitness Program Challenging Enough?

At this point most retirement communities have recognized that senior fitness programs are as important as having a great social program or food and beverage program. The impact these programs have on marketing is tremendous, and so it is no wonder that everyone is looking to have the most popular programs with the newest class titles. Now that exercise is a key focal point and the residents are in the community, take a look at your programs and see if they are doing the residents justice. 

senior_womenDoes Your Program Help Residents Reach Their Full Potential?

In the most recent ICAA Research Review, there is an article shining light on sarcopenia. Sarcopenia is the loss of muscle strength and mass due mainly to age. Simply put, as we get older we naturally become weaker. While reading this article I began to question how many programs in retirement communities truly push their residents to accomplish their full potential. 

Does your program challenge your residents to get down on the floor and back up again a few times during a class? No? Why not? Many of my residents are insulted when others expect that they can no longer get on the floor. I also have many who say they cannot get on the floor because then they won’t be able to get up. Over time our community’s fitness instructors and I have been able to prove to the residents that they can still get up from down on the floor and that it does get easier with practice. More importantly, being able to get up off the floor is vital to practice. 

According to the CDC, one out of three seniors will fall, and less than half of them will go to the doctor in regard to their falls. Now stop and think about all of those people that can’t get on the floor because they “won’t be able to get back up.” Statistics show there is a very high likelihood that they will land on the ground, and that is a terrible time to learn they truly can’t get up. 

Don’t Get Complacent

We, as individuals, have always had someone to help guide us, challenge us, and push us to achieve more, work harder, and be true to ourselves. When do we decide we no longer push someone? At what age do we decide that an individual should turn on the cruise control and just be? As a person of wellness, I don’t believe there is ever a time to show someone it is okay to become complacent. These individuals need to see that they are still capable of doing a great deal more. We need to be willing to work with our seniors both in classes and individually to help safely get them stronger—or at least maintain the strength they have—in order to help them not only live a longer life, but live a longer and more independent life. 

How do you challenge your senior living residents? When is the last time you asked them if they were being challenged enough? I bet you would be surprised at how many are asking for something a little more. I know I was. 

For more on why fitness is so important for seniors, see this post.

Get our Slideshare: Improve Resident Engagment

Topics: senior wellness programs CCRC fitness center senior living fitness center senior group fitness classes

Senior Living: Using Wellness Programs to Combat “Someday Syndrome”

social seniorsThere’s a lot of talk about what some in senior living call “someday syndrome.” It’s the phenomenon by which adults who have a lot to gain by moving to a retirement community for one reason or another put off the move, indicating they’ll make that change someday.

There are industry articles, LinkedIn discussion groups, and product/service provider blogs about this phenomenon. I’ve heard it in my own parents’ discussion about moving out of their house and into a community. They’re ready…sort of. Well, not really quite yet, but they’re taking steps to be ready. I think they’re like so many of their generation. They have very good reasons to put off leaving their house. What they’re missing are compelling reasons to make that difficult change and move into a senior living community.

In 2008 and for a few years afterward, there was a delay by older consumers largely because of the housing crisis connected with the great recession. But more recently, as the housing market has slowly made a turn for the better, someday syndrome remains. My parents and many of their contemporaries are waiting because they simply don’t see themselves, their lives, anywhere but in their current home.

The Power of Storytelling

In one of Steve Moran’s blogs, “Is Good good enough?,” he talks about recent trips to two better-than-average communities. And although he records being politely and promptly greeted as well as appropriately “sold” during his visit, he felt no connection to either location. He was given good marketing collateral and told quite a bit about both communities, but there was nothing in that messaging to provide unique, compelling, relatable, or personal connections. In short, if he were a prospect, he had no heartstring tug, no strong pull to move to either community.

In the end, Steve comes around to the idea of telling stories as a way to distinguish your community from those around you, and I think he’s right. The stories about residents, their family members, their lives at your community, and how the staff facilitate the very best for them are the essence of who you are.

The good news here is that you already have stories; if you’ve been in business a while, you quite possibly have tons of them. But the hard work lies ahead in figuring out how to use them to communicate your culture, your way of life, as a tool for inviting prospects to join your community family. One of the places you should be looking for stories is within your wellness program.

What a Life Plan Community Can Offer Prospective Residents

If we look at broad brushstrokes of what a life plan can offer to prospects, there are two big categories: safety/security and lifestyle. Both categories are clear distinguishers in terms of providing more/better than what a prospect is able to achieve in her own home. The continuum of care with qualified and passionate clinicians, along with related services (therapy, podiatry, etc) all within the four walls of your community is simply not achievable for an individual who remains at home. And if your organization is on the cutting edge of opportunities for education, service, growth, and camaraderie in your wellness programming, you no doubt have robust programming that no one individual could so easily experience living in her home.

If you are a healthy individual in your 70s or 80s and you’re considering moving out of your home into a retirement community, which of those two messages is likely to pull you through someday syndrome and toward relocating in a community setting: how you’ll be cared for when you’re sick or dying, or how you can experience new opportunities and enrich your wellbeing as you live at the community?

Let me offer a word of caution here. The idea of using lifestyle to combat “someday syndrome” only works when your lifestyle programming is truly compelling, diverse, individually oriented, and life affirming. If you calendar is full of various card games, bingo, the occasional trip, the occasional lecture, the same old group fitness classes, and the monthly podiatrist visit, there’s no lifestyle to sell and you won’t be different from the competition. Make no mistake: just because the calendar is full does not mean the events are expanding the horizons of your residents.

How to Sell Lifestyle

After years of working with our senior living clients, here’s what we’ve learned about selling lifestyle:

  • Selling lifestyle is easy when you have the right programming and people in place that can elevate resident stories of successful living.
  • Selling lifestyle is easy when your programming has data to back up participation and engagement rates.
  • Selling lifestyle is easy when your marketing and sales staff understand the language they need to use and have specific stories to make a connection with a prospect.

If you’ve been nodding your head and you believe it’s time to elevate your community lifestyle both to serve your residents better and to create a true market differentiation for what you’re selling, check out this blog.

Are you ready to do wellness better? Learn more about wellness consulting.

Topics: senior wellness programs senior fitness management CCRC fitness center senior living engagement active living senior living community marketing

Why Nobody’s Using Your New Resident Fitness Center (Part 3 of 3)

seniors meetingYour marketing and sales team may be missing the mark when selling fitness to residents.

I started this blog series talking about the importance of following all the way through on your capital investment for your resident fitness program. In part two of the series, I covered some basics on the importance of quality leadership as central to your community’s exercise strategy.

In this third part of the series, we’ll look at how your marketing and sales team can better tap into your fitness program as a sales tool. After all, once you nail the strategy and the staffing for your program, it only makes sense to make sure your marketing team can communicate your updated and comprehensive services to prospective residents.

Promoting Senior Lifestyle Benefits in Marketing Collateral

How does your community talk about wellness to prospects? How do you promote resident lifestyle in your collateral? If you haven’t given much thought to this, it’s definitely time to start. You’d have to be under a pretty big rock to have missed the continued rise to prominence that wellness is making in senior living.

And it’s because of that elevated importance that breezing through or ignoring your resident wellness amenities and services is no longer an option. Skipping over wellness in your collateral and marketing events is a huge mistake.

Promoting the Senior Wellness Program Effectively During Facility Tours

When I consult with communities, it’s really (frighteningly) common to talk with the marketing and sales staff and learn that they’re offering something like this during a tour:

“Now we’re walking past our pool and coming up next will be our exercise room. We have personal trainers and a lot of different types of group fitness classes available for you to try all week long.”

It’s like running through a checklist of “stuff” you’re throwing at a prospect. Dining, check. Exercise, check. Crafts, check. No stories, nothing a prospect can sink her teeth into and really consider how her life would be if she had access to those opportunities.

Typically, when the tour sounds like that, there is also a lack of marketing collateral about wellness, and there generally aren’t events for prospects that communicate how your community helps residents live well.

Sometimes the glossing over is because of a lack of confidence about the community’s amenities or services. Here’s the thing: you do not have to offer jaw-droppingly beautiful amenities in order to execute well on a message of well-living at your community. But you do need to have solid services with the right staff people behind that programming in order to market the lifestyle at your community effectively.

The right people plus the right program gets you the right stories you need to help prospects relate to what it will be like to live in your community. And that’s what you ultimately want, right? Happy residents are the ones who feel connected, who engage in more living, and who contribute to their own lives and the lives of those around them through the opportunities you offer.

If you’re looking for a place to start on more effective communication and marketing opportunities around resident wellness, look no further than some simple numbers.

Data Matters, and Don’t Let Anyone Tell You Differently

There are a number of areas in your wellness program where you can gather data, and I’m a big advocate for data because it’s crucial to determining success as well as to telling the story about what wellness is at a community. You can make a big impact in marketing messaging simply by spotlighting how many residents participate in your fitness programming. But you can’t capitalize on that number or message if you don’t actually have the data.

Consider a resident story that might look something like this:

“At ABC Community, our residents believe that moving your body is one of many ways to live well. In fact, they’re such big believers that 83% of them participate in our fitness programs on a regular basis. When Mrs. Jones moved here in 2007, she wasn’t much for exercise. In fact, she’d never been to a class, or walked on a treadmill. But after she met with our fitness manager and had her personalized program created, she started moving and hasn’t stopped.” 

My hunch is that the pretend story I outlined would resonate with a lot of prospects who have never exercised, are a little afraid of it, and are entirely unsure how to get started. Unless you have a story to which the prospect can relate, the sales staff mentions “fitness center” and “trainer,” and the prospect automatically writes that off as a nice perk but one she’ll never use. And just like that, you’ve missed a chance to help the prospect see how living at your senior living community is not only different (she already knows that and it’s part of what’s keeping her from moving), but actually better than where she’s living now. Mrs. Jones—the resident in the testimonial—sounds like that prospect, probably looks like her, and she’s been able to live exceptionally well since she moved into your community. It’s compelling and reassuring, and it’s all backed by a wellness strategy that captures the data and the stories for use at the right times.

Now, getting that data and those stories is not rocket science, but it does require that you have the right personnel behind the wellness programming to facilitate a more strategic approach to resident lifestyle. You need health-oriented professionals (do not read that as “clinicians”) who have a head for numbers and a heart for people. If you need a refresher on the quality leadership part of this puzzle, return to part 2 in this series. 

Find out more about NIFS Consulting Services >

Topics: senior center solutions senior wellness programs senior fitness management CCRC fitness center senior living community marketing senior living fitness center data wellness consulting