Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

Just like any exercise program, there is a long list of health benefits that come with exercising. In fact, exercise not only improves physical health, but cognitive health as well. The Alzheimer’s Association widely accepts that, “Physical exercise is essential for maintaining good blood flow to the brain as well as to encourage new brain cells. It also can significantly reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke and diabetes, and improve oxygen consumption”. Though memory impairments affect the body’s cognitive heath, it’s important to perform cognitive and physical activities to improve brain function. The body also needs strength and endurance to perform its activities of daily senior living such as eating, dressing, and getting around your home.

With this in mind, we began offering a special class to meet the unique needs of the memory-care residents at our community. We made it our goal to incorporate exercise as a means of fall prevention and overall improvement of physical and mental health. Having taught group exercise for quite some time, I thought this would be an easy transition. I reached out to my colleagues for advice on specific exercise recommendations for older adults with memory impairments and quickly mapped out an exercise class format. Boy was I surprised when I taught the class for the first time!

The normal exercise cuing of “Lift your right leg up. That’s 1, 2, now 3….” just didn’t cut it. Some of the individuals followed, but most of the residents looked at me with confused faces. One resident even said, “You know you are a really bad dancer!”. So, over the next couple months, with much trial, error and research I developed a new class called “Moving Minds”.

The new class incorporates seated exercises that are both engaging and effective. We always begin with a short warm-up with seated marching and a game. The game is as simple as passing around a beach ball, bean bag toss, or some form of bowling. This gets the residents moving and their brain focused for the main exercises. Our main exercises include low-impact joint movement and stretching. We use equipment such as pool noodles, balloons and bouncy balls to add a little fun.  The residents love doing the exercises with the noodles and are always playful with each other.

I always encourage the residents to count with me out loud as we go through the exercises. After 10-15 minutes of our main exercises we wrap up with another game. We also engage in conversation while doing the exercises where I ask the date, day of week, and various other questions. Some are more attentive than others, but they always have something interesting to say. One of my most enjoyable residents, yells “10, big fat hen!” every time we count to 10.

Overall, the residents’ health is continuing to improve and I have noticed small gains in cognitive ability. Sometimes the residents remember my name and I can tell they are getting used to their Moving Minds routine. The Center for Brain Health states, “Physical exercise may be one of the most beneficial and cost-effective therapies widely available to everyone to elevate memory performance”.

Moving Minds may not look like a typical exercise class-in fact, I still have residents who comment on my “bad dancing” or make animal noises the entire time we exercise. However, the truth lies in their many giggles and big smiles as they leave the class. Each week I’m reminded how great it is to work with this population.

When a resident moves into our community, I’ve found that they are often overwhelmed with the amount of information they’ve been given upon arrival.  There are tons of activities and clubs offered by our community, but I really believe that residents benefit the most from joining our fitness center.  (I’ll admit, I’m a little biased!)  Here are a few successful ways I’ve found of encouraging new residents to join in on our fitness programming:

1. Visit them when they first move in to the community.

In order to be sure they have the time to ask questions and really consider becoming a member of the fitness center, I go to visit each new resident within a few weeks of their move-in date.  I want to give them time to get settled, but not so much time that they’ve filled their schedule with other things.  During that visit, I’ll take about 10-15 minutes to explain all of the fitness offerings and programming we have within our community.  I usually end up staying twice that amount of time because, once they hear about our awesome program, many of the residents have questions about how to join or about how they can benefit from the fitness center.  It’s also a great time to start building some rapport with each person as an individual.  Rather than just becoming “that exercise leader” to them, you can have a relationship with each person individually and really make them feel like they will be missed if they don’t participate.

2. Set up appointments.

After working in this field for a while, each person starts to develop their own system for keeping members committed.  One of my most successful practices is simply in making appointments with new members.  People of all ages are much more likely to show up if they have an appointment and feel like they will let someone down if they don’t keep it.  I try to use that to my advantage when keeping new members engaged.  When new members turn in their health history form and waiver, I set up an orientation appointment with them.  At their orientation appointment, I typically recommend a few group fitness classes and set up a senior fitness test.  At the senior fitness test, I make an appointment for an exercise prescription.  By that time, they have met with me and come to classes anywhere from 5-10 times and they have begun to build a habit.  It’s a simple, but effective way of getting them into the fitness center enough times that they begin to see a benefit from exercising.

3. Sell your group fitness classes.

This one won’t work for every potential member, but I can tell you that it works for most people who come into our fitness center.  Group fitness is one of the hottest things we have going here.  Residents will miss out on all sorts of other events if they are scheduled during our Balance Class.  I believe there are several reasons for this.  First of all, it’s a social activity.  We have anywhere from 10 to 30 people come to Balance Class on a regular basis so it’s a great place to meet up with people and to meet new people.  Second, they feel missed if they aren’t there.  I try to make it a point to talk directly to at least one different person in class each day.  Ask them how their day is going or how their grandkids are.  I believe building these relationships is important because then they’ll know we miss them if they aren’t there.  Third, and perhaps most importantly, they feel the benefits!  I can’t tell you how many residents have come up and told me how much they can tell when they miss a few classes.  I aim to give them a good workout every day so that they can keep their independence and this is what really keeps them coming back for more.

What are some successes you've had getting new residents involved in fitness programs?