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50 plus: Teach an old dog new tricks!

Julie shows Babs the ropes!

We love stories about 50 plus men and women showing us how confidence has helped them lead more successful and fulfilling lives and we’re delighted to feature a guest blog post by Julie Robinson, founder of Move it or Lose it! who promotes exercise videos and classes for over50s.

The company also offers 50 plus entrepreneurs an opportunity to qualify as fitness instructors! We love it!

Need for exercises for older people

As founder of Move it or Lose it!, I began making exercise DVDs for people with health and mobility problems in response to requests from countless people attending my exercise classes. The overwhelming response proved that there’s a desperate need for exercises for people who want to stay fit but are frightened of doing more harm than good.

Best fitness newcomer award

After winning the National Diversity Award and then being crowned with the Best Fitness Newcomer Award on TV, I set my sights on taking the magic of Move it or Lose it! out into local communities across the UK. In collaboration with the much esteemed Centre for Healthy Ageing Research at University of Birmingham, we are delivering a nationally accredited qualification and our network of instructors is now spreading across the UK.

Become a fitness instructor in your 50s and beyond

Although there’s nothing new in becoming a self-employed fitness instructor, doing this when you’re nudging 70 is unusual. That’s just what Jenny Waite and Sian Wilkins did when they trained to become Move it or Lose it! Instructors, teaching seated exercise to older and disabled people.

As volunteers for St Giles Hospice, Jenny and Sian were keen to embrace the challenge and are now delivering exercise sessions to people with multiple sclerosis as well as older people in community settings.

“I only started running in my 50s”

Sian says “I must be a late starter, I only started running in my 50s because I wanted to do the London marathon. The exercise helped my arthritis and now I feel fitter and stronger than ever. I wanted to improve my knowledge so I could help others get fitter and feel better. Learning the exercise routines was a real challenge along with anatomy and physiology, but I loved it! Now I can help people to achieve more than they ever imagined possible and have fun at the same time.”

Sian and Jenny are great examples of the fact that we can still learn and develop our skills at any age. I’m looking for people in their 50s and beyond to join our team. They need to have empathy, a real desire to help people, the ability to motivate and a good sense of humour.

With training – confidence can grow!

Confidence is key to being a good communicator and many people in their retirement years often feel they are ‘too old’ or ‘not good enough’ to start their own business or retrain in a completely new area. But I know that, with the right training, both knowledge and confidence can grow.

Jenny says “I was a little overwhelmed at first with the amount of information I needed to learn, but through practice and with Julie’s help, I realised I could do it, I just needed to believe in myself.”

As a regular write for Yours Magazine, People’s Friend and Gransnet, I’m on a mission to change the way we perceive exercise and to get people moving more often whatever their age or ability. The Move it or Lose it! ethos is about getting people together to socialise and have fun, then they don’t even realise they are exercising.

It’s the most rewarding job, seeing people who think they can’t do something actually achieve success so they can live life to the full. If we could encourage everyone to move more often it would transform lives and save the NHS millions!

Find out more about Move it or Lose it! at www.moveitorloseit.co.uk/careers or call 0800 612 7785.

 

 

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