55+ Fitness Class

I am a 38 yr old fitness instructor and teach a 55 and over class at an adult community center.

I enjoy your skincare articles/newsletters, but was especially interested in your exercise predicament with the instructor that didn't take his class's age and fitness level into consideration.

I would love to know any advice you could give me to make my 55+ class a success. (i.e. more dancy moves, more/less repetition, current music or older music?...any personal preferences?)

Thanks Jean

Glad you are feeling better!

Lisa

Thank you Lisa.

What a great question! Good fitness instructors tune into class members’ needs. They often provide variations for different levels of fitness and even for (obvious) physical limitations.

But your question goes beyond that. My answer is based, not only on my years of personal training and teaching aerobics classes, but also the input of my 55+ peers as we discussed our frustration with fitness classes that weren’t fun or weren’t suitable.

As for music, my friends and I would be happy with anything from the classics to classic rock to current day popular music. The only music we cannot tolerate is rap. We – to a woman – hate rap.

It’s not music to our ears; it’s just noise. I know it’s a generational thing, so pardon us for being behind the times. No rap.

The sound level is very important for a 55+ class. Many of us are starting to have difficulty hearing, so it may surprise you to learn that the complaint I hear most frequently from my hard-of-hearing friends is that the music is TOO LOUD. It needs to be loud enough that we can hear the beat but not drown out the instructor’s directions.

For people who wear hearing aids, music that is too loud can actually be painful.

Generally, lower impact is better for a 55+ fitness class. Anyone who still has strong joints and sufficient energy can take it up a notch. Center your class around lower impact moves but provide higher impact variations for those who want them.

If you provide any step work, keep the moves fairly simple and avoid a lot of turning steps.

Hard-of-hearing students need to be able to watch you and they can’t do that if you have them turn their backs to you too frequently. Also, it is easy to trip on the step if the moves get too complex. Most of your students should use just the bench or one set of risers. That’s sufficient to get the heart rate up.

Don’t take it personally if you see students avoiding certain moves you are teaching. If there is opportunity before or after class, ask why privately.

Just reflecting on the students in the last class I attended, one woman had frozen shoulders and couldn’t raise her arms much higher than shoulder level. Another had a difficult time getting up after mat work due to positional vertigo. Several had bad knees or backs. You get the idea.

When you know what the issues are, you can design a fitness class that will work for everyone. Be sure the routines hit all the fitness basics: flexibility; strength; balance; and aerobic capacity. If you teach the same group of students three or four times a week, you can do this by focusing on strength one day and aerobics the next.

Personally, I prefer a similarly-balanced class every day but with varying moves. My ideal class contains about five minutes of warm-up, 20 to 25 minutes of aerobics, five minutes of cool down, 20 to 25 minutes of toning/strength work (standing and mat), and five to 10 minutes of stretching.

I also enjoy a class where the entire 40-45 minute middle section is aerobics combined with strength work (like Body Sculpt or The Firm).

Boy, it felt good to get that all off my chest!

Thanks again for asking Lisa. Your 55+ students are lucky to have you.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to be taken as medical advice.

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