FCSS fitness program being made available to all seniors

Family and Community Support Services is making its fitness groups designed for seniors available to the public.

For the past several months, FCSS has been facilitating exercise groups at Brookside Village. The exercises incorporate easy movements that can be performed while the participants are sitting in a chair. An instructor leads exercise, and the movements are designed to provide overall body fitness, flexibility, balance and strength, which are very important as people age, said FCSS Senior Programs co-ordinator Debbie Gilroy. All exercises are safe for men and women of all levels of ability.

It was always in the plans to introduce the exercise group to the rest of the community, Gilroy said. At Brookside Village, anywhere between 15 and 20 residents partake in the group activity.

Joyce Venables, a resident of Brookside Village and regular participant in the exercises, said the group always has an enjoyable time while exercising. The activities help her and her fellow residents to feel more limber, and it helps improve balance.

“We usually get a really good turnout,” Venables said. “We get to go at our own pace and to our own abilities. It’s a good social event, as well.”

Several of the participants at Brookside Village’s exercise group are in their 90s, Venables said, and it includes people who have had hip replacements, heart surgery, or other ailments. The exercises allow the residents to do what they can, and they aren’t forced to do anything they are not capable of doing.

Research has shown that regular physical activity may help with health problems such as high blood pressure, depression, Alzheimer’s disease or demetias, arthritis, stroke and heart disease, according to information provided by FCSS. Furthermore, regular exercise aids in flexibility, strength, endurance, balance, co-ordination and memory, resulting in greater mobility and longer independence. Exercise can improve posture, help relieve stress, aid relaxation, and improve sleep patterns and quality of life.

Seniors’ Fitness facilitator Marie Staines said many people think that if they are moving around on a daily basis, play golf in the summer or work in the garden, and take a walk around the block every day in the winter that they don’t need a regular exercise program. However, when people perform only one or two forms of movement as a regular routine, they use the same muscle groups all the time, which strengthens those muscles, but leaves other to become tight, stiff or possibly weak. Attending a fitness class or creating an all-round fitness program can ensure that all major muscle groups are toned and strengthened on a regular basis.

Incorporating stretching and relaxing movements, aerobic and resistance or weight training, like those included in the Seniors’ Fitness program, creates a well-rounded program, Staines said. Many of the exercises performed through the program work on keeping the bones in proper alignment, encouraging healthy posture and can help with pain prevention, as well as helping prevent osteoporosis. Building muscle tissue with regular exercise increases the body’s ability to burn more calories, which helps to stabilize weight.

Staines encourages senior residents to start their fitness routine now, so that it becomes a habit before the snow falls and people hunker down for another long winter. Seniors’ Fitness groups will be held Thursday mornings from 10-11 a.m. starting Sept. 22 to Nov. 24, and from January 12 to March 29. All sessions are free and will be held at the Barrhead FCSS building, and all sessions are free. Those 55 years of age and older are welcome to attend. For more information about the classes, call FCSS at 780-674-3341.