Senior Fitness

Oliver Senior Centre Posted on by

Guest post by Merton Palmer

We all want to maintain, or even improve, our health and fitness.  Our Oliver Senior Centre fitness programs are designed to help us do exactly that!  It doesn’t matter how old we are chronologically, biologically, or functionally we can make remarkable progressions and improvements.

Qualified instructors are well prepared in the theory and strategies required to deliver appropriate programs and classes. Trained instructors are also able to adapt exercises to match the capabilities of individual participants.

The overall composition of a fitness program incorporates five health-related components of fitness:

  1. Cardiovascular endurance,
  2. Muscular strength,
  3. Muscular endurance,
  4. Flexibility, and
  5. Body composition (fat, muscle, bone …).

Your instructor(s) will build in opportunities to help you understand and experience all these objectives.

If you would like to participate in a fitness program it might be wise to discuss this with your doctor or nurse practitioner. The instructor, or the center where the class is held, will provide you with a Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q) to help you determine if you require a medical referral or not. Health professionals are generally enthusiastic supporters of fitness programs and might give some suggestions for modifications that your instructor should be made aware of.

Co-ed Cardio/Strength Fitness and Chair (Modified) Fitness

We have two new fitness programs at the Oliver Senior Centre on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Both classes are for both men and women and will address all the health-related objectives of a complete fitness program. The first class (1:00 – 2:00) is appropriate for most seniors. The second class (2:15 – 3:15) is a seated class with gentler exercises for seniors with health or physical limitations.

The Senior Centre has floor mats, but no other equipment so please bring a stretch band for some of the strength exercises. If you don’t have one or  aren’t sure what that is come anyway without one. Please also bring water to keep yourself hydrated.