Chair based fitness classes
At Summerdyne we are delighted to have teamed up with Di from the WEA, who is teaching our residents chair based exercises.
The Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) is a charity dedicated to bringing education into the heart of communities. Their Health and Wellbeing Pathway provides opportunities for people to improve their own health. Their courses teach about health, diet, fitness and nutrition. For more information, their website link is here: https://www.wea.org.uk/
The benefits of chair based exercises
The NHS has a step by step guide to many types of chair based exercises. https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/sitting-exercises-for-older-people.aspx
Our residents are already feeling the benefits, which include:
- Increased flexibility and strength. Bone density and muscles weaken as we get older so it is important to gently exercise to keep active and maintain strength.
- Increased coordination. Learning a routine and the repetitive nature of the exercises can also be good for dementia patients. The exercises also help with posture and straight alignment of the spine.
- Increased circulation. This also means a faster healing of injuries and wounds, faster sickness recovery time, greater lung capacity and much easier mobility.
- Reduced risk of falls because chair based exercises improve posture and balance. Balance can be affected by medication as well. Falling and injuring yourself when elderly, has an longer recovery time and can be a chain reaction type of injury. To reduce this risk is therefore key in elderly healthcare.
- Increased confidence and self esteem. Sometimes elderly people lose confidence, particularly after a fall and gentle exercise as part of a group activity can help bring that back.
Our exercise classes
We now have Tuesdays as our day of movement, when Di from WEA has a 30 minute group session with residents in our lounge, teaching gentle arm chair exercises. She then visits residents for an hour on a one to one basis, to establish their own personal exercise regimes within their reach. The sessions are not all hard work – It’s lots of fun and there’s lots of laughter. Everyone is looking forward to these weekly sessions and feeling the benefits already. A huge thank you to Di from all of your flexi stretchy friends at Summerdyne!
Getting involved
Exercise is fun!
We also do other fun chair based exercises at Summerdyne, which are great for coordination. Our take on basketball, netball and skittles are all a big hit with our residents. Many fondly recall their netball days at school and are delighted how far the game has come. Everyone was thrilled with our England ladies netball team bringing home gold medals at the Commonwealth Games.
A strike in skittles
Playing skittles