My Worry For Baby Boomers

I recently had the privilege of teaching a fine group of baby boomers (Age 60-70) at one of the local fitness club in Mississauga. Due to an apparently popular demand, I had been brought in to design a new class in order to replace a Zumba class that was taking place before. The group, all female, had a pretty good idea on how to do most of the basic exercises that were presented to them. As with any older adult class, the class was designed to have exercises that were low impact, lightweight, with emphasis on maintaining proper posture while doing functional movements.

Despite the fact that every many of them were able to perform the exercises with proper form, they were reluctant to perform them at first. Why were they reluctant you ask? Because they felt that they were "too old". It wasn’t that they had joint pain, or they couldn't move a particular muscle, or even that they weren't feeling the exercises. The excuse being presented was that "I am too old". Do you feel pain? I asked. "No". Do you feel discomfort? I asked. "No".

I believe that as fitness trainers, it is OUR RESPONSIBILITY to empower our clients and show them, within reason, that they are capable of doing more than they think. No matter how many questions I asked, I wasn't able to see how they got to the analogy that they can't do something simply because of old age. That to me is not an excuse because it's not specific enough. A proper excuse to me is a biomechanical or physiological reason that prevents one to do a particular exercise. The interesting part was that after I pushed them to perform the exercises, they had no problem doing them. So it goes to show that they need they some ecouragement do it. Towards the end, they enjoyed the class and the only thing that they wanted was to exercise more as a group. A fair point which will be followed through by me.

I worry that our baby boomers are being told that they are "too old" to do certain exercises simply because trainers and instructors are not showing them the exercise options. I believe the way to get the older population in the gym is to show them that they CAN DO IT, and we as fitness professionals, will modify the exercises as much as possible until they can do it. This CAN DO attitude is exactly what is needed to counteract the negative execuses such as "I am too old", which lowers self esteem.