MEMBER SPOTLIGHT Jane Taylor

Level 4 REPs instructor, Stott Pilates instructor Founder, www.ifgingercandoit.com Working With Older People

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ike many others, I’d already been through a career or two before retraining in my 40s as a fitness instructor. Never a big fan of gyms, I quickly gravitated towards specialising in

working with older people. As I did, a whole other world of ‘fitness for health’ opened up, full of clever and committed people using physical activity in highly targeted ways to help improve and maintain health, well-being and independence for the over-60s. Thirteen years on, I keep a toe-hold in the gym world, but all my training work is about fitness for basic health and most of it is with the over-60s.

Fitness for older people is still just creeping its way into the mainstream, as evidenced by the very small numbers of REPs instructors who hold relevant qualifications (see table below). Note that the numbers are not just small but barely holding up. I can only hope this will change as the full force of the UK’s demographic shift hits us all over the next 10 years: we are going to need many thousands of well-qualified and highly skilled trainers to help keep the over-60s up and running for the last 30- 40 years of their lives. If you think I am exaggerating, think again. There are 3 million over-80s in the UK today, officially predicted to rise to close on 6 million by 2030.

This makes the elderly a canny career choice: you should never be short of clients. But the rewards go well beyond mere money. Growing old is a scary business for most people, very much bound up with not being able to rely on your body like you used to.

As professional instructors, we can help people regain physical confidence, which in turn can transform their emotional and social well-being. Stronger, happier and more independent: if you can deliver this package of benefits for a client, their gratitude and pleasure will undoubtedly make your day.

I want to see even more recognition, especially within the NHS, given to the crucial role that fitness professionals can play in transforming the lives of older people. But we need to earn that recognition by up-skilling ourselves, keeping up with emerging research, and by following high standards in practice.

Here are the three messages that underpin my own teaching:

1) Beyond mid-life, each of us grows increasingly different from everyone else. This requires instructors to give the care and attention of a personal trainer to every older client, whether one- to-one or in a class. Unrealistic? No, just hard and intensive work. I still recall how, in my first teaching role with elderly people in a care home, my supervisor insisted I should keep a record of every class and how each participant fared. I greatly resented this and considered her to be bureaucratically bonkers. In fact, she was schooling me in a crucial way of thinking.

2) Always aim high. Age alone is a poor indicator of potential ability, and you will be astonished what many older people will rise to, if challenged appropriately. It takes experience and skill, but if

you thrive on challenge, this is the kind of work you should find fascinating and rewarding.

Number of REPs instructors holding qualifications relevant to older adults

Older Adults

Exercise Referral Level 4

2008 1481 2157 1028

2009 1423 2195 1076

2010 1353 2144 1119

2011 1243 2148 1104

2012 2013* 1184 2265 1470

1165 2260 1479

(NB: It is likely that instructors hold more than one of these qualifications) Source: SkillsActive *Figures taken from Jan-Jun statistics

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3) Don’t get clever: stick to what works. There’s a growing base of evidence about what kinds of exercise are safe and effective for older people. You will be doing no one any favours by jazzing it up or making it up. Our responsibility is to know what works, follow updates and changes, and respect the evidence base.

This recent British Heart Foundation National Centre for Physical Activity and Health (BHFNC) practice note is helpful.

For more information http://bit.ly/ZOT6yz

The REPs Journal 2013;28(September):4