Say Hello to 80-Year-Old Fitness Enthusiast Joyce

80-year-old Joyce is a lady always on the move. However, after breaking her foot two years ago she has had to adapt her active lifestyle.

 “I’ve been coming to Wave for 20 years” she says, “I used to go swimming every day and to the gym every week and breaking my foot stopped me getting out of the house.” Wanting to get out and back into exercise, Joyce began attending our Strength and Balance sessions, which are designed to help people who have experienced a fall or are sometimes unsteady on their feet. After attending the sessions regularly Joyce began to see vast improvements in her recovery.

“Strength and Balance has helped me to walk better, I’m still not at 100% but I’m much better.”

As well as improving her physical condition, the Strength and Balance sessions have also improved Joyce’s social and mental wellbeing. “I benefit from the social side so much too, I get very down in the dumps and to come here cheers me up. I know everybody, they all know me and they’re all lovely to me, especially Emma and Luke.” Improving social and mental wellbeing in our members is something we’re passionate about and constantly exploring. We’ve seen the real-life social impact that group exercise can have on people in many different classes, including our Walking Football sessions, something which you can read more about here. 

We're always looking for opportunities for everyone to get active with Wave, so we’ve developed a carefully crafted programme of activities tailored for those aged 65 and over. We now have 33 weekly activities specifically designed for this age group which vary in their intensity. These include gentler exercises like Strength & Balance and Chair Based fitness as well as competitive sports such as Pickleball. There are Senior Gym and Swim sessions for those unlikely to use the facilities in normal circumstances, to increase their confidence and learn how to use our state-of-the-art equipment. We’ve also teamed up with The South Downs National Park to run a series of Health Walks where people can make new friends and enjoy a gentle walk in nature. Find out more about our free Health Walks and Rural Rambles in the South Downs National Park here.

By diversifying our programme we’ve seen more people than ever get active with Wave. Over the last year we’ve seen 1,744 attendances in our Strength and Balance classes, an increase of 26%.  This includes a 29% increase of attendances in rural areas where without our outreach team the services wouldn’t be available. Joyce is a regular at many Wave sessions and is a well known face here, despite breaking her foot.

“Natalia helps me round the gym and I can still do most of the exercises in there. I like them all. You have to cope with these things and live with them. I try not to moan.”

If you’d like to know more and to talk to a member of the team, please email info@waveleisure.co.uk

Read the full Wave Impact Report 2017/18 and more stories like this here