Program details

Why being ‘Fit & Strong’ matters as you age?

• Our experience as physiotherapists has shown us first hand the challenges that come along with ageing. Whilst it is true there is a natural decline in many of the systems in our body, more often than not much of this decline is due to lifestyles in which people don’t adequately challenge their body and brain enough. 

• Age related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, sarcopenia, arthritis, osteoporosis and cognitive disorders don’t have to be the norm in ageing. Exercise has time and time again been shown to reduce the effects of these diseases and in some cases almost completely reverse them. 

• Additionally, training your body to be stronger, fitter and more balanced is the best way to maintain confidence in doing the things you love, whether it is hiking, playing with the grandkids, travelling, gardening or playing tennis. 

 What is involved in the program?

• The 8 week program is designed to improve your strength, balance, fitness and cognition. 

• It can be done in either 1-on-1 or small group exercise sessions and both are claimable under private health insurance extras cover. 

• The small group sessions are led by two physiotherapists who focus on progressing you in a safe manner with full supervision.

• The program is designed by physiotherapists to suit your body and address the concerns you have. Our physiotherapists will support you every step of the way in reaching your health goals. 

 Progressive resistance training - the smartest way to train

• The Fit & Strong program focuses on slowly progressing the difficulty of the exercises over the 8 weeks, meaning the body has adequate time to adjust to the new stress that is put upon it. 

• Slowly increasing the weight over weeks and months means a steady progression to greater strength, whilst minimising risk of injury. 

 Core movements in the program

• The program is designed to teach you the fundamental movements of strength training which mimic the movements you perform everyday. You will use weights to strengthen and improve these movements  in a controlled environment with full supervision by physiotherapists. The program focuses on 5 core movements which we believe are fundamental movements to everyday life; squatting, picking up, pulling, pushing and carrying. Let me give you some examples of how you might use these in everyday life.

  • Squat - getting out of a chair or up from the toilet seat, squatting down to pick up the newspaper.

  • Pick Up - picking up a grandchild, bag of mulch or bucket of water.

  • Pull - opening a door, pulling someone up from the ground, pulling up a shopping bag to the bench.

  • Push - pushing up from the ground, moving boxes overhead in the garage. 

  • Carry - carrying shopping bags, grandchildren, a bag of cement or your luggage on that rush to the airport.

• By training these core movements you will improve your functional capacity, which means improving your ability to complete these everyday tasks without as much effort. 

• The program also focuses on exposing you to a variety of movements which will improve your balance and agility. In addition to this your brain will be challenged through fun and novel exercises such as juggling, designed to stimulate your brain and challenge your senses. 

 Why 8 weeks?

• When it comes to strength and fitness training you need to give your body time to adapt to the new workload it has been given. In the first couple of weeks your body is still adapting to the new and specific movements in the program and there may be more muscle soreness involved. As the weeks go on you experience less muscle soreness, which is called the ‘repeated bout effect’.

• 8 weeks is an effective time frame for your body to adapt to the exercise but also around the minimal time it takes to begin to develop a real increase in strength.

• Good habits are the key to a healthy lifestyle and people often give up far too quickly. It is always hard beginning exercise if you haven’t done it in a while but once you can pass the 8 week mark you are well on your way to forming a good habit. 

 Frequency

• To achieve the best outcomes for yourself, doing 2 strength and fitness sessions a week is optimal. Obviously everyone is different but in general 2 sessions are better than 1. 

• For those who can only perform 1 session per week, we highly encourage you to stay active on all other days and can guide you in doing this. 

 What next? Long Term Health

• The program is designed to help you get started towards your health goals. Once you have finished the 8 week program we recommend continuing with small group or 1-on-1 sessions in order to progress your strength and fitness and reach your long term goals.

Opening hours:

Monday to Friday 8am - 7pm

Cost:

Cost per visit: $45.00 Cost per term: $1040.00

Target age:

50 Plus

Minimum experience:

Beginner

Leader qualifications:

Physiotherapist

Private health insurance rebates:

Yes