If you’re a fitness professional, and like the many that we have spoken to, it’s likely you’re tired of delivering numerous high intensity sessions day after day after day…

You might be new to the industry and full of buzz and energy and so I advise you to bookmark this blog and revisit it at a later date. For those industry veterans who identify with the opening sentence, this blog is for you.

As a fitness professional, you are constantly giving advice and guidance to people on how to improve their health and wellbeing. Be active, eat a well-balanced diet, get a good night’s sleep… But what about YOU? Who looks after you and ensures you are in peak performing condition? Because let’s face it, constantly running HIIT, spin sessions, BODYPUMP, Zumba… starts to take its toll.

It seems that unless you deliver yoga or Pilates, every session you deliver is about high intensity. And there’s lots of good reason for this supported by research and evidence to suggest why high intensity is good for you and your clients. But wouldn’t it be nice to deliver an active session, whether class based or 1-to-1, that was low intensity?  A session where you can still use dumbbells and resistance bands, make a huge difference to your clients’ quality of life and have fun all at the same time! And what if you could do it at the quiet times of the day during normal ‘office hours’?

Sound good? This is what working with older adults is like.

The 60+ demographic is the fastest growing in the UK and expected to reach 20 million by 2030. Not only this, but they are some of the most loyal clients you will ever have. It’s not unusual to train the same people for years! But one of the greatest advantages of working with this age group is the hours of work it allows you to have.

Older adults often don’t like to participate in exercise or activity early in the morning or late evening, unlike the younger age groups who fit their fitness activities around working hours. The majority of instructors in our network run older adult classes late morning or early afternoon (often followed by a cup of tea and a chat!)

This is a great earner for fitness professionals to add a potential 10 classes to your weekly timetable, that won’t wear you out. Take Louise for example, a FABS Instructor who says “I love being a fitness instructor and my Zumba classes are great, but I noticed lots of my clients were avoiding the class as it was too high intensity for them”. She now works the hours she wants with no compromise to her salary.

I believe all fitness professionals should consider training to work with older adults. Not only is it incredibly rewarding and satisfying, but also can help prolong your fitness career by allowing you to run some low intensity classes that increase your earning potential.

So why not drop some of the HIIT and start to #FeelFABS