The guidelines below will help you to develop your senior fitness classes. Ultimately, you have the freedom/autonomy to teach the class however you would like. That said, please keep in mind these 10 points when developing and delivering your class:

1. Know Your Audience: The seniors that we serve are primarily wheelchair bound and/or have limited mobility. As a result, for safety purposes, please have residents remain seated for the entire duration of the class. All exercises are 100% body weight (i.e. no fitness equipment necessary). Please be cognizant of the audience that you are teaching, cater your class to meet their specific needs, and provide modifications so that everyone can have a fun, yet challenging fitness experience. For liability purposes, please do not touch the residents to assist them with exercises. Instead, provide verbal and visual cues to guide them through your class. The nurses & activities people on-site are there to provide any hands-on assistance and/or medical attention to the residents. Also remind the class to go at their own pace and to take breaks as needed.
2. Positive and Uplifting Attitude: Bring a positive and uplifting attitude to each class! If the residents like YOU, that is half the battle of securing them as long-term clients. Make sure to smile, have fun, and be patient!
3. Simple, Fun, and Energetic: Keep the classes relatively simple, speak clearly and loudly (many are hard of hearing), understand your audience and cater your class to meet their needs, provide modifications (differing levels of difficulty to allow everyone in the class to participate at their respective skill levels), smile a lot, incorporate jokes and humor, and imagery to keep their minds sharp (stirring up soup, moving a bowling ball from a shelf to the floor, cleaning windows, etc.). Bring energy and enthusiasm to the class!
4. Music: Please bring a Bluetooth speaker and play music for the residents during your classes. They love Golden Oldies, Sinatra, Celine Dion, soothing yoga music, Latin dance music, etc. Feel free to use one of our playlists on our YouTube channel!
5. Be Professional: Please dress the part of a personal trainer and/or yoga instructor and wear athletic clothes. Please keep all communication between you and the client professional. Remember the client is always RIGHT!
6. Start and End on Time: Being 5 minutes early is being on time!
7. Reference Kev’s Gym Training Materials: Please feel free to review videos of our chair yoga and seated exercise classes on our YouTube channel! These videos will serve as a guide for you when developing and improving your class. In addition, take a look at Kev’s video! It serves as a great example of a seated exercise class that our clients love!
8. Class Information: Please be prepared to teach two of the following types of classes: chair yoga, seated exercise, Tai Chi, and dance. Please click here for more information on the differences between these types of classes.
9. Commit to Memory: Please have your class committed to memory, so that you can focus on your students, not your notes!
10. Our Mission: When developing and delivering your class, remember that our mission is.. To inspire people of all ages and backgrounds to live happier and healthier lives through fun, educational, and friendly fitness experiences.