Liz at Get Fit 4 Life

My name is Liz Forrest and I live in Greystoke.  I'm in my early eighties and, so far, have been lucky with my health.  I walk regularly, though not the strenuous walks of my younger years, do my own housework and lots of gardening, but not mowing or heavy stuff any more.  Nevertheless I found my joints were tending to stiffen up and the real crunch came when I realised I needed to push down on my hands to get out of a chair! 

Another thought, always at the back of my mind, was a fear of falling and breaking a hip. I know myself well enough to realise that that would have a really bad effect on my mental wellbeing,  quite apart from the physical  aspect.

I joined Debbie's class some months ago and although I wasn't an immediate convert (I hated gym at school, because I was hopeless at it) I now actually look forward to going each week.

Debbie has the perfect personality for the job, is always encouraging and enthusiastic and the classes are always good fun.

We are a group of like minded women (where are the men?) who puff and pant and creak and groan and laugh at ourselves and each other, united in our aim of keeping ourselves fit and mobile.  We all know there aren't enough younger people to look after all the older generation, and therefore we need look after ourselves, so that we can remain independent for as long as possible. 

There is a wide cross section of age and physical ability in our group at Greystoke, but Debbie  manages to accommodate us all, which is a key aspect of her classes: it's also possible to do most of the activities sitting, if necessary.                                                                                               

The things I, personally, have found particularly useful about Debbie's classes are the stretching  exercises (everything from fingers and toes to arms, shoulders and calves) because I'm quite prone to getting cramp, the work we do on balance and general strength building - and I can now usually get up from a chair without using my hands!