Senior fitness club

Senior fitness clubs that can truly go far and are sincerely welcomed by the elderly will never sell young people's fitness programs to the elderly at a discount. Instead, they must stick to the three cores of "low intensity, high socialization, and emphasis on adaptability" and be able to meet the differentiated needs of the elderly with different health conditions.

Last week I passed by a "senior fitness center" that has been open for almost five years downstairs. When I walked in, I saw Uncle Li, who had just finished doing Ba Duanjin, holding up a blood sugar record book to show off to the coach. He said that his post-meal blood sugar had been stable at around 6 for the past two months, and even the doctor asked him to reduce his blood sugar pills by half. The owner, Sister Zhang, used to be a rehabilitation therapist at a community hospital. Her place does not have the pungent smell of sports drinks from Shangjianli, nor can you hear the sound of coaches chasing after selling private lessons. In the corner are half-person-high knee pads and waist pads, as well as a grocery cart and a cartoon water bottle used by the elderly to pick up their grandchildren.

There are actually two schools of thought in the industry that are completely at odds with each other, and they have been arguing for almost three years with no conclusion yet. One group is the "hardcore" who came from Shangjian. They believe that fitness for the elderly must be professional. Body fat, grip strength, and bone density are measured before entering the door. Classes are scheduled according to exercise physiology standards. You must clock in for strength training three times a week. They even offer "muscle-building classes for the elderly." I have seen a club that did this before in Tongzhou. It closed three months after it opened. There was a 68-year-old man who suffered a lumbar protrusion while deadlifting. He lost more than 20,000 yuan in treatment fees alone. After hearing about it, the remaining elderly people all canceled their cards - after all, for most elderly people, it is really not worth gambling on the quality of life for the rest of their lives just to build some muscles.

The other group is more thieves. They are the "entertainment group" who were transferred from the group of people who engage in sales. Fitness is just a guise. They take the elderly to square dances and go on day trips to the suburbs every day. They start selling physical therapy mattresses and small molecule water worth thousands of yuan after only two classes. Some even drag the elderly to buy nursing homes in other places. Last year, there was such a store downstairs in my cousin's house. It charged more than a hundred elderly people an annual fee of 3,000 yuan each. When they ran away, they even took away the stereo from the door, leaving a bunch of old people squatting at the door and cursing all afternoon.

Don't tell me, the model created by Sister Zhang is just stuck in the middle of the two schools. There is no compulsory physical examination process here. Old people who have just entered the hospital only need to fill out a simple health declaration form. Whether they have high blood pressure, lumbar protrusion, or knee joint wear and tear will be clearly marked in the file for you. Old people with bad knees don’t need to squat during aerobics. They can just stand and shake their arms. ； When an elderly person with frozen shoulder practices softball, the coach will specifically reduce the range of motion. ； If you feel dizzy and weak that day, you can just sit and chat with everyone for half an hour. No one will say that you are "wasting money". What’s interesting is that her class time is all arranged according to the schedule of the elderly: 7 to 8:30 in the morning is the “drop-in” after dropping off the grandchildren, 4 to 5 in the afternoon is the “fishing place” before picking up the children, and there is even an “after-dinner” at 7:30 for the elderly who help with the cooking. You don’t have to make time specially, you can just stop by and stay for half an hour.

I checked the 2023 State Sports General Administration’s Senior Sports Consumption Report. For light fitness projects with social attributes, the repurchase rate for the elderly is 3.7 times that of pure strength training.； Research data from the Geriatrics Department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital also shows that if people over 60 years old adhere to low-intensity aerobic + muscle activation training three times a week for 30 minutes each time, the incidence of cardiovascular disease can be reduced by 22%. These benefits are no less than deadlifts and squats, but the risks are more than one order of magnitude lower.

Some people think this model is "not professional enough". Sister Zhang never competes with others. She pointed to Uncle Wang who was practicing light weight dumbbells in the gym. The old man is 72 years old. He used to be an athlete on the provincial track and field team. Now he comes to practice strength twice a week. He can press 20 kilograms in the bench press. "Of course it is okay if you have the foundation and are willing to practice. I have specially found a rehabilitation coach to keep an eye on me and nothing will happen. But you can't ask all 60-year-old aunts to lift weights like him?" ”

Of course, this does not mean that all current senior fitness clubs are reliable. I went to other places for research a while ago, and I have seen many people who deceive the elderly into paying three-year annual fees, then turn around and run away with the money. If an elderly person at home wants to find a place to exercise, it is best to go with him and try it out for a week and a half to see if the coach will force him to buy something and if there are any modifications to the exercises for the elderly with different physical conditions. Don't pay thousands in annual fees right away.

Last night I went downstairs to buy cigarettes, and I saw a group of old people gathered in front of Sister Zhang's club, arranging a National Day flexball program. The music was playing "My Motherland and Me", and everyone was shaking their racquets with sweat on their heads, and their faces were full of smiles. Uncle Li saw me secretly stuffing a piece of milk candy brought by his granddaughter, and said: "This fitness exercise, to put it bluntly, is to be happy first, and then to be healthy. If coming here every day is more tiring than going to work, why don't I lie down at home and watch TV series?" ”

When the wind blew, the "Senior Fitness" sign hanging next to it swayed, and I suddenly felt that what he said was more correct than the ten industry reports I had read.