Free online exercise programme for older people launches in June

Gaelic football expert, former Kerry football player and PE teacher for 35 years, Pat Spillane was on hand this week to launch a novel fitness challenge for seniors throughout the month of June.

Facilitated by the social enterprise Siel Bleu, the 30 Days to Better Ways campaign offers seniors free daily online classes to help them get back to a level of fitness that many lost during the pandemic. “We want older people to achieve the 150 minutes of exercise a week recommended by the World Health Organization,” explains Thomas McCabe, national manager of Siel Bleu.

He says that, after the pandemic, some seniors have been slow to return to exercise classes at their local community centers. “Health professionals have reported severe deconditioning in many older people during the pandemic. People lose muscle by not exercising, but we can slow down the aging process by participating in regular exercise programs,” says McCabe.

McCabe suggests that the online classes, 11 a week that can be viewed live or later, will be an opportunity to get people back into fitness programs. “It will help them with daily life tasks and encourage people to go back to community classes,” she says.

Spillane is a fervent advocate of exercise. “Exercise should be part of your day, just like eating dinner. It shouldn’t be a chore,” says Spillane, who walks an hour every day and swims every day in the pool or ocean during the summer months.

The group of 16 older women, many of whom are in their 80s, appear to be enjoying their exercise class at the Mount Merrion Community Center when The Irish Times visits. Each person does the chair-based exercises to the best of their ability, with plenty of arm lifts, foot stretches, power stomps, and side stretches in sight.

Anne McQuaid returned to weekly in-person Siel Bleu exercise classes at Mount Merrion in September 2021. “I try to stay in shape. I walk for about an hour every day and the exercises are helping my back pain,” says McQuaid. Her friend, Margo Doyle, says she walks 30 to 60 minutes every day. “I’m trying to walk instead of using my car and I’m getting better at it,” she says. Clare McGlynn says that she has been teaching for years. “I wouldn’t go a week without them,” she says.

McQuaid says Siel Bleu instructors offer alternative exercises to anyone who can’t complete the suggested ones. Sitting at the front of the class, Siel Bleu’s physical trainers model the movements for the participants to follow. The online classes will offer a similar model of the exercises for participants to follow from their own homes.

Siel Bleu offers in-person exercise classes to seniors at community centers and nursing homes in 20 counties in Ireland. To sign up for the free online fitness classes in the 30 Days to Better Ways campaign from June 1-30, see sielbleu.es