Fitness Leader in Training

I did okay on the exam part of the Fitness Course and now we have moved on to some more applied aspects. We worked out a 45 minute exercise set for moderate functioning older adults right down to music to exercise by. We were paired up and had to combine our exercise sets. Yesterday we went to a personal care home where we led a group of seniors through our routines while under the supervision of their normal Recreation Therapist.

The group we got was a Day Program. Seniors who are identified as needing extra care in order to continue living out in the community, may be bused into the program for about 5 hours one or two days a week. The people were so responsive to us and it was a wonderful experience. It makes me feel a whole lot better about my big plan to do this kind of work for a living. We did all of our exercises seated. I did the warm up and cool down sections while leaving the middle harder cardio section for my partner. I had my cane, I was not lifting my limbs equally but I kept going and I think some people may have been looking at my enthusiasm and figured that if I could keep going they could too.

 We got to help out with the group for another hour or two after our session. We helped serve lunch, we played bowling and we participated in a kind of poker card game. We helped everyone get their coats on at going home time and helped  the therapist set up the breakfast supplies for the other group of seniors who will arrive on Monday morning.

It was fantastic. I am pretty exhausted today but it feels good.

The groups therapist had the job of marking us and writing out a report about how we did and give further advice.  She said wonderful things and gave us full marks. I really feel proud.

graphic from classroom clipart