Residents at Spring Lodge in Woolverstone enjoy Eddie s fitness workouts!

Residents at Spring Lodge in Woolverstone enjoy Eddie's fitness workouts!   You are never too old to benefit from exercise, says Eddie Willett, who runs thriving fitness classes aimed at pensioners in care homes. Aimee Davey, activities coordinator at Spring Lodge care home, in Woolverstone, near Ipswich, reckons Eddie’s fortnightly morning workouts are “the perfect way to get people ready for lunchtime and the rest of the day”. Mr. Willett, 31, of Bury St Edmunds, who started his sessions at the Kingsley Healthcare run home four months ago, said: “I was a carer for more than five years until I did a diploma to become a personal trainer and launched my mobile businesses Ascension Fitness.

“It was about two years ago that I developed a niche business putting on classes in care homes and I now visit 14 homes a week across East Anglia.” He said there was a lot of research to show that exercise was beneficial for people living with dementia, possibly slowing down mental decline as well as improving mobility, lifting mood and raising self-confidence. “The smiles I get show that people are really enjoying the opportunity to move to music. It’s definitely making a difference to them. “And staff at the homes I visit say residents talk about me ahead of my visits, which is really nice,” he said. Mr. Willett said he always started with stretches to warm up and finished off each 30 minute session with a warm-down.

He said: “We concentrate on chair-based exercises so everyone can take part. We do exercises to move both the arms and legs as well as a little bit of cardio-vascular.” Ms. Davey said: “A lot of our residents don’t think of it as exercise; it’s more like dancing and moving to music – and that’s why they think it’s such fun!”  She said they had even started doing occasional exercises in between Mr. Willett’s visits so residents really got the benefit.