Fitness in ‘the silver years’ at Racquets, Thame

THROUGHOUT our lives our activity levels go up and down. We might be very active when we are young, then the kids come along and our time is squeezed so our level of fitness drops. We get into the habit of lower levels of activity and then, when we enter the ‘silver years’, the time comes when we really need to think how to increase our mobility and improve our fitness levels.

Racquets Fitness Centre in Thame is now offering more opportunities for healthy fitness options for the older generation, with its Healthy Hearts gym circuit on Monday mornings at 11am, which consists of easy exercises to improve mobility with Claire Finch. Members work at their own pace and their own level. Claire caters for any injuries, for instance, seated leg raises for those with balance issued or light weights if the exercises are too easy. Whatever your level, you’ll be catered for and given help you achieve more mobility and fitness to make your life a little easier throughout the rest of the week. And, you can have a nice cup of tea and a chat afterwards!

On Tuesdays at 10am, Racquets has a Silver Servers racketball group where members can chose to either run or walk around the court ‘chasing’ after a big bouncy ball with a racket. For those with some mobility this group will ensure you get your heart and lungs working. Again – a nice cup of tea and a chat afterwards.

The third option is on Fridays, 12.30pm – 2.30pm – Ballroom Tea Dancing. Joanne Gresty has been ballroom dancing since she was 11 years-old. Tea Dancing is a great social way of keeping active. It’s not just the physical benefits dancing offers, but dance is now known for its benefits of increasing cognitive acuity (sharpness of the mind – memory, focus, concentration, and understanding).

“So,” says Sue Martin Downhill of Racquets: “Come tea dancing and stay smart and healthy. We have a huge variety of age groups that use Racquets, from babies in the crèche right up to our over 80s who regularly use the gym.

“We hope that our new groups will help mobilise the older generation of Thame who’ve forgotten the great feeling of well-being that physical and mental exercise can produce.”