Innovative fitness class in good shape
The Motueka community initiative Active at the Park has been taking the fear out of fitness since September in 2015, and has been nominated in the Fitness Industry Awards for community excellence two years running.
Edee Harris, a registered personal trainer and the fitness manager at Cityfitness in Nelson, started the group with Tracey Pickering, a registered nurse.
Pickering had posted on Facebook about wanting to help get more people in the community active, but needed the help of a personal trainer to get the idea going. Harris saw the post, and stepped in to help.
‘‘I’m just so passionate about giving back to the community, because as a teenager I used to do a lot of sport, and get so much support from the community. It feels good to give back, and I’m so passionate about helping people be more active in their day to day lives, doing things they never could do before,’’ Harris said.
Harris and Pickering discussed what obstacles there were for people to be more active.
‘‘The main thing was time, the next was cost - cost is a massive one - and the last focus is providing a safe and un-intimidating work-out space,’’ Harris said.
‘‘The people we are working with find gyms quite intimidating, so we meet up in the park because everyone likes being outside, and the focus is less on the exercise and just on moving.’’
The idea was popular drawing almost 50 people to the first class.
Harris said that since then class numbers have settled a little, ranging from 8 to 18 people per session, and due to popular demand a third class has been scheduled for each Friday.
She said people had improved so much from the class she had to form a new ‘‘graduate’’ class to keep up with their fitness levels.
The classes are aimed at people who have never done any exercise before, or who haven’t done any exercise for a long time.
‘‘It’s low-impact exercise, it’s all aimed at making it a smooth work-out,’’ Harris said. ‘‘We don’t focus on ‘fitness’ or ‘exercise’, because they have quite negative connotations.’’
The work-outs are focused on ‘‘functional movements, like getting up off the ground, or playing with kids or grand-kids.’’
Unlike traditional exercise programmes, which focus on completing a certain number of movements, Harris sets a certain time for each movement.
‘‘This way everyone finishes the exercises at the same time, because otherwise some people can do the exercises faster and that can be really discouraging for others,’’ Harris said. ‘‘Everyone can pace themselves.’’
Many members of the group go on to do more, getting gym memberships and running half marathons, and even some this year who enrolled to compete in the Wairoa Warrior challenge.
‘‘These are people who never would have thought they could do a 30 minute class, let alone an obstacle course,’’ Harris said.
‘‘Being there to see people do something that they could never do before is awesome.’’
Anyone interested in joining the class can find out more on Facebook through the page Edee Harris Fitness or ACTIVE@thepark.