I am a keep-fit queen at 83
Celia Powis has been teaching aerobic classes since the 70s and has no plans to stop. She tells why age is only a number when it comes to fitness
PEELING off my leotard and legwarmers, I head for the showers at the leisure centre.
I’m in need of a freshen-up after teaching my fifth Jane Fonda-style keep-fit class of the week. Not bad for an eightysomething!
Passing two of the women from the session, I hear one say to the other: “She’s great, isn’t she? Guess how old she is.” I smile.
After all, I still feel young in both my body and mind – no more than 60. And certainly nowhere near my real age of (whisper it) 83.
I’ve been teaching keep-fit classes for nearly 50 years and I love it now as much as I did at the very beginning.
But I fell into fitness very much by accident. I started off my working life in insurance. There, a colleague introduced me to Jack, now 81, who was to become my husband.
Over the years, we’ve always been active, enjoying camping and walking with our children Toby, Anna and Tim. But when our youngest son was about five, a leisure centre opened in Worthing, Sussex, and I started going to exercise classes there. I loved them and could go for free after landing a job at the leisure centre creche.
Then one day in 1975, the lady who ran one of the classes needed to take a day off, so I offered to stand in for her.
I had no training but had watched her enough to be able to copy what she did – I put a record on the record player and took the participants through the movements I’d learned.
It went well. So when a slot came up to run some exercise classes in the evening, I was asked to take them on. I jumped at the chance, and learned on the job. But for a long time it was simply something I did as a willing volunteer – for the first year or two the leisure centre didn’t pay me anything at all.
In 1977, a man called Ken Woolcott and his team came to give a demonstration of something they called Popmobility. Ken was a GB amateur athletics coach who devised “Popmo” as a way of keeping his
gymnasts fit between competitions. The workouts consisted of exercise routines set to popular music. I went along to the demo and loved it straight away.
I booked myself on a training weekend, bought some LPs of the music used, and started using Popmo routines in my own classes.
People enjoyed them and attendance began to grow. Sometimes I had 200 people turn up for a session. It was incredible.
I used to stand on a stage in the middle of the hall to demonstrate, and after a few years, for the bigger classes, Jack joined me on stage.
There was a wonderful sense of community with all of the class members.
To learn new routines, I went to organised Popmo weekends. In the end I had over 1000 in my roster.
And even after all these years, I can remember most of them. I find it pretty easy to remember the movements because they are so tied in with the music.
For many years I taught 10 to 15 classes a week. I have never had any serious injuries to stop me from teaching.
And in almost 50 years of doing my fitness classes, I’ve only ever missed four sessions.
One of the most memorable classes came when it was my birthday. Halfway through, a man dressed as Tarzan came in, slung me over his shoulder and started running round the room with me. Some of the class members had organised it as a surprise. When I was around 50, things started changing – the leisure centre needed their instructors to have an official qualification. I studied to become a fitness instructor with the YWCA, and gained various certificates. I have always loved my job so much that as the years passed by, I simply kept going. In my 60s, I didn’t want to retire. When Jack stepped down from his job as an engineer, he started helping me more. Teaching keep-fit has kept me trim. In fact, in 2015, for our 50th wedding anniversary, we threw a party and I wore the outfit I was married in. I’m a size eight to 10 and could still get into it quite easily. But it’s not just about looking and feeling good – the social side is brilliant too. I’ve always had a huge range in my classes, from people in their 20s, right up to my sister, who’s also in her 80s. Some members have been coming for over 40 years. In 2020, I was thrilled to be awarded a British Empire Medal. I blushed reading my nomination: “Celia’s classes are still as vigorous, enthusiastic and physically demanding as they were in the beginning. She shows no signs of slowing down and is a true inspiration to others, showing that age is not a bar to fitness.”
Sadly the medal presentation ceremony and garden party at Buckingham Palace were postponed because of the pandemic but it’s something to look forward to.
Today I still teach five days a week in Worthing – one class a day.
Age is but a number in my eyes and while I may be older, my classes are far from easy. We do push-ups and high kicks. With Popmo, everyone can do it at their own pace.
I usually do about 15 routines in an hour, working on all parts of the body using both stretching and aerobic exercises. I demonstrate everything, without difficulty, although since my 80th birthday I’ve noticed my hips are a bit tighter than they used to be.
But at 83, I have no intention whatsoever to retire. Teaching keepfit doesn’t just keep me physically healthy, it keeps me mentally fit too.
Being older doesn’t have to stop you doing anything, if you are fortunate to remain in good health. Exercise connects brain and body to keep both active. I will continue doing it for as long as possible.
After all, as I intend to live for at least another 20 years, I’ve got time on my side.
Keepfit doesn’t just keep me physically healthy, it keeps me mentally fit too