KEEPING agile in retirement is as much about improving quality of life as it is about keeping fit. VICKY PASSINGHAM spoke to one woman who is holding exercise classes for all abilities.

THE dramatic change in the 94-year-old woman’s agility could be seen in a few weeks.

Before going to Belinda Searle’s fitness classes in Colchester, the eldery woman couldn’t even walk across her sitting room without her stick.

Now, with improved flexibility and balance, the woman only needs her stick for longer distances.

She is one of the many retired people who have noticed the difference from doing more exercise, however gentle.

“It is great to see the difference in people after just a few weeks,” explained Belinda, who runs her Fun with Fitness classes at the Magdalene Hall, in Wimpole Road, Colchester.

The idea for running exercise classes for retirees came to Belinda while doing a sport and exercise science degree at Essex University.

She spent time at a Colchester cardiac rehabilitation centre and noticed how gentle exercise played a major part in patients’ recuperation.

“I thought this is something I would like to do in my community,” she explained.

Since July, Belinda has been running a range of ability classes and has found it popular with people who don’t want to go to a gym but feel they need more exercise in their lives.

Aimed at people aged 60-plus, the classes range from gentle exercises in a chair to a running club.

Before going to the classes some pensioners couldn’t even pick something up from the floor without a struggle. Now they do it with ease.

“It really does improve their quality of life and they really feel the difference,” explained Belinda, 42.

As for those who have progressed to Belinda’s running club, “a few couldn’t even run 100 yards. Now they run three to five miles.”

Brian Webber, 71, and his wife Mary, 70, have improved their fitness levels so much since joining Belinda’s gentle excercise class that they have advanced to the next level.

Since retiring five years ago, the Webbers had got into the habit of sitting around, not doing much, but felt they needed to get more active.

“We have improved our fitness and are more agile now,” explained Mrs Webber.

“We get out and about more, have lost some weight and we are trimmer.”

The Webbers also like the social aspect of the classes and that being held in a small hall is, for them, more friendly than a large modern gym.