REVIVE Start Up Seated Exercise Classes

We met up with Ayah, a volunteer at Revive Family & Youth Services in Luton, to find out how her new qualification as a Seated Fitness, Function and Balance Instructor, has benefited the local community and herself.

REVIVE provide services, including a variety of courses, clubs, classes and activities, which are open to everyone in the Luton area with the aim of keeping the community connected and everyone active. Ayah was keen to offer an activity for inactive older adults, especially women and those from culturally diverse backgrounds, to help tackle isolation and poor mental health and fitness. She was conscious that community members often didn't know where to go to meet people and faced cultural stigma or feelings of anxiety about going to the gym.

But Ayah didn't have any formal fitness coaching qualification. She heard about the Couch2Coach Luton Fund and applied, explaining that chair based exercise would be a useful coaching tool for their elderly, disabled and inactive members.

She now regularly coaches seated chair exercise classes, which are held at the Higher Ground premises in Luton.

The seated exercise classes have equipped attendees with something simple that can be done regularly at home. And Ayah, thanks to the Couch2Couch Luton Fund, is thrilled to be able to share some new skills with the community, something that boosts both physical health and mental wellbeing.