Your body generally sails along quite smoothly until you hit your 40’s. From here on you start to lose muscle mass at the rate of about 1% or more per year. The loss of muscle mass is known as Sarcopenia. Maintaining your muscle mass is also important to keep your bones strong and healthy. Bone loss also gradually increases as you age. When this process starts to happen faster than expected – you may develop Osteoporosis. This is where the density of bone decreases and bones may become more fragile and are more at risk of fracture. Weak bones may fracture (break) more easily with a fall or even a sneeze.

To address this problem Vickie has developed the Over 40’s Exercise class conducted at Coogee. 

This is a low impact Modified Pilates Class for improving bone and muscle strength. We use small equipment like Exercise Bands and hand Weights so that you learn a variety of exercises you can easily do at home. We always finish the class with stretches which will make you feel great!

For reasons of safety, everyone is assessed before joining the class to ensure the class is suitable for you. Sometimes we suggest doing some exercises at home for a while until your body has adapted to doing exercises for an hour.

This class is for everyone regardless of whether or not you have ever experienced back or neck pain. Vickie has developed this class after many years of experience treating people with diverse conditions of the spine.

The Class covers the following topics:

• Anatomy of the Spine

• How the Spine Works

• How the Spine changes with Life stages

• How to be Spine-smart - posture training, lifting techniques

• How Exercise can help to keep your spine healthy

What you’ll learn:

• How bones, joints, muscles, discs, nerves and ligaments interact when you move.

• Core muscles – what do they look like and what do they do?

• Posture – what is good and bad posture and why is it important?

• Pain – what does it all mean? What can I do about it

• Exercise – What kind, How much, where to start.

Bring your questions along.