How to Make Your Gym Senior Friendly

If you own a fitness business, chances are you love helping people live a healthy lifestyle. It almost comes with the job description.

Serving senior citizens can be a great niche and experience, but it comes with its own set of rules. I this article, we’re going to overview some of the main ones so your gym can be senior friendly.

Step #1 — prepare to customize

Many seniors are dealing with bodies that are falling apart in some small way or another. It could be arthritis, a loss of balance, etc. What a group of seniors can and cannot do physically will differ much more than with a group of twenty-year-olds. Seniors may also require more attention and a workout regimen that addresses their particular ailments.

The obvious solution is to offer personal training for seniors. To truly provide seniors with the best training, hire a personal trainer who is accredited for training seniors.

Another option for customization is to offer classes tailored just for seniors.

Step #2 — help seniors understand the equipment

Perhaps the worst part of a gym in a senior’s eyes is all the equipment. To them, it can be dangerous and disturbing. Both fears boil down to the problem that they don’t always know what to expect.

Seniors are more likely than others to have gone their whole lives without a thorough gym experience. If you are their first experience, do them a favor and show them the ropes. They may not know how to adjust the settings on equipment for instance. The newness of it all can be intimidating for them.

Even worse, aging can make them vulnerable to injuries from overstraining or falling. Some equipment may be dangerous for them if handled incorrectly.

To make a senior feel at home, show them how the gym runs and make sure they understand their own strengths and limitations.

Step #3 — keep the atmosphere “quiet”

Many seniors are deterred by loud noises, harsh colors, and messy spaces. If you want to attract seniors, try to avoid noisy equipment and grinding music. Anything you can do to help the atmosphere feel calmer is an improvement. This includes lighting, building materials, paint colors, and an easy-going staff.

If you want to reach out to seniors as your main target market, you may even want to design the whole atmosphere of your gym around their tastes with reminiscent music and architecture.

Step #4 — treat seniors as if you are their social life

For many seniors, the strong community aspect of a fitness center is more attractive to them than staying fit. That may not even be such a bad health mindset — numerous studies have linked social interaction to long life.

With their children gone and many of their friends moved to another state or in a health crisis, seniors can suffer from social starvation. It’s your duty and your opportunity to make sure they feel involved. Using a buddy system or focusing on workouts that require working together are both great ideas

Step #5 — offer a senior discount

This is negotiable, but if attracting seniors is a high priority for you, it will let them know that they’re appreciated at your gym.

Seniors are a great niche market offering plenty of opportunities to serve. To attract them to your gym, just follow these steps.