IN October 2010, ACH Group in partnership with Port Adelaide Football Club motivated, inspired and empowered 20 older people to include exercise as part of their everyday life. Together we supported older people to take their first step back to exercise, making positive decisions and setting goals for a healthy lifestyle. The first two groups of people graduated on Friday 10 December 2010.

The graduates are all older members of the Port Adelaide Football Club, living in western, southern and northern Adelaide. Port Adelaide Football Club has about 2000 members who are aged over 70 years and is part of a local community that has the highest proportion of older people in metropolitan Adelaide.

Port Adelaide Football Club hosted older members of the community for two half days a week in their elite sporting facility. Club players and health professionals shared their skills and passion for exercise with the Life Exercises participants.

Life Exercises combines health education with both physical and brain exercise. Research tells us that people over the age of 65 years, more than any other age group, require adequate fitness levels to help them maintain independence, recover from illness and reduce their risk of disease. As one graduate told us “It has been really good for improving my balance and sore joints”.

Older people are supported by accredited exercise physiologists and physiotherapists to commit to two hours for ten weeks. A staggering 90% of people who graduate from our Life Exercises tell us they are still exercising four times a week three months later.

The Life Exercises Program is the first time we have worked with the aged and we are very keen to expand the program in partnership with ACH Group.