Decibel
Knitting? Nope. These Seniors Are Here To Get Fit.
Clip | 4m 53sVideo has Closed Captions
How a popular rec center program is helping older adults stay physically and emotionally fit.
“It's not a teenybopper up there,” says Neomi Delgado. She leads the Seniorcise workout program at the Gus Garcia Recreation Center, and she is here to get other seniors in shape, both physically, mentally and emotionally.
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Decibel is a local public television program presented by Austin PBS
Funding for Decibel is provided in part by Texas Mutual and Roxanne Elder & Scott Borders
Decibel
Knitting? Nope. These Seniors Are Here To Get Fit.
Clip | 4m 53sVideo has Closed Captions
“It's not a teenybopper up there,” says Neomi Delgado. She leads the Seniorcise workout program at the Gus Garcia Recreation Center, and she is here to get other seniors in shape, both physically, mentally and emotionally.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Where to Watch Decibel
Decibel is available to stream on pbs.org and the PBS app.
(soft jazz music) - In your mind, when you see an 80-year-old, what do you see?
Someone in a wheelchair?
Someone with a walker?
Someone that can barely move around?
That's not it.
Uh-uh.
(upbeat dance music) And back.
Woo!
- People ask me all the time, like, "Oh, you're working with seniors?
Are they knitting all day or something?"
I wish.
That would be awesome if there was some break.
We're going on field trips, we're doing parties, like, we're dancing.
- Who said seniors can't have fun?
Dance it out.
(traffic rushing) (soft jazz music) And back.
Your goal is to touch those shoulder blades.
Keep that back as straight as you can.
- [Staff Member] This is the senior exercise class.
Average is between 45 to 55 people on a day-to-day basis.
- [Naomi] Feet shoulder-width apart.
And reach, reach.
- [Staff Member] It's also nice because it is participant-led.
- It's not a teeny-bopper up there by far.
(interviewer and Naomi laughing) By far.
Criss-cross.
(upbeat dance music) I'm Naomi Delgado.
Over your head.
I've been doing this for 17 and a half years.
Exercise and I were not the best friends.
Back leg.
Stretch.
It's my passion, 'cause like I said, when I saw people that were my age and were just giving up, you know, this is gonna be my life from now on.
I said, "No, no, no.
You can do it.
You can do it.
You know, it's not gonna be easy, I'm not saying it's easy, but you can do it."
Looking good, looking good.
We do a whole hour without a break.
We use straws, we use pill bottles.
(bright music) That's our goal, to stay in our homes longer and take care of ourselves.
- It gets a little bit more difficult as we get older just to do some of the day-to-day activities, so strength training, balance training, exceptionally important.
It is a very difficult topic because number one, people don't really talk about aging.
We avoid that.
The Austin proper, about 12 to 13% of the population are 65 plus.
By the year 2060, the growth will equate to about 22%, and we really need to think about how we serve this population.
Healthcare is a huge thing that we need to think about.
- Have you been there before?
Oh.
- Additionally, having an opportunity to get out of the house and socialize is exceptionally important.
If you are lonely and isolated at your home, it is like smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
So there is a huge decline if you can't get out of the house and be a part of a community.
And that's really what those programs actually offer is that opportunity for them to stay healthy on the inside out.
- Stretch, stretch, stretch.
In this whole wide world, there's only one of you, so that makes us, drop that left hand, makes us royalty.
Do your royalty wave.
(participants cheering and applauding) Royalty wave.
Have a great afternoon.
It's very rare you find something senior-friendly.
We've been told by a lot of them that they enjoy coming over here because they feel accepted.
- But that's, again, a place where they've established community.
Like, even if it's just an hour for three days out of the week, there is a community that exists within the exercise group.
(uplifting music) - We know we're not gonna do what we could at 20 or 30, 40 or 50, but we can do something maybe a little slower, but we could still continue doing, and that's what I tell them all the time, that's our goal.
You know, we woke up this morning.
It's a good day.
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Decibel is a local public television program presented by Austin PBS
Funding for Decibel is provided in part by Texas Mutual and Roxanne Elder & Scott Borders