Following their class this week, Kamo Club Strength and Balance participants Alison Voss, Shirley and Keith Dawes spoke with Sport Northland’s Mark Burkill about their experience attending exercise classes regularly.

Alison shared her long history of attending exercise classes. She started out with a church-based group, and after some time away returned to exercise, attending a group in Kensington. Throughout this time, she continued her dancing. Alison moved her exercise outings to her local strength and balance group, where she discovered her neighbours were attending the same class. Today Alison attends one – two classes locally each week, and continues to dance, walk and garden. 

Shirley and Keith met Alison at dancing, and she encouraged the couple to come along and try the strength and balance exercises. Shirley attended on her own at first, and she too found one of her neighbours was attending. Shirley says her main reason for starting was getting out of her comfort zone and meeting new people. Keith added that she (Shirley) wanted to stretch her muscles too.  “I knew I should do exercise, and it’s a commitment in knowing there’s a group going” says Shirley.  Keith goes onto say that his “main motivation was to keep my muscles working, and I’ve noticed my strength has improved too”.

Alison, Shirley and Keith attend the same class regularly.  They join a large group of participants who have all become one large family, working hard to keep their strength, balance and independence.   Alison’s advice to anyone that’s thought about trying a class is to “come along!”  

If you or someone you know would benefit from attending a class like this, please talk to your health professional or contact the Healthy Lifestyle team at Sport Northland on 0800 ACTIVE (22 84 83).