Get your residents moving with our exercise for older adults course

Part of the Wellbeing and Activities Training for Staff platform, the Exercise Bundle covers every aspect of how to conduct and make the most of exercise sessions in your care home. Whether it’s to improve physical or mental wellbeing, to improve social interaction or to prevent falls, the Exercise Bundle takes you through the importance of exercise and provides you with all the knowledge you need to transform the physical and mental wellbeing of your residents. 

The Exercise Bundle is CPD Certified and is an add-on to the Wellness Essentials Bundle. The courses involved in the bundle would most benefit wellbeing leads and activity coordinators but can be undertaken by any member of staff who wishes to upskill their knowledge on how to successfully deliver exercise sessions in care homes.  

What are the courses of the Exercise Bundle? 

Course 01: Planning and Delivering Exercise Sessions 

This eLearning course has been designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the physical, emotional and social changes associated with aging. Lasting 55 minutes, you will learn how to create inclusive, happy and sociable exercise sessions for people in your care by incorporating Oomph! seated exercise techniques. 

Through this course, you will have the opportunity to learn how to promote physical health, mental wellbeing and overall quality of life for your residents. 

What are the learning outcomes? 

At the end of this course, you will: 

• Understand the ways in which the body is affected by aging, such as slower reactions, weakness and joint stiffness 
• Learn about the benefits of exercise for older adults, such as improved cardiovascular health and overall wellbeing 

• Gain a greater appreciation for the importance of staying socially and mentally engaged as we age 
• Have the knowledge to create an inclusive and happy atmosphere during seated exercise sessions 
• Be able to lead safe and effective exercise routines, including warmup and cooldown exercises 
• Be able to identify and manage risks during exercise sessions 
• Be able to adapt exercises for common medical conditions and medications 
• Understand how to foster a positive social environment during exercise sessions 
• Learn how to conduct engaging and beneficial Oomph! seated exercise sessions for the people in your care 

Course 02: Leading Exercise 

This is a face-to-face workshop that is conducted over 6 hours and will give you guidance on how to plan and deliver seated exercise sessions.  

Over the course of this workshop, you will have the opportunity to learn and explore the ways in which you can adapt to different health conditions as well as the benefits of exercise.  

At the end of this course, you will: 

• Be able to plan effective exercise sessions 
• Learn the leadership skills to confidently run exercise sessions 
• Be able to create and proactively manage risk assessments to ensure successful course delivery as well as resident participation 
• Learn how to creatively use props and music to enrich resident engagement 
• Gain a greater understanding of how to develop rich and engaging exercise sessions that are tailored to the individual needs and abilities of each resident 
• Learn how to use storytelling and imagery creatively to enrich resident engagement 

Course 03: Strength Exercises to Prevent Falls 

With this eLearning course, you will have the opportunity to build the knowledge to address one of the biggest challenges in the provision of care for older adults: preventing falls. 

This is a 3-hour, face-to-face workshop wherein you will gain the knowledge and skills you need to run exercise sessions to build the strength of residents, with a view to helping prevent falls. This workshop will help you gain a greater understanding of the importance exercise plays in falls prevention, not just with regards to strength, but also the impact it has on the mind, body and soul of residents. 

During this course, you will look at how to use props and how they can be fun and can benefit the residents. It will also provide a chance to discuss the importance and benefits of holding a falls prevention session and how you could facilitate it. 

At the end of this course, you will: 

• Understand the importance of and gain the skills to create exercise for a warmup session 
• Gain the knowledge to understand how exercise impacts the resident in mind, body and soul 
• Gain the knowledge to confidently deliver a strengthening exercise session within the home 
• Understand the importance of warmups and cooldowns 
• Understand the three stages of exercise to help prevent falls 
• Gain the knowledge to confidently use props in training sessions and understand why they are used 
• Facilitate and promote a falls prevention session and understand the benefits therein 
• Understand the importance of celebrating the achievements of individual residents