Older adults ready to exercise – but sector needs to ‘do more’

Older adults would be ready to engage more with exercise, but often lack the right encouragement, communication and access to safe spaces. A new study by Manchester Metropolitan University – conducted on behalf of power assisted exercise equipment specialist, Innerva – questions the notion that barriers such as cost, physical limitations and fear of injury heavily influence decision-making. Instead, social factors and personal beliefs about the benefits are far greater drivers of motivation to exercise. This means that the perceived barriers to exercise are far less significant than fitness, sport and physical activity operators assume.

More than 1,200 adults aged 60 and above were involved in the study, which explored the main barriers and motivations for older adults in undertaking power-assisted exercise.

The cohort included both exercisers and non-exercisers as well as users and non-users of power-assisted exercise. The research was part-funded by a grant from Innovate UK as part of the UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge – Designed for Ageing, which aimed to harness the best of UK design talent and inclusive user engagement to develop solutions that helped people thrive in later life.

Professor Paul Smith, who led the research project, described the findings as “surprising”.

“We asked 28 questions about barriers to exercise and discovered that no single barrier stood out as a major obstacle,” he said.

“Older adults are more influenced by social factors and personal beliefs about the benefits of exercise, principally whether they believe the exercise is beneficial for their health, is an opportunity to socialise and are encouraged by what other people think of it.

“These factors have a far greater impact on their intentions than barriers.

“The older adult market is ready to engage once they are made aware of the exercise options available.”