Rosemary’s Story
“I’d like to be a sort of Joe Wickes for oldies”
Rosemary Mallace is not your typical 70 year old, in fact, she is far from it. On the outside, she’s your (sometimes) mild mannered grandmother of 5 who lives in Wythenshawe, South Manchester but for anyone who knows her personally, she is your everyday superhero who is helping to keep people in later life as healthy as possible.
Rosemary, who retired 10 years ago at the age of 60, was at the gym one day prior to retirement, having an induction.
“I was next to this old chap, who was probably younger than I am now, and he said to the young woman working with him, ‘it’s ok for you youngsters, but you don’t understand the aches and pains of us older people’.”
“It was my lightbulb moment”, said Rosemary.
Rosemary had been offered voluntary redundancy from the Connexions Service and knew she wanted to retire at 60, but would need to find something else to do. Becoming a personal trainer for older people seemed to be the perfect answer. “I knew that as a baby boomer myself, other baby boomers would identify with me and know that I understood their specific needs.”
In March 2011 Rosemary took voluntary redundancy, retired and put her feet up — literally. She spent the summer of 2011 getting her Personal Trainer qualification which involved quite a lot of lying on exercise mats with her feet in the air. “It was something I was so motivated to do. I put everything into it and I am so glad I did. I was by far the oldest person on the course, but the other students were very lovely and didn’t make me feel like an oldie. I’m still friends with some of them.”
Until the pandemic hit, Rosemary was running fitness classes for South Manchester U3A. “COVID was devastating. People, who were once able to come along and enjoy a workout at their pace were being told to stay at home. With fitness, as you age, it really is a case of ‘use it or lose it’ and people were asking me if I had any exercises I could put up on my Facebook page.
“I decided that if people couldn’t come to my classes, my classes would come to them. I started live classes on my YouTube channel and ran free classes three times a week. I had people from all over the world join the classes. A friend’s parents started doing them in India and I have some people from Australia who do them — not live, because of the time difference.
“Although I can’t see the people who are taking my classes, I have become quite close to them and now consider some of them friends. I get very positive feedback and love to hear stories of how doing my classes has improved their lives, making everyday tasks easier for them.”
Once the first lockdown was over, Rosemary changed her classes to twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays at 11am. The classes are free, but Rosemary has set up a ‘buy me a coffee’ account, which allows people to buy Rosemary a coffee, “I did think of making it buy me an Earl Grey,” said Rosemary. This allows people to show their appreciation for the classes, but there is no obligation.
Rosemary doesn’t plan on stopping there, she has plans to write her own fitness book specifically for older people and hopes to get it published soon or take on the publishing world herself and self-publish it on Amazon. This one will be a fitness book with a bit of a difference, though.
Most fitness books have lots of different exercises in them, which can be confusing. “I find most fitness books are good if you have a background in fitness or are in the fitness industry. Too many exercises can be confusing and I think people buy the books with good intentions, but get intimidated by all the choice and end up doing nothing.
“My book will have 10 exercises that should be followed to the letter and they will exercise most of the major muscles. The exercises will concentrate on strength, co-ordination, flexibility and balance and will help prevent falls, enabling people to cope with the tasks of day-to-day living. This is called functional fitness.
“I am really passionate about what I do. We are all living longer, but many of us live the last 20 years of our life in ill health, with conditions that could be prevented by lifestyle changes. Staying physically active is one of the ways to have a better quality of life as we age. I see myself as a sort of Joe Wicks for oldies.”
You can keep up (if you can) with Rosemary on her social media platforms:
YouTube: Rosemary Mallace Overfiftyfitness
Facebook: Over Fifty Fitness | Facebook
Website: www.overfiftyfitness.co.uk
Twitter: @overfiftyfitnes
