Fit for life: How VikFit is helping over-50s strengthen health and community

Unanderra business VikFit is transforming the lives of over-50s, growing from a single class of six people to multiple booked out classes since its launch 12 years ago.

Led by fitness instructor Vikki Muller, the program at the Unanderra Community Centre offers a lifeline to older adults who are sometimes dealing with health challenges such as arthritis, heart disease and hip replacements.

At the same time, it’s building a tight-knit community that boosts mental and social wellbeing.

But Vikki believes more of it is needed in the region.

Vikki started in the fitness industry 20 years ago, but it was a NSW Government grant through the centre to get older people active that prompted her focus on the over-50s demographic.

She said after applying and successfully receiving the grant, she tried a few different activities such as walking groups, until finally arriving at fitness classes.

That first fitness class attracted just six people but has since grown to seven weekly classes, with an average of 16-25 women and men per class.

She said with increasing demand and constant requests from other areas to run classes, she would love to see more community centres used for developing programs to keep older people active.

“If we could get the NSW Government to support the use of these community centres for this demographic, there’s certainly a demand for it,” she said.

“Preventative care would just be such a good thing for the health system.

“I’ve got people who come off medications that have been on them for 15 years, or their blood pressure comes down.

“It’s really cool to see.”

She said the key would be providing enough funding to make it accessible.

Since her funding ended more than a decade ago, she has had to find ways to keep classes affordable for participants while ensuring the business was self-sustainable to allow it to continue long-term.

Vikki said while cost of living was making that challenging, it was worth the effort, with the program’s success lying in improving overall health.

She said the participants, who had an average age of 60, had chosen to join after strokes, heart attacks, hip replacements, joint problems, osteoporosis and being breast cancer survivors.

“I’ve got probably 10 people that are in their 80s and they’re lifting 10 kgs, and on the ground doing crunches,” she said.

“Initially a lot of them come because doctors have given them advice to get fit or lose some weight or for arthritis and things like that.”

Vikki said classes focused on balance, stretching, cardio, strength and a range of movements to help cater to a variety of different conditions and fitness levels.

“There’s the weight loss, but I think that’s more of a side benefit,” she said.

“You get the social aspect and the mental health benefits, with fitness third or fourth down the list for them.

“Some of them are widows and so they’ve created this nice community within a community too.”

Vikki said they enjoyed the centre because it felt like a safe space to exercise with people their own age, there were familiar faces and participants were not being locked into contracts.

“They don’t want to go to gyms, so we’ve created that backyard feel, but with an educated trainer,” she said.

“We’ve got all these community centres that we could use for them.”

Learn more about VikFit classes.