I’m often asked, why did you start Avanti, and what makes it different from other gyms?
Let’s start with The Why
At Avanti, we believe that every person should have the opportunity to live a long and healthy life.
9 in 10 people >65 have at least one chronic condition that limits
But the numbers don’t lie: Less than 20% of older people meet the physical activity guidelines
This is compounded by social isolation and other factors affecting both physical and mental health.
Avanti Health Centre is a custom-designed gym exclusive for those aged over 50, drawing upon the latest research from around the world to promote healthy ageing, fitness, and wellbeing. Older people tell us that they are intimidated by commercial gyms, with their ‘alpha types’ and ‘awful music’.
We created Avanti as a place where members can feel at home, safe, and supported by health and fitness professionals, with a resort-style feel – think Hamptons meets the seaside!
At Avanti, we are passionate about helping people achieve longevity and wellness beyond 50, so we established Avanti to help people live longer, be healthier, feel happier, and prevent cognitive decline.
Our exercise physiologists prescribe exercise just as a GP prescribes medication, to help our members feel fit, functional, and fearless in a way that suits their lifestyle and health status.
It’s about applying the scientific evidence to achieve optimal results for you. For instance, we now know how critically important maintaining muscle mass is to our health. We lose between 3 and 8% of muscle every decade from a peak in our 20s to about 50% in our seventies. And every time a skeletal muscle contracts, it releases myokines, or cell messengers, which have a therapeutic effect on every organ in our body – a kind of natural medicine.
So if you don’t maintain muscle mass, you increase your risk of falls, and you’re only getting half the dose of myokines. At Avanti, our strength equipment uses air pressure rather than weights, so we can start at just 100 grams of resistance. Everyone can get the benefits of resistance training to preserve muscle. We even have ladies in their 90s pumping out the reps.
But it’s not just about exercise. We believe that social connection is just as important, so every day we are nurturing a strong community feel amongst our members. The effect of social isolation and loneliness on mortality is comparable to that of other well-established risk factors. Did you know that loneliness has a comparable risk factor for early death to smoking 15 cigarettes a day?
There is now evidence that just having negative perceptions about ageing can reduce your life expectancy by 7.5 years. So we should be celebrating increased longevity and the amazing opportunities that ageing affords. In fact, we consider it a privilege to help our members feel more positive about ageing and add good quality years to their lives, but more importantly, life to their years!
Our specialised over-50s gym caters to all your fitness needs