Fitter Futures

Fitter Futures | sitemap | log in

Spanglefish Gold Status Expired 27/07/2010.

Welcome to the Fitter Futures website!

The Fitter Futures project began in East Anglia in 2006 to help encourage people in midlife to stay or start being active. The project worked with other organisations across the region to set up pilot projects and activities for people in midlife to take part in and to look at what did (or didn’t!) work.

Although the activity development side of the project has now finished Age Concern Eastern Region the lead organisation for the project are committed to updating and maintaining the Fitter Futures website to keep sharing and learning information about how more people in midlife can be encouraged to enjoy the benefits of active living.

Are You in Your 40’s, 50’s or 60’s?

Read the research about why a more active lifestyle will benefit you now and in the future!
Find out more about different types of activities that you could get involved in through the pilot projects, case studies and useful websites pages.
Tell us and other organisations your views on activity in your 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and beyond using the Get in Touch and Comments Pages. If you are already active what motivates you and if not what might encourage you to start? How can activity providers do better?

Are You an Activity Provider / Sports Developer?

This website aims to provide useful documents, research, case studies, key considerations and links to other websites to help you make the case for and develop activities and services for people in midlife.
Do you have an activity you would like to promote? Get in Touch and tell us about it!
We would also love to hear about your experiences, what has or hasn’t worked in your area, Get in Touch or leave us your comments.

Further Information - Why A Focus On Midlife?

The East of England and the country generally has a fast growing and ageing population. By the early 2020's half of all adults are likely to be over the age of 50. The 50-64 yr age group is estimated to increase by nearly 30%, and the 65-74 yr age group (those people in midlife now!) is estimated to increase by almost 45%.

Starting and staying active throughout life has been shown to bring us many benefits, helping us to feel better physically and mentally, improving our overall health and fitness, and having many social benefits. Unfortunately, evidence shows that generally people become less and less active the older they get, with activity dropping noticeably at certain stages in life. It has been shown through surveys such as the Sport England Active People Survey that midlife can be one of those times.

Many sports and activity initiatives currently in place focus on provision for the young (youth sports development, talent identification, Step into Sport etc) or for the older (retired) and less able (daytime gentle exercise, chair based exercise sessions, falls prevention programmes etc)

The requirements of people in 'midlife' however are largely unrepresented. People at this stage of their life are unlikely to respond to services and messages aimed at 'older' people, yet may equally feel that their needs are not recognised or met by generic adult services. Services appropriate for and accessible by people in 'midlife' currently, therefore, represent a gap in provision.

Fitter Futures Project Information

Fitter Futures is a project developed by Age Concern Eastern Region, with support from Sport England East, The East of England Regional Assembly and Government Office East. Age Concern is a federation of registered charities.

Page Last Updated - 16/05/2009