Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

99-year-old exerciser puts us to shame

By Allison Hess
Junior reporter - digital·Bay of Plenty Times·
5 May, 2017 09:29 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Betty Holmes exercising at Bob Owens Retirement Village. Betty turns 100 years in two weeks. Photo/John Borren

Betty Holmes exercising at Bob Owens Retirement Village. Betty turns 100 years in two weeks. Photo/John Borren

Betty Holmes turns 100 in just a few weeks and still attends exercise classes several times a week - she says it could be the key to a long life.

Mrs Holmes also helped set an Australasian record by taking part in the largest and oldest synchronised exercise class.

She walked every day and attended twice weekly exercise classes at Bob Owens Retirement Village.

"I've had a bad leg after someone ran into me at the lifts, but it's just coming right, so I'm getting right back into it," Mrs Holmes said, rearing to go in the front row of the exercise class.

More than 60 residents at the village, most older than 80, took part in breaking an Australasian record where 3000 elderly did a synchronised exercise class, linked together live via YouTube.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The event celebrated 10 years of Ryman Healthcare Triple-A exercise classes.

"I love doing these exercises. Maybe it's why I have lived for so long.

"I just love to walk and get out and around," Mrs Holmes said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The exercise class was focused on functional movements - balancing and extending one leg at a time, marching in place and using an elastic band for resistance training.

The residents sat in chairs, for the most part, singing along to the tunes as they worked out.

Instructor Sarah Nicol took two types of classes at the village, which the residents got "really into".

The first was a circuit class, a bit harder which included weightless bicep curls, wall press-ups and sit-ups.

"It's amazing to see the change it makes in people's lives. If you don't use it - you lose it.

"We did fitness testing, and I encouraged one of the women to try the circuit class, and a few months later she came to tell me she felt so much younger."

It gave the residents balance, confidence and allowed them to become more active in other aspects of life, Ms Nicol said.

"I regularly have a 95-year-old vision impaired woman come to class, and she does almost everything."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

'Sustained period of cruelty': Starship doctor slates child protection agency failings

Bay of Plenty Times

Eastern BoP mayors unite against council amalgamation

Bay of Plenty Times

'Mind-blowing': Chef's two-ingredient meringue breakthrough


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'Sustained period of cruelty': Starship doctor slates child protection agency failings
Bay of Plenty Times

'Sustained period of cruelty': Starship doctor slates child protection agency failings

An almost identical case occurred two months after Malachi's death, the doctor said.

16 Jul 05:15 AM
Eastern BoP mayors unite against council amalgamation
Bay of Plenty Times

Eastern BoP mayors unite against council amalgamation

15 Jul 10:57 PM
'Mind-blowing': Chef's two-ingredient meringue breakthrough
Bay of Plenty Times

'Mind-blowing': Chef's two-ingredient meringue breakthrough

15 Jul 09:44 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP