18th Annual National Senior Health & Fitness Day
Set for Wednesday, May 25, 2011

On Wednesday, May 25, 2011, an estimated 100,000 older adults will participate in local fitness activities throughout the country as part of the 18th annual National Senior Health & Fitness Day® (NSHFD), the nation's largest health promotion event for older adults.

Organized as a public/private good health partnership by the Mature Market Resource Center (MMRC), Senior Health & Fitness Day will offer fitness activities for older adults at more than 1,000 locations including hospitals, park and recreation departments, senior centers, health clubs, retirement communities, houses of worship, health departments and other community locations. The event is always held on the last Wednesday in May as part of Older Americans Month activities.

Programs will range from small group exercise demonstrations in community senior centers to walking tours and health fairs. Most programs include an exercise or physical activity component, as well as information about senior subjects.

Interested organizations must register in order to legally host a National Senior Health & Fitness event. The registration fee is $29.95 plus shipping and includes the official National Senior Health & Fitness Day program CD and sample Senior Day incentive items (T-shirt, balloons, etc.) The program CD is an easy-to-use guide with all of the information needed to host a successful event - activity suggestions, posters, press releases, copyright-free reproducible masters to hand out, etc.

"Older adults at all levels of physical fitness are encouraged to participate in National Senior Health & Fitness Day," says Patricia Henze, NSHFD program manager. "Our goals for Senior Day are to make exercise fun, to increase awareness of the benefits of a regular exercise programs for older adults, and to encourage all older adults to take advantage of the many health and fitness programs offered in their communities."