Witness the Fitness

Nicky Hayes shares his experience of Belong Warrington’s village gym, exercise and rehabilitation service, and his love for all things fitness.

Nicky Hayes, 84, shares his experience of Belong Warrington’s village gym, exercise and rehabilitation service, and his love for all things fitness.

Explaining his motivation for fitness, Nicky told us it’s threefold. He begins: “One of my daughters has just completed a diving course and I’d love to be fit enough to go underwater like her. But overall, using the gym really is helping me to be better for my family and to be here for them for longer. Also, I would like to get shut of this!” (It was at this point our interviewee pointed to his tummy.)

He continues: “It was my daughters, Helen and Nicola, who first told me about the village. They wanted me to be doing more things with my time and to find a group of friends. Truth be told, they are my world, along with granddaughter Olivia, and I feel they are pushing me to keep moving and it’s helping to boost my enthusiasm when it comes to working out.”

Exercise expertise

Also cheering Nicky on is the village’s dedicated exercise specialist, Aaron Willcock, and the pair have struck up quite a partnership through their regular one-to-one sessions. “Aaron is a cracking fella,” Nicky says. “I remember trying out the gym to see what I thought and after 45 minutes, I felt on top of the world.”

All Belong villages hold regular group exercise sessions and customers can also opt for personal sessions with one of the in-house exercise specialists. This includes an assessment to build a bespoke training programme utilising the gym’s state-of-the-art equipment especially for older people, including wheelchair users.

Nicky continues: “I love the lateral pull down machine and Aaron is over the moon with my performance on this. I think I’m doing really well for my age and he thinks so too. You couldn’t get a better instructor than Aaron – he pushes me to do my best and he doesn’t mind the old scouse chatter as I patter on about my day.”

Life goals

Finally, we were keen to find out if Nicky found the time away from his beloved lateral pull ups to enjoy any other aspects of village life and he told us: “There isn’t much I don’t do when I’m here! I like to play dominoes and take care of the plants. It gets me out of the house and gives my wife some time to do some of the things she likes to do, too. I love all my friends here and I’m so happy I found Belong.”