Join Mr Motivator in tackling physical and mental wellbeing

He has started a new online concept to help motivate older people to tackle their physical and mental wellbeing.

The 68-year-old has started the Club, a new hub around fitness and wellbeing for people aged 55 and over, which will include expert advice on sensible eating, mental fitness and provide a community to help battle loneliness.

The fitness guru, real name Derrick Evans, said he had thought of the idea back in the late 1980s when he was looking at ideas for platforms he could use to help older people.

He made his name by becoming the nation's original PE teacher, with boundless energy making him a big star on breakfast television on ITV in the 1990s. He sold millions of fitness DVDs, including Mr. Motivator's 10 Minute BLTs, Mr. Motivator's 10 Minute Workouts and Bums Legs & Tums.

Lockdown brought him back to our screens as the BBC took him on to offer keep fit advice and he has enjoyed being back in the limelight once again.

He says he wants to use his profile to help people as they get older, adding: "It's always been my platform, going way back, to try and find as many ways as I can to push out this positive message about wellbeing, looking after yourself and many other ways that you can.

"I came up with this idea about 30 years ago and set it up with a company called Centre Stage, with the whole idea being to focus on the older person, making sure they have everything in place to ensure independence in later life.

"This is needed as people, as they get older, lose their balance, lose bone density and when they fall over, they find it harder to get up, so it's needed to help people going forward."

He said he had been approached by Irish company Olive Media, who said it wanted to host the platform, and the plans were put in place to make the plan a reality, with the Club launching in March.

A key feature of the Club will be the 14 specialist motivators, all of whom were hand-picked by Mr Motivator to offer expert advice, support and activities.

Experts in their fields, the motivators allow the Club to offer an array of classes including HITT, yoga, cookery, pilates, nutrition, music therapy, mindfulness and mental health workouts.

Zena Weeks from Walsall is one of the motivators, having returned to working as a chef after 20 years of working for British and English Athletics as an events manager.

The 54-year-old said she was approached by Mr Motivator to get involved after he had seen how she had helped to teach elite athletes the practicalities of healthy cooking.

She said: "I trained and worked in the industry before working in athletics, but I've always loved to cook and my parents are from Mauritius, so they cooked from scratch.

"After I was made redundant from British Athletics, I started up my own business Cook Cuisiner, then started teaching athletes about cooking healthy food while they were training.

"I’m absolutely delighted to be joining the motivation team and what I liked about Mr Motivator was that he's got something for the community and it's helping elderly people, who I really like to work with."

Mr Motivator said people like Zena were the right people to take the Club forwards through their expertise and passion for their work.

He said: "I’m confident Zena has the energy, positivity, passion and expertise to do this.

"She is in every sense a true ‘Motivator’ and will be on hand to help people as they embark on their wellbeing journey.

"I want people to know that these classes in the Club are set up for everyone to be included and I would like every young person out there with an older family member to know our mission statement.

"Our statement is that this Club is a safe environment and a fun place for everyone in the family."

To find out more about the Club and to join, go to mrmotivatorsClub.com.