Press Release
Jockey Club Mus-Fit Action effectively helps middle-aged and older people adopt healthy lifestyles
Monday, 01 Nov 2021
The Jockey Club Mus-Fit Action project has helped middle-aged and older people adopt healthy lifestyles since its inauguration in 2019. Survey results show that over 99% of the project's exercise class participants agree or strongly agree that they are having more fun, and are more willing to exercise.
With the support of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the project was launched by the Dr. Stephen Hui Research Centre for Physical Recreation and Wellness (CPRW) at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) in collaboration with the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. It concluded with a closing ceremony which was held on 30 October.
The three-year project has aimed to enhance citizens' quality of life and has encouraged the community to adopt healthy lifestyles. A series of simple home-based exercises were designed for middle-aged and older people to help them train their muscles and develop the habit of regular exercise. A MusFit Action mobile app was launched in November 2020 and served to guide and motivate project participants to continue with their exercise programmes and maintain healthy lifestyles.
Mr Horace Lit, Executive Manager, Charities (Grant Making – Elderly and Family Services) of The Hong Kong Jockey Club, and Professor Rick Wong, Interim Provost of HKBU, were invited to officiate at the ceremony.
Professor Chow Bik-chu, Director of the CPRW at HKBU, Professor Cheung Siu-yin, Associate Director of the CPRW at HKBU, and Professor Patrick Yung, Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology at CUHK who led the project, joined the ceremony along with the project's star ambassador, Ms Amy Chan Lim-chee, a former elite Hong Kong badminton athlete.
Since its inauguration in 2019, the Jockey Club Mus-Fit Action project has involved approximately one hundred non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in community activities, and it has offered more than 260 exercise classes to around 2,500 people aged 50 or above.
Mr Horace Lit, Executive Manager, Charities (Grant Making – Elderly and Family Services) of The Hong Kong Jockey Club said, "As one of world's top ten charitable organisations, the Club has long been promoting seniors' well-being and building healthy communities, these are also our charities focus areas. Through a series of preventive support services, we hope to improve public health and encourage active ageing among seniors, and transform their role as recipients to participants, so they can interact with and benefit from the community."
Commenting on the outcome of the Jockey Club Mus-Fit Action project, Professor Chow Bik-chu said that according to the user survey, which was conducted among 285 exercise class participants, an overwhelming majority of 99.3% of them agreed or totally agreed that they are now having more fun, and are more willing to exercise. Furthermore, 97.4% of them agreed or strongly agreed that they are now spending less time being sedentary.
"After completing the exercise classes, participants decreased mean body-mass index (BMI) value by 0.12 units, and they decreased mean percentage fat of the trunk by 0.37%. The moderate improvements seen show that the exercise classes are effective at reducing weight and body fat in a gradual and healthy manner," said Professor Chow.
Given the achievements of the project, CPRW has been further funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, and will be launching a new three-year project for older adults in December this year. It hopes to promote active healthy living through personalised and target-oriented muscular training, and it will introduce new elements to improve functional fitness and physical literacy.
