The inspiration for Seated Intervals was my desperate desire to come up with new material for my chair class. This chair exercise routine features interval training that alternates 60-second cycles of seated cardio with 60-second cycles of joint mobility. Land fitness instructors will take away a whole new approach to seated fitness. Aquatic fitness instructors can use this chair routine during those times you cannot get in the pool.
A few years ago, I decided to step away from regular teaching to just subbing. In November 2025, I was recruited back to active duty in the fitness studio at one of the local YMCA branches. They recently lost an instructor for two of their older adult classes, a chair class and a low impact aerobics class. These are huge classes in snowbird season, with 50-70 people in both classes. Having an instructor for these popular classes is a huge priority for the Y. Sadly, it is getting harder to find old-school instructors who can design their own class routines. In many clubs and facilities, most instructors now lead pre-choreographed classes where the routines are provided to them.
Now that I am back to teaching classes weekly, I have been wanting to change up my routines. Unfortunately, a lack of time makes this a difficult endeavor. Coming up with new ideas for the low-impact aerobics class is hard enough, but coming up with new material for the chair class has been especially daunting. If you teach chair classes, I am sure you know what I mean. There is only so much you can safely do from a seated position. My usual go-to style of teaching is add-on choreography, but coming up with new seated choreography just wasn’t happening for me.
My chair class is 45-minutes long and I devote 20-25 minutes to seated aerobic training. Recently, I got desperate and decided to try an interval format for the aerobic portion. I tried doing 30 second work cycles of cardio, followed by 30 second recovery cycles of joint mobility. My initial observation was that the interval training was a welcomed change for my students. Truthfully, I think they were just relieved to not have to “think” with the usual 32-count add-on choreography that I do in the aerobic portion of class. However, I felt the pace of the intervals moved a bit too quickly for the population. I changed the intervals to 60 seconds to allow more time to remain in the cardio exercise and the joint mobility movement. Lengthening the timing ratios was a winning formula.
Aside from this format making my students happy, I was thrilled because this interval template was so much easier to fill up with moves. You just drop one exercise into a 60-second cardio cycle and one exercise in the 60-minute joint mobility recovery. With that said, as the weeks went by, I did start adding progressions and variations within the 1-minute intervals. Coming up with joint mobility movement was easier for me because I just pulled exercises from AEA’s Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program Leader manual.
In addition to the 20 minutes of interval training, this 30-minute aquatic fitness instructor video also includes a seated warm-up, stretch and core segment.
Learn more about my inspiration below and then read on for the positive feedback my students have been providing regarding this routine.
The excellent feedback I have been getting from my chair class participants inspired me to film the class for Fitmotivation. Trust me when I say that this is not typically a group that provides feedback verbally or with their facial expressions. As an instructor, I know you know what I mean when I say that. I prefer applause and rave reviews, but sometimes you must be content with the fact that they show up week after week. With that said, this routine seems to be a winner. On their way out, my students are telling me that they feel like they moved every part of their body. They are also telling me that they are walking better when they leave class, as opposed to entering class.
Moving better? Feeling better? I’ll take it! I hope your students enjoy this chair routine as much as my class members do.
