PHOTOS PROVIDED
Feature
Amarillo’s Golden Girls Simply Fit Gym’s specialized class for older women By Jason Boyett
T
hirty-five years ago, NBC introduced its viewers to the groundbreaking sitcom “The Golden Girls,” which showcased four single, older women known for their deep friendship and wisecracking humor. Today, in 2020, Amarillo has its own group of Golden Girls. Their friendship is as strong as that of Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia. But they’re probably working out too hard to deliver wisecracks. Building core strength is tough enough without belly laughs getting in the way. Amarillo’s version of “The Golden Girls” isn’t a long-running TV show, but a long-running fitness class. It started around 2010 when fitness and dance instructor Suzi McKee moved to Amarillo. McKee was in her early 50s at the time. In Amarillo, she found plenty of gyms and workout facilities, but noticed that middle-aged and older women weren’t well-represented among the clientele. As she told us for a 2015 article in this magazine, many women just weren’t comfortable going to a gym. Many weren’t familiar with the equipment or didn’t
20
AMARILLOMAGONLINE.COM • OCTOBER 2020
know where to start. Others felt out of place while surrounded by beefy, bench-pressing men. So McKee began creating women-only fitness programs she called “Fit Camps,” which she led at parks and local gyms until the camps’ popularity began to get out of hand. That’s when McKee opened Live Well Fit, a dedicated gym for women that turned into something of a sorority built around exercise and activity. Friendships blossomed among gym members. Women began hanging out together before and after their classes. They supported each other and encouraged each other to pursue fitness goals. “We go through so much sharing and tears it’s almost like a counseling session,” Suzi told us back then. “I’ve seen this empower them to be the best they can be, to not let weight be the end-all for how they judge themselves.” One of those original classes was called “Golden Girls,” which McKee designed to be a specialized cardio and strength session for women 50 and older. The class met every Monday, Wednesday and
