FITNESS

For seniors, heading into a fitness center for the first time in years—or the first time ever—can be intimidating. But as Carol Hilton found out, working through your fears pays off in muscle.

by ELIZABETH EDWARDS

photos by DAVE WEIDNER

Four years ago, Carol Hilton, now 65, decided to start working out at the local fitness center, Sleeping Bear Bay Club. Her motivation? Watching her mother, aunts and uncles getting weaker and weaker as they aged. While Hilton was determined to fight to keep herself strong and fit, she was so intimidated by the idea of a fitness class that she went with her daughter for the first time.

Hilton soon found a high-intensity class with trainer Stacy Jago that motivated her enough to make the 10-plus-mile drive to the gym from her house three times a week, sometimes as early as 6 a.m. Comfortable as she was at Sleeping Bear Bay Club, Hilton was hesitant to try the contraption of straps and handles/foot cradles known as the TRX machine. “I felt like I wasn’t coordinated enough to work it all,” she says.

TRX, also known as Total Body Resistance Exercise, was created by a Navy Seal to give Seals, quartered in tight, far-flung places where there is no access to weights, a way to use their body as resistance weight. Beyond developing strength, TRX is a great way to foster mobility because it allows the user to work threedimensionally, as opposed to working out on a weight bench or other type of stationary machines. That feature is important to Jago, whose training philosophy is based on movement. “The more you move, the more you can move,” says Jago, a black level (similar to a black belt in martial arts) TRX trainer. “TRX forces you to stabilize your body and your joints and core and you get more range of motion,” she says. All of which is particularly important as people age. “We still have to carry ourselves around. Sit down, stand up, climb stairs … TRX really helps with that,” Jago says.

While TRX is most often associated with young athletes (and Navy Seal types) working against their full body weight to gain strength, users are also able to control how much body weight they resist through foot position and stance—positioning known as unloading weight. That aspect allows Jago to work with people with specific injuries, such as to knees and hips, and seniors who can’t handle resisting all of their own weight but still need exercise in the three basic planes of motion—front to back, side to side and rotationally. Such was the case with the 70-something woman Jago worked with this summer who walked into the gym with the assistance of two canes because she recently had a rod put into her back. “Once I learned what her body could do, I just needed to modify the exercises for her,” Jago says.

To make TRX more appealing to students, Jago incorporates it into a class officially called Functional Fitness but which Jago refers to as “TRX and toys.” “We do some TRX exercises and then I bring other things like weights, bands and balls,” she says.

All the work, says Hilton, has eliminated her back pain and other aches and pains she’d begun to feel as she aged. With the comfort has come more mobility and strength—Hilton has been known to wow fellow students half her age with the length of time she can hold a plank. All of which is enough motivation to keep her heading to the gym, TRX and all, for “the rest of my life,” she says.

All The Right Moves

Carol Hilton demonstrates gamechanging TRX moves recommended by trainer Stacy Jago.

1) TRX Chest Press

Works your core, chest, triceps, shoulders and legs.

Why it matters: These muscles help us negotiate ourselves out of chairs, push shopping carts and carry groceries and grandchildren.

2) TRX Balance Lunge

Works your legs and enhances mobility and stability of the ankle, knee and hip.

Why it matters: This exercise helps with getting up and down stairs, in and out of chairs and maintaining balance during daily activities—abilities that we star t to lose as we age.

3) TRX Suspended Crunch

Works your core, shoulders, triceps and legs.

Why it matters: This move strengthens and stabilizes all the muscles of your core and helps with ever y aspect of daily life.

4) TRX Back Row

Works your core, back, biceps, shoulders and legs.

Why it matters: This is helpful with shoveling, gardening, lifting and carrying objects.

NEVER GET SO BUSY MAKING A LIVING, THAT YOU FORGET TO MAKE A LIFE.