STRENGTH IS AGELESS

{ Feature }

Experience muscle toning, increased stamina, balance, and agility at the Guadalupe Regional Wellness Center

Story and photos by Dalondo Moultrie

For nearly two decades, Gretchen Ricker has taken care of her physical fitness needs at the Guadalupe Regional Wellness Center.

When the center shut down last year due to coronavirus pandemic protocols, Ricker and her husband were saddened but found other ways to get their workout, she said. They walked around the neighborhood, frequently stopped by others who were at home with little to do, which put a damper on their workouts, Ricker said. Plus, they missed other benefits they enjoyed at the center.

“We missed it right away. Our day was structured around it,” Ricker said of their daily visits to the center. “We lost the structure. We lost the stamina we had built up.”

Then a year later, things started to improve on the pandemic front. Government leadership relaxed shutdown orders, people began receiving vaccines and places like the Wellness Center were able to open their doors for workout- and fellowship-starved members like the Rickers.

“We really wanted to wait until we had been vaccinated before getting out in social settings,” Ricker said. “There is such a sense of community among the people who come here. If you show up at the same time, you see the same people. It may extend to outside the facility.”

Members encourage each other to remain active. They work as a support system, leading to better health for many, Ricker said.

It’s part of the Wellness Center’s philosophy, Wellness Center Assistant Director Nicole Bruton said.

The Wellness Center offers something for everyone, and currently allows members as young as 16 and has at least one member who is 96, she said.

Instructors are well-rounded and able to cater classes to fit the needs of many of differing abilities. They offer free weights and machines, and guidance for operating both.

Each new member is offered a 60-minute session with a personal trainer to demonstrate operation of the equipment, offer guidance and determine goals, Bruton said.

“It sets them up to not only be safe but to have goals they can stick with,” she said.

During the shutdown that lasted from about May 19, 2020, to the middle of this past March, staff found ways of keeping in touch and interacting with members, Bruton said.

They created an online presence through a YouTube channel and a Band account. Active members were able to sign up for the online classes and try to somewhat maintain their fitness routines.

But as soon as the center was able to open up again and had members that felt it was safe enough, the doors reopened. Things have started in about the last 30 days to get back to near the way they were before the pandemic began, Bruton said.

The normalcy is great for members to create those natural endorphins and get back to their routines. It’s also good for the soul, Bruton said.

“It’s not just physical wellness,” she said. “Exercise plays a huge role in your mental wellness. … It’s a routine. It’s creating a sense of balance in your life.”

The mental balance is as important as building physical strength or flexibility, Bruton said. It’s difficult to actually achieve one without the other, she said.

Rickers said she tries to get there by taking chair yoga classes, working out on an elliptical machine and hitting the weight machines at the center. At home, she hits a punching bag with her husband and they find ways to stay fit.

She feels she’s found her balance and wants to keep it level.

“You want your body to be the best it can be,” Ricker said. “This is a way to do it, one of the best ways.”