EDMOND — It's 9 a.m. on a Friday, and Jeanne Peterson, a 90-year-old certified fitness instructor, is ready to begin leading her exercise class in a series of warm-ups that will prepare the group for more challenging activities that await them over the next hour.
The class of about 15 people, ranging from their early 70s to late 90s, imitates Peterson's movements as she sits on the edge of a metal folding chair, rotating her arms clockwise and then counterclockwise, and later lifting her legs out in front of her to flex and stretch her feet.
After the class has completed about 15 minutes of stretches in their seats, the group takes a break to get ready for the remainder of the exercises that will be done standing up and using the chairs more for balance.
To many people, some of the activities might appear relatively simple: four repetitions of swinging the legs like a pendulum, elevating up and down on tippy toes and a few lunges. However, for the members of Peterson's class at Bradford Village, a retirement community, the movements are slightly strenuous.
“Exercise helps your muscles stay strong and helps you to stay fit at any age,” said Peterson, who began teaching fitness classes 20 years ago. “As you get older, you breathe more shallow, and you settle in your spine, so you need to stretch more and take a lot of deep breaths, and really do things that will help cover your whole body. It's not important in our class that we do a lot of each exercise, but just that we work every area of our bodies.”
Some of the benefits of the exercises done in Peterson's hourlong class, held three times a week, are experienced when the participants, who often suffer with various forms of arthritis, can get out of bed in the morning with minimal aches and when they can recover more efficiently from injuries, said Peterson, who recently slipped on a rug in her bathroom and fell on her hip. Though she experienced some pain, she didn't need any help getting up, and after a shot from her doctor, she was able to carry on with her class the next day.
“A lot of it is mental attitude, too. There are some people who don't come regularly. They'll just show up every once in a while, and they aren't getting much benefit. I don't scold them if they don't come, because that's their business, but I just try to impress on them how important it is to be regular with your exercise,” she said. “But, the ones who show up every time are getting the benefit.”
Mel Lochner, 70, a regular in Peterson's class who recently completed physical therapy for osteoarthritis, said her doctor told her to continue with the classes to help alleviate some of the pain she experiences and to aid her in maintaining strength and balance.
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