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Home » Exercise Programs » WATCH VIDEO | ‘Keeps us active’: Senior fitness a healthy resolution for new year – TribDem.com

Frank and Linda Burkhard aren't slowing down.

Like many senior citizens, the Arbutus Park Retirement Community residents maintain active lifestyles, volunteering and socializing in the community.

"Just because you are retired from your job you've done for 20 or 30 years doesn't mean you sit at home and be a couch potato," 68-year-old Linda Burkhard said on a break from volunteering at Arbutus Park Manor nursing facility.

To help keep themselves healthy, the couple regularly participate in exercise classes both at Arbutus and at East Hills Recreation.

Seniors looking to become more active in the new year have free access to more than 80 gyms and facilities in Cambria and Somerset counties.

The Silver Sneakers program, a national network of facilities offering programs for seniors, is included in all Medicare Advantage plans through Highmark and UPMC For Life.

Exercise can really help people live longer, healthier lives, said Helene Weinraub, UPMC Health Plan vice president for Medicare. It is not just for body builders. Now gyms have classes for everybody.

Insurance companies offer the Silver Sneakers benefit as part of an overall focus on wellness, said Ellen Galardy, Highmark vice president for senior markets.

Healthy members allow us to provide health care for more people, Galardy said. We can stretch our dollars farther. And healthy members are happier members.

Johnstown YWCA Aquatics Director Viola Najjar testifies to the benefits of regular exercise. The 88-year-old leads several water fitness classes for seniors.

Programs for older people are designed to be low impact to avoid stressing bones and joints. Water exercise is naturally low impact, Najjar said.

It's so good for every part of your body, she said, noting that arthritis sufferers and those recovering from joint replacement surgery are able to work out in the 88-degree water.

It's a wonderful thing for older people, Najjar said. It's a good feeling. We have them do exercise from their head down to their feet.

'Keeps us active'

Frank Burkhard, 72, says he and his wife illustrate the value of a fitness routine.

I see a good bit of benefit from the exercise, he said. It keeps us active.

If I am off for two weeks, I see a difference, Linda Burkhard said.

The Burkhards are among 18 residents of Arbutus' independent living cottages and personal care unit who are regulars at Arbutus activities aide Diane Walker's twice-weekly exercise class.

Walker says the program is specially designed for older people, adding that she can see the results. Participants range in age from their late 60s to early 90s.

"When they begin, they are very slow and apprehensive, but as they get stronger, you can see the strength in their arms and their legs how high they can kick," Walker said at Arbutus. "I see an improvement in their balance. When they are walking, you don't see them wobble as much."

Lori Delic is an exercise physiologist at Silver Sneakers-participating HealthStyles at Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber. She says research shows that regular activity helps improve the quality of life for older people.

As we age, we are naturally going to be losing muscle mass, Delic said. Vital capacities are going decrease with age. Exercise is one way to combat that and slow the progression of these things.

You have to keep moving to stay moving. When you stop moving, that's when things decline.

'Fun and ... friendship'

Silver Sneakers classes include exercise, yoga and water fitness options geared especially for older people. In addition to the classes, a Silver Sneakers card provides full use of participating gyms' workout equipment and other programs. Each member gets one session with a personal trainer who can develop a program based on the individual's abilities and goals, Weinraub said.

We want to keep you as active as possible, Dwayne Kaufman, aquatics and fitness director, said from the Johnstown YMCA.

It is all designed for people of this age group, he continued. With the yoga classes, we use chairs. We don't have people crawling around on the floor.

There are also at-home fitness kits and videos available for those who can't get to the gym.

But senior exercise programs also include an important social opportunity, the experts say.

It's for exercise, but it's fun and it's friendship, East Hills Recreation instructor Arlene Penrod said. It's just an amazing program. It gets them out and they have a lot of fun.

Class members often get together for dinners and other gatherings, she said.

It's the same at Arbutus, Linda Burkhard said.

We have a nice socializing time, with a little exercise thrown in, she said. Sometimes we laugh so hard tears are rolling down our faces, but in a good way.

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WATCH VIDEO | 'Keeps us active': Senior fitness a healthy resolution for new year - TribDem.com

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Home » Exercise Programs » WATCH VIDEO | ‘Keeps us active’: Senior fitness a healthy resolution for new year – TribDem.com