|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
FINDOut More is a new page on our Web site dedicated to providing you with an in-depth look at the people, programs, events and activities that make up Project FIND.
Strength Training for Fun and Fitness.
|
|
|
|
|
"When I get out of this class, I feel like Wonder Woman," said Frances, who takes the class at the Hamilton Center.
|
Strength Training for Fun and Fitness, based on the cutting-edge work of Dr. Miriam Nelson, Ph.D., Tufts University, recognizes that much of what is considered to be typical aging actually is, in the words of Dr. Nelson, “the result of a lifelong accumulation of inactivity and poor nutrition.” In a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Nelson noted that after one year of strength training twice a week, “older women’s bodies were 15 to 20 years younger. The women who participated in our program regained bone and muscle while losing fat. They became stronger – in most cases even stronger than when they were young.”
|
|
|
In an article published in Mature Fitness, Dr. Wayne Westcott, Ph.D., fitness research director at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts, states that basic studies show that strength exercise is effective for increasing muscle, strength and size in senior men, senior women and even nursing home residents. Although some seniors are afraid of strength training because they believe it will elevate blood pressure., Dr. Westcott says that this fear is unfounded. In fact, studies show that strength training reduces blood pressure.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Strength Training for Fun and Fitness is an easy program that can be done as little as two days per week. The basic program includes a 15-minute warm-up, followed by a series of resistance training moves, including overhead press, leg extension, upward row, leg curl, biceps curl with rotation, back extension and pelvic tilt. Each exercise is performed eight times in three sets of movements, followed by a cool-down period.
|
|
Kalmia and Toyoko take Strength Training at the Hargrave Center.
|
"I started taking the class because I have osteoporosis," Kalmia said. "I wanted to do this for a long time, but weight training is something I just can't do alone at home. This class is wonderful."
|
|
|
|
|
"I just liked the idea of gaining more strength," Toyoko said. "I was feeling weak walking around, and this class has really helped."
|
|
|
|
|
Project FIND now offers Strength Training for Fun and Fitness at three centers:
|
|
|
The Woodstock
127 West 43rd Street
212-575-0693
Tues. & Thurs. at 11 am
|
The Hamilton
141 West 73rd Street
(212) 595-3385
Mon. Wed. & Fri. at 2 pm
|
|
|
Clinton Senior Center
530 West 55th Street
212-757-2026
Mon. Wed. & Fri. at 10 am
|
|
|
|
All Strength Training for Fun and Fitness classes are offered at no charge.
|
Neighborhood seniors are welcome to become members and join a class. (Medical clearance is required.) For more information, call the Center nearest you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
