Lizzie leading an Enhance Fitness class with senior citizens at a local YMCA.
My favorite learning moments have happened in the area of my service where I least expected it: the YMCA’s Enhance Fitness program. Enhance Fitness is an evidence-based, low-impact exercise class geared toward seniors with arthritis, helping them to gain strength, balance, and the confidence to continue living an active, independent lifestyle. This independence is important not only to the participants and their loved ones, but also to our society as the population of seniors continues to grow.
When I first learned I would be training to be an Enhance Fitness instructor, I had doubts about whether I would ever be capable of or comfortable with teaching an exercise class. But as I began assisting with classes, attending training, and becoming more familiar with the exercises, I began to realize that I really enjoyed the class and that I looked forward to teaching it…someday…in the future…when I would have time to plan for it in advance.
Then, one day, I walked into one of the classes I had been assisting with for a couple of weeks. Out of nowhere, the instructor turned to me and said, “Go ahead and warm up the class while I take attendance.” My immediate reaction was to think, “I have nothing planned! I don’t know what to do!” But then the instructor turned on the music, and there I was at the front of the room, leading the class in aerobics for the five-minute warm up. It wasn’t perfect, and I felt a little awkward for a minute, but as the warm up went on and I saw the class following along, I realized that I actually could teach this class.
Recently, I had the chance to turn the tables and present an unexpected opportunity of my own when I showed up to class one week and announced that I would be doing fitness checks. Many of the seniors were worried it would be too hard and that they wouldn’t be able to do it. But I reassured them, “It will only take five minutes, you can go at your own pace, and it’s nothing harder than what we already do in class.” To some of their surprise (but not mine), every single one of them did just fine. Some of them even remarked that it was easy or that they could have done more. This experience opened my eyes to how the Enhance Fitness program helps participants become stronger and, ultimately, realize what they are truly capable of.
Physical activity is an important part of a healthy lifestyle for everyone, including seniors. I saw this in my own grandfather, whose lifelong commitment to being active helped him remain independent and mobile late into his life. I enjoy helping other seniors have the same opportunity to stay active so that they and their loved ones will benefit for years to come. My involvement with the Enhance Fitness program has allowed me to grow personally while serving a population that I care deeply about, and I look forward to all of the opportunities – planned and unplanned – that arise during the last few months of my service term.
