HAMPDEN, Maine (WABI) – For three days a week, Hampden’s Skehan Recreation Center is the place to be for seniors looking to sweat!
The senior fitness class runs from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, led by physical therapist Dana Tardif.
“The first part is a warm-up and a dynamic, get our heart’s pumping, then we’ll switch to the weights, and then we do some mat work for the core exercises and cool down,” explains Tardif.
After starting these classes in 2000, Tardif says the number of folks looking to raise heart rates has been on the rise.
What began with six attendees has grown exponentially. Last year had an average of 50 people, with this year expanding to an average of 70 to 90 people attending this year.
The class is sponsored by the Hampden Rec Committee.
“Physical fitness, as you get older, that’s so important,” Committee member and class attendee Steve Brown describes. “I always say the hardest exercise that we do is when you open the door to leave your house. If you get here, you’ve got it made.”
While the class is seeing an influx, there are many participants who have been attending for decades.
This includes Malcolm MacDuffie, 96, of Newburgh.
“We’ve always been active, my wife and I,” MacDuffie says of his 23 years of participation. “My last job was transporting patients in Eastern Maine, 11 miles a day of walking. I loved it, and so this was a chance to stay, keep on active.”
The mix of moves practiced during the class are meant to increase balance, mobility and more.
“The whole idea is developing reactions, and ultimately have more control of what your body’s doing,” Tardif explains. “As people get older, the biggest thing they’re afraid of is falling. Knowing that, for some reason, if they should stumble, that they can catch themselves.”
Tardif says although he did not consider it when creating the program, teaching the class has shown him that socialization “is as big a piece to this class as all the other components.”
Despite being a Hampden native, Susan Hall says her and her husband Bill have met new friends through the class, as many come from out of town.
The social aspect also keeps seniors accounted for and safe.
“It is very important in just getting people out, caring about people,” comments Judy Faust, a 20-year class participant from Winterport. “If somebody is absent for a little while, there’s many, many people saying, ‘Oh, what’s happened to so-and-so? Check in on them and see.”’
Each class costs $2 to participate and is open to everyone, not just Hampden residents.
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