Fitness instructor Celeste Lajala has seen that age need be nothing more than a number.
In her nine years of leading classes at 24 Hour Fitness in Hawaii Kai — now one kickboxing class for all ages and two for older adults — she has found that the benefits of kickboxing have no expiration date.
“I had a student who had attended the (regular) senior classes for a while and decided to try the kickboxing class on Labor Day,” Lajala said. “It’s a holiday, which is when most of my longtime kickboxing people are off of work, and they come and it’s very crowded and it’s loud and it’s crazy, and that was the day he decided to try it for the first time. When he finished the class, he said, ‘I love it!’ — and he’s 79 years old!”
Kickboxing can help improve balance, coordination and flexibility; build lean muscle; and improve cardiovascular health, she said.
Lajala, 56, has been leading fitness classes since 2017, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her success in growing her SilverSneakers classes — a health and fitness program designed for adults 65 and older — from two people to 120, and her general commitment to senior fitness and active aging, was recognized when she was named 2025 SilverSneakers National Instructor of the Year. (SilverSneakers is covered by some Medicare Advantage plans.)
Lajala was several years into her career when the COVID-19 pandemic hit
and fitness classes stopped entirely.
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When they resumed,
instructors were in short supply.
“Coming out of COVID, I was one of a few instructors who was willing to continue to teach when we opened up after not one, but two lockdowns, and I was willing to do it with a mask and with all the restrictions,” Lajala said. “From July 21 until Dec. 21 we were only allowed nine students in a class, which is really very challenging, and because we only had a few instructors, and none of them were certified to teach seniors. That’s really what we needed.”
Lajala received her certification to lead senior classes in 2021. Lila Kawabe, 69, was one of the first to sign up for the kickboxing class.
“When I first started, there were only a bunch of us, like four, and then when it was up to nine or 10, that was the limit. And we all had to mask up. Imagine doing it with a mask on! Back then, there weren’t many people, even with the SilverSneakers (classes) she teaches, and now spots are limited … . Her class is an adrenaline rush, and I really look forward to class. I hope she never retires.”
Lajala said participation skyrocketed when the restrictions on class size were lifted.
“After Dec. 21, we could take up to 32 students, and it just exploded. People who had done SilverSneakers for decades, some of them old timers, they heard the classes had resumed and they were tired of sitting at home, and it literally just took off.”
Lajala’s students nominated her for the Silver- Sneakers honor.
Kickboxing class member Terry Moats, 71, said Lajala “knows everybody individually, and she talks to everyone in the class like we’re all her family.”
Moats was in a Zumba class when she first heard about the kickboxing class. Though she knew kickboxing was more demanding, “I said I’d try it, and I loved it, and I look forward to her classes.
“She’s doing the same things that she does with her other classes, but she also shows you that you can do it a different way, just to accommodate you,” Moats said. “She teaches everyone that you can do it, you do the best you can, and whatever you do is fine. She makes it fun.”
FITNESS WAS a priority for Lajala when she was growing up in Kaneohe. She graduated from Hawaii Baptist Academy in 1988 and attended Washington State University, then returned to complete her education at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii. The demands of her career, and then motherhood, left little time for exercise.
Then came 9/11. Lajala decided it was time to make some life changes.
“9/11, and my husband being in the military, and having three kids, prompted me to move away from (medical) practice and more toward teaching,” Lajala said. “The more kids I had, the more obvious it was that it didn’t feel right to be spending all my time taking care of other people while somebody else was taking care of my family.”
In 2014, Lajala began teaching biology at Hawaii Pacific University. This year, she is the program director for a new masters program in medical science.
In 2024, she became a
personal trainer.
“I decided I wanted to make more of a connection between body mechanics and my medical knowledge with fitness in a more personalized way. Now I can quickly spot how people in my classes are moving, where their structural, postural, muscular weaknesses are and how to correct them.”
Her clients range in age from early 50s to 90-something.
“What I see in this (age) group, and that includes me too, is that whatever health conditions, surgeries, life obstacles or struggles we have had or are going through, we need to keep showing up for ourselves and for each other because regardless of the situation, we still have a lot of life to live and no one is going to count us out or consider us done,” Lajala said.
The gym is where it all comes together. Lajala herself stays physically fit through leading three classes back-to-back on Mondays, and her SilverSneakers students are showing her how to age well and enjoy the experience.
“If you sit still, it all goes downhill. Whether it’s your brain or your body or your muscles or your movement — use it or lose it. I’ve had quite a few people come, and all they were doing was at home on the iPad alone, and that’s not enough to keep our brain and our mind and our spirit alive.
“When I’m 80 years old, I’d like to be in the gym working out like they are,” she said. “I make jokes with them. ‘I want to be you when I grow up!’”
