Monday, October 3, 2005 9:54 AM CDT
90-year-old Helen Ashenbramer just keeps going & going & going
By SUE SMYSER, Features Writer
"Warming up" and "working out" are not words in everyone's vocabulary.
But Helen Ashenbramer of Mattoon can't imagine life without her Super 60s exercise group. She enjoys exercising so much she goes to the Mattoon Area Family YMCA three times a week.
"I love it," she said. "It's a reason to get up. It's a specific thing to do. It gets me out and with people."
Ashenbramer, 90, has been going to the YMCA for aerobics since 1996.
Not that she didn't exercise before that. In the earlier years of their marriage, she and her husband went to exercise classes that were held in the basement of Gambill's Store in downtown Mattoon. Then, for some reason, they just stopped going.
Not until after his death in 1996 did she begin going to the YMCA. Some people she knew went to the Y, and they asked her to go with them.
"I went and enjoyed it, and I stayed," she said. "I think everybody should exercise. My doctor insists I keep going."
She said there are usually 15 people who regularly attend the Super 60s class, then there are some who come and go.
Once a month the group goes out to eat to celebrate everyone's birthday born in that month. So the class provides a way to socialize, in addition to physical exercise.
"It's a good workout for about one hour," Ashenbramer said. "We work to get our heart rates up, starting with stretches, stepping and marching, doing some squats and moving our arms."
Kim Henness has been leading the class for three years. Patty Niemeyer is her assistant. Participants come in T-shirts and sweatpants or button-up shirts and slacks.
To the beat of the song "Fever," Henness began a class recently by instructing the group to "march in, march out, loosen up, big stretch, heel, toe.
"The goal is to keep active, do a cardiovascular workout, and we do weight training, which helps fight osteoporosis," Henness said.
"Then, too, it's very social. It's easier to exercise when you have someone to exercise with."
Henness said part of the program helps with balance, which helps with being more sure-footed on ice.
Participants in the class also use weights of 2, 4 and 6 pounds to accentuate the effects of the workout.
For the last few minutes of the session, the group slows down by resting on the floor and getting the heart rate back down.
"We do exercises on the floor, raising our legs and arms," Ashenbramer said.
She said there are three men in the class who come regularly. One is 89.
Ashenbramer said even when she was in high school in the 1930s, she enjoyed physical education.
"There were no sports for women, just P.E. We did exercise and walked and a little basketball, but played by women's rules," she said.
Today she looks physically fit, toned and is of average build. When asked if genes played a role in her physique, she said she didn't know.
"My mother wasn't fat, just big built. We always had plenty to eat. But she cooked with lard and we had eggs every day."
Ashenbramer said she never really paid attention to what those "in the know" said was good or bad for people to eat, but she did watch portion sizes.
She grew up on a farm near Stewardson, where she helped her dad.
"I worked every machine except two that I couldn't reach the pedals on," she said.
After her marriage and the children arrived, she was a stay-at-home mom until her youngest was in high school. Then she worked for 12 years at the Burger King in Mattoon.
As someone who likes to be active, Ashenbramer has lots of flowers in back of her home and enjoys gardening, which provides even more exercise.
And she had always mowed her own yard until this year. But it wasn't a lack of energy that caused her to quit.
"It was either buy a new mower or get someone else to to do it," she said.
Ashenbramer said her workouts give her the energy to get things done.
"Oh yeah!" she said after a recent workout. "I could go home and mow the yard!"
Contact Sue Smyser at ssmyser@jg-tc.com or call 238-6864.
Add your comments
Not already registered?
Then click Here.
Comment policy:
JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.
In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.
We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.
No comment may contain:
* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.
If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.
|
|
CLICK TO ENLARGE
|
