Fitness programs keep seniors moving

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Finksburg resident Bob Eney first heard of pickleball — a sport that combines tennis, ping pong and badminton into one — while looking at a newspaper about eight years ago. “I investigated it,” he recalls. “I said ‘Hey. This looks like something I could do.’ ”

Eney played sports like baseball and football when he was younger and was playing golf once or twice a week until finding pickleball. Now, you can find the 74-year-old at a pickleball court five times a week through the Carroll County Department of Recreation and Parks and area senior centers. He also has competed in the National and Maryland Senior Olympics in pickleball the past four years.

“I’m doing something that I am pretty good at doing,” he said. “You don’t have to be great. It’s just an enjoyable sport. You can play indoors. You can play outdoors. You meet a lot of really, really great people. … I do believe it has really helped my health a lot. I stay active and that to me is one of the keys when you are getting old is to stay active, to do things.”

Seniors, aged 55 and older, made up 75 percent of more than 2.8 million that play more than eight times a year, according to a 2017 Sports & Fitness Industry Association report.

“There is a low level of skill necessary for entry into the sport,” said Joshua Jenkins, a USA Pickleball ambassador for Ellicott City. “It doesn’t require you to play baseball or softball your whole life. It doesn’t take a lot of skill set to get somebody up and started.”

Pickleball is just one way for seniors to stay active. The Y in Central Maryland with 13 centers across five counties and Baltimore offers a number of fitness classes for seniors including cardio dance gold, circuit training, Zumba, flexibility and chair yoga. Exercise classes in the pool such as aqua arthritis and Wet & Sweat are also quite popular for seniors looking for a way to exercise but need a way to lessen the strain on their joints and muscles.

Diana Beeson, Y of Central Maryland’s executive director of senior experience and associate wellbeing, notes physical activity such as working on balance and strength is important to help seniors maintain the ability to live independently and reduce the risk of falls and injuries.

The Y offers a month-to-month membership with no contract. For those in need of assistance, the nonprofit has an open doors financial assistance application which provides scholarship money to those qualifying individuals in need of help with the cost of membership.

In September, the Baltimore-based Keswick Community Health opened their Wise and Well Center for Healthy Living offering classes, coaching and services across multiple wellness dimensions for a $60 a year membership fee.

“I think that people as they get older recognize that fitness is a range,” said Maria Johnson Darby, senior Vice President of communications and external relations. “Many advertisements will tell you the only way to exercise is running a 20-mile marathon. If you can, that is great “but exercise can be anything from vacuuming your house to going up and down the stairs more than a couple of times a day. It can be walking in your neighborhood. It’s really about making yourself do something consistently. It’s better to do something consistently than it is to walk 5 miles today and then do nothing for the next month. Fitness is about where are you now and incremental growth. … Everyone of us is different and what we look like and what our bodies feels like at 60, 70, 80 is different from each other.”

The 14,000-square-foot facility features a number of popular fitness classes hosted each trimester such as tai chi, mindful movement and chair yoga. Overseen by a doctor, the center also has a room with exercise equipment geared toward the 50-plus crowd focusing on balance and low impact cardiovascular work.

“Our goal is for people to continue to engage with us,” Johnson Darby said.“…We know that the more that you engage in whatever interests you, whatever you need, the more likely you are to benefit from the whole experience of health — whatever that journey looks like for you.”