The story below is from our 2023 edition of Retire-VA. View the rest of the issue for free here!
Older coaches for senior students continue to be a good match for exercisers.
Dan Smith
Linda Corbitt is a trainer and a student who believes “correct form reduces risk of injury.”
At 75, Anne Lavery appears to be in her prime, working daily in a profession that wears out much younger people. She has been an exercise trainer since 2009 and the former dancer (and mother of seven) is one of the most popular coaches among older clientele in the Roanoke Valley. Her daughter, Brigid, is an aerobics instructor and is also a personal trainer.
At this moment—and it could change any time—Anne teaches Aqua Barre, Aqua Zumba, Aqua Kickbox, Land Barre, Zumba and Cardio Dance, usually between seven and eight classes a week.
Dan Smith
Anne Lavery believes “It is important to integrate strength because we tend to lose muscle.”
She teaches all ages and says she has no preference. “The young ones tell me ‘I hope to be able to do that when I am your age,’ and the older ones, I hope, are encouraged to see that seniors can still be active and have fun, no matter their ailments. I have senior moments teaching, and have to modify some movements as well, but overall, the camaraderie we share due to our age is invaluable.”
Mitzi Tinaglia is 63 and has “been an instructor all my life” she laughs. “I think probably 11 years continuously,” teaching a variety of classes, mostly geared toward older exercisers. Her own regimen is supplemented with competitive racquetball. She is also a national champion AKC dog trainer.
“My classes suit seniors well,” she says, “because I can modify the moves according to ability and pace. I like to let seniors know that balance [in advanced age] is not natural and it needs to be worked on. It is important to integrate strength because we tend to lose muscle, and endurance is also important.”
She gets to know her students, “learning the different levels within the group,” she stresses. “Abilities vary quite a bit, so they are given options on the exercises.” Some students, she says, “come with reservations, but they quickly relax in class. … Every class teaches me something about how to help.”
Tinaglia admits training “is a hard job. “At times, I have to adjust, too. I break. … [The classes] are good for us physically and good for us mentally. They can be as challenging mentally as they are physically.”
Linda Corbitt, who admits to being “24 in my mind,” but 64 according to her birth certificate, works both as a student and a trainer. She is retired as a regional sales manager and taught computers and business in college for nearly two decades.
These days, she teaches low impact aerobics and body pump (a weights class). Meanwhile, she also takes several classes to keep fit and says emphatically, “I love teaching all ages!” Her focus is “on form. Correct form reduces risk of injury. She emphasizes balance because it “reduces risk of injury.” There is a focus on resistance training and weights to create stronger bones and bigger muscles which also reduce risk of injury.
Dan Smith
Cinda Curfiss
The cardio element of her workouts “is good for respiratory health and I approach all classes that I take with the above in mind. Also, with every class I take, I try to go in with a positive attitude and give it my all. I figure I’m putting the time in, I should make the most of it.”
Training is a great occupation in retirement, she says. “The primary reward in teaching fitness classes (for me) is helping people lead healthier, happier lives. I also love watching them follow my lead and enjoy themselves while they’re doing something good for their bodies. One of the challenges of teaching is keeping the music and the routine fresh and updated. I don’t want the class/music to get boring or stale. My goal is for my students to be fit, healthy and happy with the class.”
Steve Edwards, head of OLOC Nation in Roanoke, is a young trainer who has worked with older individual clients for the past six years and his Gold-N-Years is “dedicated to getting them on the right track with fitness and keeping them on track with preventive maintenance.” His approach, he says, “is in balance, stability, corrective exercises and mobility phase.
“The clients then progress at their own pace in Phase 2, which is the stabilization strength and endurance phase.” The third phase is general maintenance, where Phases 1 and 2 continue.
Dan Smith
Don Butler believes that “a lot of men think [exercise classes are] a women’s thing, not macho enough.”
His mission, he says, “is to start a wave to get seniors excited about safely and effectively training (emphasis on senior men due to stubbornness) again, no matter their age, illness or weight.” He is looking to eventually open a gym dedicated to older students.
Petite 73-year-old Cinda Curfiss has been taking exercise classes for more than 30 years and schedules three a week these days, supplemented by regular games of pickleball. “It makes life more fun,” she says. “There is such camaraderie.” A former teacher, Curfiss says the classes almost always attract a heavy majority of women because “men don’t have the flexibility and I don’t think they like the music. They’d rather play golf.”
Don Butler, 79 and retired, keeps busy as a student with classes and pickleball. “I’ve been doing that off and on forever,” he says, but he is often one of one or two men in the exercise classes. “A lot of men think it’s a women’s thing, not macho enough.” But he disagrees. “I get mental focus, agility and strength” from the classes. He finds the older teachers probably more understanding of his goals and capabilities. “Somebody younger might not consider that.”
“Even with all our aches, pains and other trials we are facing, we need to keep our body and mind in motion. It is good for the soul and is an uplifting joy that may just get you through that hard day. A member in one of my classes told me her mother said, ‘I would rather workout than rust out!’’” says Lavery.
The story above is from our 2023 edition of Retire-VA. View the rest of the issue for free in our digital guide!