The health club at which the Crugnolas work out four times a week is HealthFit, a pioneering new facility in Needham, Mass., that caters exclusively to women and seniors. With seniors, fitness makes a real difference. Getting sweaty on golf courses and in senior sports leagues is nothing new for adults 65 and over. But as recent research has extolled the benefits of regular, even intense, exercise, more than 5 million members of today's burgeoning cadre of seniors are running, bicep curling, sometimes even kickboxing, in health clubs up to five times a week. And with the supervision of good trainers, they are going for more burn than ever.
Trainers say seniors are often their most eager, dedicated and appreciative clients.
And club owners find they have the flexibility to fill the workout rooms during the midday hours when health clubs are traditionally dead. All the excitement over senior fitness bodes best, of course, for seniors themselves, especially for those 70 and older. According to physiologists, strength and flexibility can mean the difference between independently handling everyday activities like changing a light bulb and sitting on the sofa, scared. Seniors have lost the most muscle strength and fitness, and that's largely because of inactivity. Women can put off osteoporosis.