 FITNESS

Crosby Wellness Center Member Spotlight

Sara Van Arsdel

Winter Park Local Finds Physical, Emotional Strength at the Crosby Wellness Center

Sara Van Arsdel sits at a tucked-away table in the light-filled Commons of the Center for Health & Wellbeing . Fresh from one of her four weekly workouts at the Crosby Wellness Center, where she has long been a member, Sara was in the middle of frantic final preparations for a solo trek to Croatia . The usual pre-trip to-dos were complicated by COVID travel restrictions and the careful choreography of a series of domestic and international COVID tests needed to enter Europe and embark on her trip . It was not the first time Sara had been challenged in big and small ways by the COVID-19 pandemic . Like too many others, Sara lost a close loved one to the virus . In February of 2021, Bob Green, Sara’s husband of 40 years and the father of their grown son, died . “My husband and I tested positive for COVID in January [of 2021] . I was asymptomatic, largely . I had very few symptoms . Bob, of course, got COVID pneumonia, went to the hospital, and passed away in early February . And the next day, I went for my first COVID vaccine,” Sara recalls . As she tells the story of her beloved Bob’s final days, Sara turns her back . Her shoulder is lean and toned, a physical manifestation of her commitment to a fitness regime that has been a cornerstone of her grieving process . There on her shoulder is a large tattoo of Chinese characters . Its meaning? Determination . “Grief is such an interesting thing . Because you’re up, you’re down, you’re up, you’re down, you’re up or down,” Sara says . “And, of course, my life has changed so dramatically . So, Mother’s Day weekend – I bought a house, and I got a tattoo .” It’s her first tattoo . Sara, who retired in 2014 as the Executive Director of the Orange County Regional History Center, is living its message .

Sara has made it her mission to personify the resoluteness, the grit of someone bold enough to emblazon the word in permanent ink for the world to see . She had always been a fitness evangelist, but after the long days of the 2020 lockdown and as the pandemic raged on, Sara recommitted to a serious fitness routine . Four times a week she visits the Crosby Wellness Center for a varied strength training and cardio program that includes rowing and boxing . The punching bag is a much-abused outlet for some of her grief and anger from Bob’s death . “I love Crosby . The machines are topof-the-line . And of course, I like that’s it’s a very open atmosphere . It’s a beautiful facility .” After Bob’s death, Sara took her dedication to fitness to another level . At 67, she signed up for a bodybuilding contest, her first . Her father had been a bodybuilder – Mr . Senior Arizona, in fact – and she had always held the possibility of following in his footsteps in the back of her mind . She says the focus and determination – there’s that word again – required of a competitive bodybuilder gave her the structure and routine needed of someone whose world has been turned upside down . “Certainly, the mental and psychological and spiritual parts are an ongoing process, but I seem to be managing the physical better than a lot of the other things with this incredible change,” she says .

WORK IT OUT

with the

There is no time like now to refocus and recommit to your fitness routine . That’s why we are inviting you to join the expert certified personal trainers from the Peggy & Philip B . Crosby Wellness Center at the Center for Health & Wellbeing on Wednesdays beginning this January on the CHWB Facebook page for Work It Out with the Crosby Wellness Center . Crosby trainers are demonstrating beginner, intermediate, and advanced progressions of the moves most fundamental to any exercise regime . Scan the QR code to Work It Out with the Crosby Wellness Center.

Crosby Wellness Center is Now Certified by the Medical Fitness Association!

The Peggy & Philip B. Crosby Wellness Center at the Center for Health & Wellbeing in Winter Park has achieved Medical Fitness Facility certification by the Medical Fitness Association (MFA), the country’s leading organization dedicated solely to medically integrated wellness and fitness facilities. Since opening in 1989, Crosby Wellness Center has provided a high-quality facility, professional staff, and programs in a unique, supportive environment. For more information, please call (407) 644-3606 or visit crosbywellnesscenter.org today. Here’s How our Medical Fitness Certification Will Enhance our Comprehensive Memberships.

• Active medical oversight of facility programming to keep you safe • Degreed and licensed staff for added support and guidance • Prevention and rehabilitation programs improving your overall health • Individualized health screening to customize a health plan for you • Testing and outcome tracking to measure your results and improvements • A focus on improving community health supporting everyone’s overall wellbeing

with the CHWB Sole Squad!

Join this free, bi-weekly walking group hosted at the Center for Health & Wellbeing.

Your eight-week journey starts on March 7 with the basics and will prepare you, step-by-step, to triumphantly cross the finish line at the 2022 City of Winter Park Run for the Trees 5k in April. Scan the QR code to Join the Squad!

Sara Van Arsdel

The bodybuilding competition was canceled because of COVID, but Sara says she is sure she’ll commit to another . The requisite spray tan and bedazzled bikini are the things of which she’s most unsure . Indeed, Sara made it to Croatia – determination again a part of the process to get there . In Facebook photos posted as travelogue of her adventures, she grins with satisfaction . “As I’m healing, I realized that this is life . And this is what it’s about . It doesn’t make it any easier . But coming here to the Crosby Wellness Center and having a place to do something physical has really made a difference .” Like Sara, you too can discover your fit at the Crosby Wellness Center at the Center for Health & Wellbeing . Crosby’s team of expert certified fitness professionals provides all the education, support and encouragement you need to make a lasting commitment to your health .

Scan the QR code to learn more about membership options and to schedule a tour today.