Powell/Norwood Shopper news • April 5, 2017 • A-11
News from Tennova Health & Fitness
Josephine Wiegers: healthy and fit in the triple digits By Carol Z. Shane On a recent Wednesday morning, Josephine Wiegers – you can call her “Jo” – rides the recumbent bicycle on Tennova Health & Fitness Center’s second f loor. Surrounded by other exercisers on other fitness machines, she is in a bright and chatty mood. “I meet with friends here,” she says. Jo is particularly happy to talk about her recent birthday party. About 90 people, including her greatgrandson, gathered to celebrate and wish her another happy, healthy year. Jo was born in 1917. She’s 100 years old. The whole time she’s on the bike – answering questions, talking in detail about her career as a teacher more than 80 years ago – she never stops cycling. Dedicated to exercise, she says, “I’m trying to stay on my feet, and I know this is what I should be doing. I want to keep being able to walk.” According to Tennova’s fitness director Katie DePersio, she’s exactly right. “It’s so important as people age to keep moving. “Everybody gets old. Everybody loses the ability to do some things that they did at a younger age. But an exercise program of cardio and stretching helps blood circulation and joint mobility. Weights help with bone density – even just light hand weights. People have a misconception that weight-lifting is going to bulk you up like Arnold Schwarzenegger. That’s just not true! Weights are an indispensable part of staying fit as we age.” As difficult as the physical part of aging is, DePersio says the psychological toll is the hardest part. “Once you lose mobility in the joints and strength in the legs, you lose the ability to react to uneven surfaces. You lose bone density and muscle, everything tightens up, your body shuts down. Eventually you fall, and then it becomes fear. You’re afraid that you’ll fall again. Once you start letting fear take over, you lose independence. And once you start asking for help, your family and friends think you need help all the time – it’s a vicious cycle.” DePersio says that exercise can help seniors negotiate all kinds of everyday situations, like getting objects off a high shelf and bending down to pick something up. Then, when help is actually needed, family members are likelier to see a strong, capable person who simply needs an extra hand at the moment, like anyone would. Tennova offers many options for older folks, including their “Stretch & Flex” and “Get Movin’ ” group classes and even warm water classes for the relief of pain from arthritis and fibromyalgia. Sedentary seniors can start with chair exercises. Up on the fitness f loor, Jo has finished her routine. Her two daughters, Gayle Wiegers and Cheryl Dykes, are there to take her home. “Family support is so important,” say DePersio. Gayle remarks on her mom’s mental agility. “She does a crossword puzzle every day. She knows Latin roots, and picks words apart.” Cheryl agrees, saying, “She loves words and At her most recent birthday party, word games.” Josephine poses with her great-grandWalking out the door with Jo and her son Eli Dykes, who celebrated his first daughters, I check my cell phone and then birthday three days before her 100th. look for my car key. The trio have already Eli has a cupcake and Josephine has a moved farther down the parking lot, and by cake. Photo by Gayle Weigers the time I get to my car, their car drives past
Josephine Wiegers, 100 years young, is flanked by her daughters Gayle Wiegers and Cheryl Dykes. She enjoys the recumbent bicycle, but the cross-trainer is her favorite exercise machine. Photo by Carol Z. Shane
Located off Emory Road in Powell
with Jo in the passenger seat. I literally did not keep up with a 100-year-old woman. “It’s never too late,” says DePersio. “Any person, any level, any age.”
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For additional information, call Tennova Health & Fitness Center at 859-7900 or visit TennovaFitness.com
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