In the Zone - with Vera, Penny and Val

“Ready for our torture?” Vera asks me with a smile.  “Let’s go!” I say.  Upstairs Penny and Val are waiting.  “I could barely move my arms after last time,” Val says happily.  Once a week, usually on Wednesday during lunchtime, the four of us gather for an informal small group training, led by Kaleena. We call it punishment, torture and worse – but we love it.

 As a staff member at the Rye Y, I had been hearing a lot about functional fitness and small group training and was ready to try it.  Although I exercise regularly, I was stuck in a numbing routine.  At the fitness center, I went through the motions of a weight circuit that I barely felt and used the elliptical trainer mostly to stroll on while reading or watching TV.

Before our first session, Kaleena collected our litany of “issues” – spanning almost every body part – between the four of us we had problems with our knees, hips, back, shoulders, ankles and neck. Kaleena then found a way to work each of us around our individual problem areas.  For example, I can’t do deep squats because of my knees, so she challenges me with alternate leg strengthening exercises. After each session almost every part of my body aches – except my knees.

It is impossible not to work hard during small group training. I am often paired with Val in clever duo routines; while I swing the Kettle bell 20 times, she has to do push-ups the entire time.  If I slow down, Val suffers. And then, of course, our positions are reversed. At other times we hurl a giant, heavy medicine ball back and forth between us, thrash 40 foot ropes, catapult our bodies around on the TRX and race on the rowing machine. Kaleena encourages us to push ourselves hard and we do.  I spend most of our 45-minute sessions exerting myself in ways I haven’t in years – or ever. And it feels great!

 Kaleena also equips us with routines so we can continue without her. She patiently explains the purpose of each exercise, unraveling the mystery of the equipment in the Freestyle Fitness Zone. At this point, I could probably replicate most of our workouts on my own.   But I’m not ready yet.  I enjoy the camaraderie of the small group – and the torture -- too much.

-Lisa Tidball

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