STARKVILLE — Taking a walk through the gymnasium at Oktibbeha County Hospital’s Wellness Connection Center, Elaine Schimpf smiles from ear to ear.
A dozen or so people are running on treadmills, some of whom are training for marathons and half-marathons; others are walking or jogging for fitness. Another group is using elliptical machines, their eyes glued to the televisions on the wall in front of them.
At one end of the gym, a mother and her daughter play ping pong, while at the other end, several men lift weights, their headphones on and their shirt sleeves cut off. A hospital employee walks laps around the indoor track.
For Schimpf, Wellness Connection’s health promotions coordinator, it’s just another day at the office.
“I love it here,” she said. “I never feel like I’m at work.”
What’s it like to work at a fitness center during the start of a new year?
It’s very hectic, but it’s fun. It’s a lot of fun. Actually, the holidays are fun, too, because it’s your regular members and you’re just kind of playing around, but once January starts, people are really wanting to see changes and get results, so everybody comes. It’s pretty packed.
How do you get people to stick with it?
Well, you have to make it fun and exciting because, if people don’t like it, they’re not going to do it. You can’t give everybody the same type of program. It has to be a personal thing. If you don’t like the StairMaster, I’m not going to put you on a StairMaster and tell you that you have to do that five days a week. Find out what you like and then take that to the next level. Some people hate to exercise, unlike the people who work here who love it, so you just have to make it fun for them and make it exciting and change it up. We have a lot of different types of classes.
What kind of stuff do you offer here?
We have spinning (on a stationary bicycle). We have Power Pump, which is intervals of cardio and strength. Of course we have step aerobics. We have a special type of spinning class that’s called Ride and Run, where you spin first for a certain amount of time and then you hop off the bike and go run. You do that back and forth, back and forth, for like 45 minutes and it’s pretty neat. People get really excited about that because it’s something different. It’s not just spinning.
We have another class that’s called Sweat, and it’s whatever the instructor feels like doing. You may go out on the floor with the machines or do free weights or work out in the aerobics room, doing floor work and pushups and cardio.
And then we also have the Zumba. Zumba is like salsa dancing. We offer that four days a week. That’s new and big and everybody likes it. It’s a lot of fun and it’s a way to work out without feeling like you’re working out because you’re dancing.
We also have the regular abs class. The Agility Challenge is one of our classes and that’s cardio, athletic movement, balance, strength training and some boxing. You would think it would be for the traditional athlete, but we have people of all different sizes and shapes and athletic abilities.
We have classes for seniors. We have a low-impact class that is every day just for seniors. They can enjoy just regular aerobics without it being pumped-up and hard. They just do floor aerobics and they also have a toning part where they can do free weights with lighter weights. we also have arthritis classes for people with arthritis. We have those every day of the week in the water and on land.
We have water aerobics. We have arthritis water classes, but we also have Hydrotone, which is kind of like Power Pump, but it’s in the water. You can get in the water and make it really, really hard, or you can make it easy. And that’s true with all of our classes. You go and work out at your ability. We try to make it fun so you keep coming back. Some people come for half a class and then they come back for a whole class eventually. We have Boot Camp in the water and we have Yoga in the water, so that’s kind of interesting.
How do you do that?
You can’t do this (Schimpf stands, sticks her leg straight out and touches her toe), and balance, but in the water you can because it’s kind of holding you up. And then you just do normal stretches, but you’re in the water so it feels better to your joints. We have Sunrise Splash in the water, (which consists of flexibility, strength and cardiovascular endurance workouts in the pool). We’re trying to get that one up and going again because, with the holidays, people kind of slack off and then they forget we have water. So the Sunrise Splash is one that we’re trying to get people to come back to. It’s a really good class for those people who want to work out at 5:15 in the morning. We’re open from 5 (a.m.) to 9 (p.m.) and we have classes all day long, except during that 12 (p.m.) to 4 (p.m.) period, when we don’t have any classes.
We also have personal training here. You can do group training where you have two people and you split the cost of it. That’s a nice little perk there. Or you can do your own personal training. During the month of January we have half off of our joining fee. It’s normally $100 to join, but right now it’s $50. So, the whole month of January, it’s half off the joining fee.
Another great thing about being here is it is a wellness center. It’s not just a gym, so we try to have programs for healthy eating, because that’s another big goal for January. People don’t want to just learn how to lose weight with exercise. They want to learn how to eat healthy, so we have different weight-loss programs. There will be one starting in the spring that’s called Spring Training, where you get exercise and healthy eating. We also have the smoking-cessation program, which is coming up January 14. It’s 6 p.m. on Thursdays for six weeks. It is a free program for people who want to quit smoking. It’s 100 percent free.
What advice would you give to somebody who might be a little too intimidated or embarrassed to go to the gym?
Just get here. I mean, once you get here, you’re going to feel differently. And people do think that. They just think, “I’m going to keep driving by, but I’m not going to stop.” But once you get in the door you’re going to see it’s a very inviting environment. There’s all different levels of fitness, all different sizes of people and all different ages. It’s a very well-rounded place. I’ve never felt like, or even had anybody tell me, that they felt that way here. Our staff, they try to make you feel comfortable. All of our staff does because they want the best for your health. It’s not about being a skinny person. It’s about being a healthy person.
What other tips would you give somebody who is trying to lose weight or get healthier this year?
Be consistent. It doesn’t just come off in January. You’ve got to make it a life-long habit and not just say, “I’m going to do this for January or for the year.” It has to be a life-long commitment because it is good for you, for everything, not just weight loss. It’s good for your bones. It’s good for your joints. It’s good for your heart. People forget about the inside. They just think they want everything to be tight and toned. You’ve got to be consistent and make it a commitment. Not just, “I’m going to do this until I lose five pounds or 25 pounds or whatever. And you can’t get discouraged. It’s going to happen if you stick with it.
How did you get involved in this career and this lifestyle?
Well, I’ve always exercised. Growing up I was always riding my bike or swimming. I was on the swim team. I was on the dance team. When I got out of high school I joined a gym and thought, “I would love to do this for a living.” So I went to school for it and finally got my degree. Well, I got certified. I got my personal training certification first. And I was working at a gym while I went to college and did it that way.
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