AEROBIC GRANDMA: New instructor headlines fitness class news

Bayfront Park Recreation Center
4052 Gulf of Mexico Drive. 316-1980.
The longest established class at this town facility is “Muscles and More,” a popular sculpt or muscle strength and endurance workout offered twice daily three days a week in high season. Longtime instructor Sherry Fideler relocated to Costa Rica last year; Mark Richardson, Longboat Key streets, facilities, parks and recreation manager, held auditions for her replacement and invited three instructors to teach a portion of one of her classes and urged participants to fill out comment cards. This thoughtful process resulted in the selection of Ann Alvis.

Alvis has taught group fitness classes for nearly three decades here and abroad. A personal trainer with a loyal base of local clients, she says, “My first goal is safety, and my second is to address the entire body because, as a personal trainer, that’s what you’re trying to do.”

She is keeping the classes similar to her predecessor’s so students will feel comfortable.

If you are wondering how Fideler is doing in Costa Rica … she isn’t. After five months, she and her husband decided they missed family and friends and came back. She continues to work as a personal trainer; reach her at [email protected] or 281-6903.

Also new at the Rec Center: Barbara Anderson has a new circuit-training class in her 8 a.m. slot on Tuesdays.

“Circuit training is a great boredom buster,” she says. “And the nonstop routine uses more calories than a typical weight workout.”

Instructor Mirabai Holland, new last season, has added a class called “Forever Young,” appropriate for students of the discontinued “Young At Heart.” Nia with Gail Condrick is now at 10 a.m. Saturdays only. (Condrick also teaches at the Longboat Key Education Center.)

I have modified my “Joy of Stretch Yoga” class to make it even more back-friendly, using learning gained from my own aging and crumbling spine.

There is no tai chi, and last year’s experiment with an after-work class at 5:15 p.m. proved once again that the time slot does not work on Longboat Key.

The nuts and bolts. Rec Center classes are walk-in — no reservations. Fees range from $8 to $10 for members and $13 to $17 for nonmembers per class. Annual membership is still the best bargain on the Suncoast: $25 for residents and $35 for those who live off the island; or $45 per couple. The schedule is online at longboatkey.org; search “Schedule of Activities.”

Longboat Key Education Center
5370 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Suite 212. 383-8811.
Attention, all you Longboaters who have asked me about a chair yoga class: Your time has come. The class will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday mornings beginning Jan. 24, at the Education Center. This chair yoga is accessible for any age, size or fitness level. It includes gently stretching all your muscles and joints, plus breathing and relaxation techniques. The teacher is Angelena Craig, a certified professional-level yoga instructor who has completed 500 hours of training at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, in Stockbridge, Mass. She is a former director of Beacon Light Yoga Center in Boston and founder of The New Aging Movement, a program designed to slow down the aging process.

There are now seven mind-body classes at the Ed Center: yoga Monday through Thursday, Nia on Wednesday, qigong on Friday and chair yoga on Saturday. Nancy Saum, who made a successful Education Center debut last year, teaches the qigong class. Saum is a registered nurse and certified holistic nurse who has completed the Institute of Integral Qigong and tai chi 200-hour teacher training.

There is also a fitness-related Saturday workshop called “The Head has a Body,” scheduled for 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Feb. 21. Based on the work of psychiatrist Alexander Lowen, it has to do with how our actions express our personalities and includes the fundamentals of bioenergetics, functional integration and the Alexander Technique. The instructor is Kenney DeCamp, an internationally recognized body linguist/mime whose students have included Beverly Sills, Donna Summer and others.

The Nuts and Bolts. Advanced registration is required for classes.

The winter term started earlier this month and runs through Feb. 28. Fitness classes are typically $88 for members and $104 for nonmembers for the term, but they may be taken individually. For information or to register, visit lbkeducationcenter.org.

Molly Schechter is an ACE-certified personal trainer with a specialty in older-adult fitness plus YogaFit Instructor Training, SCF Yoga Fundamentals I and II and Power Pilates™ Mat Certifications. She teaches classes at the Bayfront Park Recreation Center. Email her at [email protected].