YMCA Fitness Team Flexes Muscles This Fall

Big Stretch. Body Works instructor Sue McIntosh demonstrates for her late afternoon class in the YMCA Health and Fitness program.

By Bobbi Zane

The YMCA Health and Fitness program in Julian has announced a new series of Group Exercise classes, according to Misty Dornan, the high-energy aerobics instructor who heads up a team of four instructors.

Most classes, running an hour and a half, meet at the Hillside Community Church, Third and C streets.

Early morning exercisers can get an early morning workout with the cardio-sculpt group, which meets Mon.-Wed.-Fri. at 6 to 7:30 a.m. Dornan, who normally conducts this class, says, “This is a high/low impact workout, alternating between step and dance aerobics, combined with the use of weights for sculpting and strength.”

A walking group, led by Donna Kendall or Cindy Linton, steps out from the church at 8:30 a.m. on Mon.-Wed.-Fri. Participants power walk the Julian hills while enjoying fresh air and lovely mountain scenery. The last half hour is a strength training session held at the church.

New this fall is an adaptive low impact fitness class that will start meeting at the Methodist Church Sept. 27 from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Tues.-Thurs. Instructor Sue McIntosh has adapted her popular Body Works class for “active older adults” and those who need a less strenuous workout. Like the original Body Works class, which has been meeting for more than two years, Low Impact Fitness will incorporate weights, resistance training and medicine balls…plus a lot of stretching.

Small classes, normally not more than a dozen or so participants, allow for individual instruction similar to what one would receive from a personal trainer. “Up here everyone is in the front row,” Dornan observes.

The YMCA Health and Fitness program has been operating in Julian for nearly three years, according to Dornan who with Annette Retzen conducted the initial classes at Camp Marston. They made the contact with the YMCA while searching for a space with a “wood floor,” which they found at the lodge at the camp.

But they found more than a floor. It was a strategic partnership with the YMCA that brought them much-needed insurance, training and certification. Even though the classes no longer meet at the camp, the YMCA relationship continues and with it ongoing education in the latest fitness techniques, skills and safety.

Fees for the classes range from $32 to $38 per month, depending upon the program selected. The new low impact fitness, meeting twice weekly, will be $25 per month. A couples unlimited pass is $70 per month, and drop-ins are $5 for any class. There’s a $15 administrative fee for newcomers.

For more information contact Misty Dornan at (760) 765-9745.

Photo by Bobbi Zane