Photos by Pat Christman
Arnold Bell joined other area senior citizens in a three-days-a-week exercise program being taught at Summit Center by Minnesota State University human performance department students.
MANKATO — Americans have a hundred excuses for not exercising.
No. 1 is lack of time, according to a couple of on-line surveys.
That wasn't a valid reason for any of the Mankato residents who gathered Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays this spring for one-hour workouts with trained fitness experts. All the people in the exercise class are retired.
But the No. 3 excuse on one of the surveys — that exercise is a lot less fun than other recreational options — was one Jeanette Faber could relate to.
"I never liked to exercise," Faber said.
And the No. 2 excuse — that respondents thought their body wasn't fit enough for an exercise program — was sort of related to Ruth Wood's hesitance.
"At first I thought, 'Oh, am I going to be able to do this?'" Wood said.
And then there's No. 96.
That's not an excuse, at least for Arnold Bell. That's his age.
Bell and more than a dozen others have showed up three times a week for the Enhance Fitness/PALS group exercise program at Mankato's Summit Center. A total of 160 older folks have participated in classes there, at Orness Plaza and at the Lake Crystal Recreation Center since the program kicked off last October.
Arnold Bell and Jeanette Faber follow exercise instructions from class leader Annie Coyle (center) during a recent class at the Summit Center.
Angie Mott, a registered nurse who helps manage the program for VINE Faith in Action, has been inspired by many of the participants, although perhaps none more than Bell.
"Arnold, I don't know if anybody's told you lately, but we think you're pretty wonderful," Mott said during a recent class.
"I try to do the best I can," Bell said.
It's not too shabby for a 96-year-old. His workout wardrobe is nontraditional in that he wears blue jeans and a white dress shirt, but he's pretty quick on his white-and-purple-running-shoe-clad feet.
When Annie Coyle, 23, runs the group through their hour-long routine of stretching, flexing, weight lifting and aerobic exercise, Bell is up and walking, swinging his arms and kicking his legs right along with his younger classmates.
"OK, step over the box," Coyle shouts. "Get those knees up there. ... OK, let's go front-ways. OK, we're going to go to the right and we're going to walk on our tiptoes. ... OK, let's switch to our heels. Walk on our heels."
Bell — either in a concession to his age or maybe because guys of his generation don't believe in tip-toe walking — steps flat-footed.
Coyle doesn't mind at all. A graduate student in Minnesota State University's human performance program, she's just impressed that Bell keeps showing up.
"He's 96 and still does aerobics," Coyle said with more than a hint of amazement. "I hope when I'm 96, I'm still able to do stuff like that."
The younger students in the class, like Faber, 68, and Wood, 84, do the tip-toes and the heel walking. And they seem to be almost dancing to the background music — ranging from Herb Alpert's version of "Hello Dolly" to Brooks and Dunn's "Boot Scootin' Boogie" — when the aerobic activities involve leg-lifts and arm-swinging.
"This is the most fun we have all week," Faber said.
She's the one who almost didn't join the class because she thought she hated exercising. One of her girlfriends used to have to badger her to go for a walk once a week. Not anymore.
"Now I'm going three times," Faber said. "She said, ‘What are they doing with you down there?' She can't believe it because I want to go walking."
Ruth said she'd take walks to stay in shape, but the Enhance Fitness program hits a variety of muscle groups including ones she said she'd "kind of let go."
"I was a little frightened," Ruth said of her initial worries about how her body would stand up to an exercise program. "But then you get confidence and you realize ‘I can do this.'"
Bell, who worked in the food industry and had ownership in the Wagon Wheel Cafe for a time, considers himself to be in pretty good shape but thinks he may be a bit more spry since he started taking the classes.
Mott thinks so too. She noted that he's now walking around the senior citizens center during the open-exercise portion of the program whereas he'd previously stuck to circling the room where the class is held.
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