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Three local seniors committed to fitness
By Gina Delfavero
Blairsville Dispatch
Friday, February 17, 2006
BLACK LICK--Charlotte DeMarines loves to cook, travels up and down the East Coast to visit her family, and recently took a short jaunt to Mexico.
In her spare time, the 92-year-old exercises at Curves three times a week.
Many of today's senior citizens are staying active in their retirement, and say that is what keeps them feeling young.
Physical fitness is an important goal for people of all ages. Although many fitness campaigns are geared toward younger generations, seniors now have more options when it comes to .
Curves, a workout center for women only that uses resistance weights, is just one of them. Area hospitals offer yoga and low-impact aerobics classes for seniors, and some of them even focus on ailments that affect many seniors, such as arthritis.
There also are some senior centers in both Indiana and Westmoreland counties that offer fitness classes.
According to Teresa Sartoris, manager of the Curves in Blairsville, the majority of members at the center are over 55 years of age. She attributes that fact to the atmosphere Curves offers.
"Some older ladies don't want to exercise where there are lots of men," Sartoris noted. "Younger women don't mind as much."
Three of Curves' most dedicated older members--DeMarines, Betty Yelenic, 71, and De Iezzi, 75--all have given fitness a high priority in their lives.
Sartoris remarked how wonderful it is to see a woman DeMarines' age who still cares about how she looks and feels.
"You should always care how you feel, no matter what your age," Sartoris said. "We should all be like her when we're 92."
DeMarines said she's always been active, but didn't join a structured exercise facility until last fall, when she became a member of Curves.
"I used to walk every day, three miles, with a friend," she said, something she's done for the last 15 years. But she had to stop recently when her walking buddy fell ill.
"It's hard to get a partner that will do that every day with you," she remarked.
That's when she decided to join Curves. Another friend who was a member there introduced her to the facility last fall.
After an initial two-week trial, she said, "I loved it, and I kept going."
DeMarines has come to enjoy the atmosphere at Curves, as well as interacting with the workers and fellow members.
But what she most likes about her excursions there is the exercise.
"I feel good," she said. "I was never a heavy person. In fact, I'm heavier now than I've ever been in my life. But I guess that comes from genes. I'm doing well."
DeMarines also stays active by participating in three card clubs and by spending time with friends. She also is an active me-ber of St. Francis Church in Graceton.
An avid cook, she spends a lot of time in the kitchen of her Burrell Township home.
"I still make all my good Italian food," she said, adding that she even makes her own pasta.
"It keeps me busy," she noted.
Plus, she does all of her own housework, including the odd paint job when it needs done.
"I've always been a busy person," she said. "I'm busy all the time."
She still drives, but only to local destinations. If she has to go farther, she has a friend drive her.
DeMarines' husband, Victor, passed away 16 years ago, after they'd been married for 60 years. She visits regularly with their three children--Victor, in Boston, Joanne Joyce, in Rochester, N.Y., and Ronald, in Bethesda, Md.
"I spend holidays with one or the other," she said.
She also spends as much time as she can with her 10 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
And she still travels. She's been to Italy four times, most recently a year and a half ago, when she got to meet 10 cousins.
So what's the secret to turning 92 and looking and feeling years younger?
"Everyone always asks me that!" DeMarines laughed. "Genes, I guess. The Good Lord doesn't want me yet--that's all I can think of."
Yelenic and her Blairsville neighbor, Iezzi, also are regular Curves attendees.
Members for almost two years now, they attend six days a week, Monday through Saturday.
"We try never to miss because, once you miss, it's hard to get back," Yelenic noted.
Yelenic and Iezzi had been members of the Silver Sneakers walking program at the local YMCA. They would walk three times a week, but when the weather grew colder, it became a hassle to travel to Indiana. So the pair decided to give Curves a try.
"We tried it and we joined that day," Yelenic said.
Yelenic also used to walk the track at the community center in Blairsville, but her tendonitis put a stop to that. She would walk two miles every morning, "but I just couldn't do it anymore," she said.
"It wasn't really beneficial to me because it was so painful."
It wasn't just for herself that Yelenic decided to keep fit. She has been widowed for the last 25 years--her husband, Frank, died of a heart attack.
"I wanted to be around to see my grandkids graduate college and get married," she said. "And for myself...I feel so much better."
Like DeMarines, Yelenic tries to stay as active as she can, playing cards, shopping and spending time with her grandchildren.
Two of her granddaughters, Paige and Lindsey Yelenic, are in their teens, "So you know they like to shop!" Yelenic laughed. Lindsey and her little sister, Carly Yelenic, are also both black belts in karate.
"My grandchildren keep me on the run," Yelenic said.
She attended every basketball game at Blairsville High School to watch one of her grandsons, Zach Sabella.
Yelenic tries to get to Myrtle Beach at least twice a year, and she vacationed in Ocean City, Md., this past summer. She retired six years ago from PNC Bank after 30 years of service.
Remaining active in her later years has been a priority for Yelenic, so she can live to see her grandchildren grow up. But she acknowledged that it has definitely had other personal benefits.
"I think it makes you feel better," Yelenic said of her participation at Curves. "It's wonderful health-wise, and I just enjoy doing it because it's my social half-hour of the day."
"It's done wonders for me," Iezzi said. "I golf in the summer, but in the winter, I wasn't doing anything."
"It wasn't anything too strenuous, but it was enough," Iezzi said of her Curves workout. "I lost a lot of weight and a lot of inches.
"You don't feel worn out when you're done. It's a lot better than taking a whole lot of pills."
Iezzi has lost 22 pounds since she first started at Curves, and that was without dieting. Iezzi and Yelenic are both members of the "One Yard Club," meaning they've lost the equivalent of a yard or more in inches.
In addition to attending Curves, Iezzi also walks for a half an hour each day at the Blairsville Community Center, either at the track or on a treadmill.
Iezzi and her husband, Lou, had three sons--Joe and his wife, Patty and their two children, Nicole and Joe; Louis, who passed away this year, and his children, Kelly and Sam; and youngest son Gary and his son Andrew. Iezzi also has two great-granddaughters, Cassidy and Tessa Klock.
"They keep me busy," Iezzi said. Her children are all grown up now, "but they visit often, and we get to visit them."
Sartoris is thankful for the senior members of Curves, who are an inspiration to younger members.
"The older ladies keep us going," she said. "They are our die-hards," especially Yelenic and Iezzi.
"There have been a few mornings when we weren't sure if we should open the center because of the (inclement) weather," Sartoris recalled. "But I know when I come in at 8 a.m., they're going to be there waiting for me."
"De has done a wonderful job reaching her goals," she said. "And Betty is right up there with her. They're always here."
And for a good reason, too, according to Iezzi.
"If you don't keep your mind going, if you don't keep your body going, you're going to get old," Iezzi said. "You have to keep doing these things for your own good, for your own benefit."
Seniors now have many more fitness options than the "chair aerobics" often found on morning television programs.
Besides places like Curves and the Blairsville Community Center (which offers seniors a special Silver Sneakers program through some insurance companies), local senior citizens centers now offer fitness classes.
Jamie Lake is a personal trainer with New Life Fitness in Indiana, and heads fitness classes held at four Indiana County senior centers--in Saltsburg, Clymer, Punxsutawney and Indiana. He is currently completing his degree in exercise science at IUP.
"We do a full body workout--the shoulders, the back, the legs," Lake said, adding that the exercises are "the more practical things, the activities of daily living."
Participants complete a series of stretches and work with hand weights or nonresistance weights for upper body strength.
The Clymer center also offers yoga, and the Punxsutawney center has been trying out a new dance aerobics class.
"I think it's more about keeping active when it comes to aging," Lake said. "Even if it's just going to the senior center."
Lake has worked for New Life Fitness for over a year, circulating among the four different centers: Punxsutawney on Mondays, Clymer of Tuesdays, Indiana on Thursdays, and Saltsburg on Wednesdays and Fridays.
"I enjoy it a lot," he said.
The average class size, Lake noted, varies from center to center, from five to 25 people. Saltsburg usually draws the larger classes, he added.
Feedback from the classes has always been positive, Lake said.
"They tell me their doctors like me," he laughed.
It's very satisfying work for Lake.
"You see a person who, when they first started, was tired after the first 15 minutes," he said. "But after a while, they don't get tired. It gives them more confidence."
The seniors will spend between 55 minutes to an hour doing exercises.
During the classes, "I encourage people to talk amongst themselves, make friends. It's more about having fun then getting exercise. I try to make it as laid-back as possible."
Lake noted seniors aren't as limited in their exercise options as some may think.
"As long as a senior is healthy, they can do just about anything regarding exercise that a healthy adult can do," he pointed out.
To find out more about the fitness classes offered at senior centers, call Aging Services, Inc. at 724-349-4500.
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