While I was interviewing Athanasia “Soula” Thomas for this week’s cover story, I had an idea of how to maybe get more in tune with the young lady’s lifestyle. So I decided to take one of the step classes that she takes three times a week.
While I was interviewing Athanasia “Soula” Thomas for this week’s cover story, I had an idea of how to maybe get more in tune with the young lady’s lifestyle. So I decided to take one of the step classes that she takes three times a week.
As a disclaimer, I should note that I have taken one aerobics class in my life and that was about 25 years ago. I remember I barely made it through that, but I felt I needed to challenge myself to keep up with young Soula, who is just about 89 years old, so we’ll just round up for now.
I arrived at 24-Hour Fitness for the 9 a.m. class, and even though my 24-Hour membership does not include the larger Sport Clubs, like the Cypress location where Soula attends, the manager graciously let me attend without the daily upgrade use fee. While I had never taken a step class, I certainly knew what was basically involved, cardio movements over a small platform, adjustable to your experience level.
Mine was, of course, just the base platform with no risers underneath. The class began with basic steps, step up and down, side step, cross over with knee lifts, etc. I wanted to watch Soula and instructor Zoe, who were off to my left, but found that as the steps became more intricate, I had a hard time keeping the rhythm. Watching the woman’s feet directly in front of me seemed to be easier to follow and she looked like she was pretty familiar with the routines.
When I looked at the clock for the first time we were 20 minutes into the class, and I was already dripping in sweat. Moreover, I realized that my arms were not raising as high for the corresponding are movements, while Soula seemed to have little trouble keeping her arms going.
Suddenly she stopped and went to small bag in the front of the class, and returned with two small non-slip mats. As I tired, my feet were no longer coming down on the top of the step, but more hitting the edges as I stepped up. That was causing the platform to slide a little bit and she stopping to see if I wanted to put the mats under my step.
I asked her to please not worry about me and just keep going with her workout. At about 30 minutes in, I find myself again losing track of the movements. So I return my focus to the woman’s feet in front of me to get back on track. This time, I see what she is doing and I anticipate where we are going next, but my feet don’t seem to be moving fast enough to keep up. I stumble my way through the next 10 minutes or so and the steps mercifully come to an end. Soula moved toward me and said, “it’s hard, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” I reply. “Are we done?”
“No,” she answers, “now we do the (abdominla) crunches.”
Are you flipping kidding me, I think to myself? As everyone moves to the back to get a floor mat and dumbbells, I follow suit. I see most of the predominately female attendees grabbing the five-pound dumbbells and I start to as well. Suddenly my ego abandons me and I switch to the two-and-a-half pounders.
But I finished, and after finding out it was my first class, some of the women told me I did very well for my first time. I asked Zoe if there are classes geared for beginners and she said not really, but each instructor usually asks about any first timers and if there are a lot, will try to bring down the difficulty to accommodate them. But there is a balance they try to maintain so that the regulars will get the kind of workout they are used to.
Soula later told me that there is a class that is usually easier, but that it was mostly older people.
“Oh, older people,” I reply. “Well that’s certainly not for us.”
Soula laughed, suddenly realizing the irony of her statement, but it speaks to her mindset as much as anything. She simply doesn’t seem to see herself as a senior citizen. It’s something that her daughter Zoe Hagmann sees as part what has kept her so active this long.
“I think it’s great, I think it just gives her that mental and physical strength,” Hagmann said.