8:55 a.m. – Early birds

Class members trickled into class at Resilient Fitness, 2900 E. Broadway Blvd., catching up on life, cracking jokes and starting to warm up in between the small talk.

On one side of the room, a whiteboard advertised the gym’s upcoming events and featured Coach Karina Doughty’s daily dad joke – “Apparently, to start a zoo, you need at least two pandas, a grizzly, and three polar bears. It’s the bear minimum.” 

Doughty, who coaches the Balance & Power program, had drawn three bears underneath.

While she introduced new members to the class, longtime Balance & Power attendee Bruce Dawson sauntered across the room.

“Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up,” he joked mid stride, quoting a well-known Life Alert commercial that first aired in 1989. 

“That’s why we’re here, so you can get up,” Doughty called back.

And it really is. 

Doughty founded the Balance & Power program in 2022 to help people 65 and older stay active and independent, even with mobility challenges.

The class began with four members: Dawson, 78; Kay Matthews, 87; Gloria Lopez-Sugden, 70; and Anne Fritz, 67, each with a unique reason for joining.

Over the years, they developed a close-knit group, becoming familiar with each other’s stories and creating a friendly, at times ridiculous, atmosphere.

9 a.m. – Building bonds

As class started, everyone noticed that Matthews wasn’t there today – she’s been feeling unwell.

“We look forward to everyone coming,” Dawson said, adding that Matthews’ dog, BabyGirl, is the class mascot. 

BabyGirl usually sits by the weights and watches the class workout from a distance. When the crew noticed she wasn’t in class, they joked about leaving, saying their furry friend is the only reason they came.

The group has a strong rapport, joking often and talking about their lives as class gets going. Only one subject is banned: politics.

“That’s off the table,” Dawson said.

But it’s not all joking. They’re also here to improve their fitness.

Fritz, an accomplished tennis player, had been an athlete most of her life. Then, she took a nearly 15-year break after experiencing back problems. But being inactive was difficult for her, she said.

Joining Balance & Power got her out of that rut.

“I’m not depressed when I come in here and see these guys,” she said. “I’m happy to see their faces, even if I don’t feel physically great that day.”

Dawson was a dedicated cyclist until he took a nasty fall in October 2017.

“The fire department came by and scraped my (butt) off the pavement,” he said.

He spent a week at the Banner University Intensive Care Unit and two and a half weeks in rehab. 

He can bike again, but he said it was a wake-up call for him to get more balanced. His daughter suggested he try Balance & Power to get back in shape.

Lopez-Sugden was also pushed into the class by her daughter.

“My daughter said, ‘You gotta come, you gotta go,’” she said. “It’s the golden years. You gotta stay balanced and strong. Your grandkids, they keep you going.”

9:15 a.m. – Balancing

Class well underway now, Doughty walked around the room, stopping to correct Fritz, who was struggling to hold a kettlebell and walk without looking down.

“Careful with your eyeballs. If you need to, Anne, ditch the weights,” Doughty said.

“I’m okay, I just had a temporary stall,” Fritz said.

“That’s okay, you’re moving, that’s what I care about.” 

Fritz nodded and continued walking with the kettlebell in hand, keeping her eyes up as much as possible. 

Doughty customizes her class to meet the specific needs of each athlete, often giving each a unique version of the workout, she said. Each person has limitations and past or current injuries that make the standard movements difficult or impossible.

She focuses on “proprioception” – the ability to know where your body is in space – by encouraging members not to look down at their feet, she added. 

During this workout, the focus was to not look down while lunging.

It is an integral part of balance, Doughty said. In our daily lives, it is dangerous to look down while walking, and it is not a natural motion for people to make.

“On top of that, if that’s where you’re comfortable, looking at your feet, anytime you’re not doing it, you get uncomfortable, you get nervous, you can fall,” she said.

9:25 a.m.  – Tailored moves

This month, the class will focus on deadlifts. The key movement is the hinge.

Dawson has worked up to an elevated barbell deadlift, adding weight. Fritz is using a kettlebell and was able to pick up a heavier bell today. And Lopez-Sugden, recovering from a wrist injury, is doing deadlifts with a band. 

“If you can’t do something right, she comes up with alternatives,” Lopez-Sugden said

Fritz added that Doughty’s attention to their needs gives the class a personal touch.

As they lifted, Doughty checked in to make sure no one was feeling any pain. 

At Resilient Fitness “pain-free training” is the mantra. But Doughty clarified that does not mean “sore-free.”

Even as they worked, the class continued its banter.

Dawson, making direct eye contact with Doughty, stepped over a barbell — prohibited in the class.

“One time. Now we’re even,” she responded with a playful glare, acknowledging that she accidentally did the same when demonstrating the movement to the class. 

She demonstrates each move without fail. Even for experience class members, she walks through each step and variation to ensure that everyone is on the same page. 

9:45 a.m. – Life-lessons

Now, in the second half of the workout, lifters completed accessory work to enhance their hinge movements further.

“The hinge takes the back out of everything. You’re not leaning over to pick stuff up,” Dawson said. “I’ve had a lot of back problems, and not so much anymore.”

“It’s a shortcut for life,” Lopez-Sugden added.

That’s the goal – to apply the movements from the class in their lives outside the gym, even when they’re not excited about those movements, Doughty said. 

For example, the plank.

It was part of the finisher this day, and everyone groaned about it. But Doughty said it’s essential.

“The point of doing the plank is twofold: One, to build up your core, because, remember, our core is not just here,” she said gesturing to her mid-body while in a plank position. “It’s 360.” 

“God forbid you fall down, getting yourself into a plank position where you can push yourself back up — it’s going to be important,” she said.

“If you fall, such is life, but we don’t want to be that commercial, right?” she added, referencing the Life Alert commercial again.

10:00 a.m. – More than gym buddies

As class ended, the group offered each other encouragement between fist bumps and high-fives as everyone moved away from the workout area.

In this group, the gym is a second family. 

Speaking by phone, Matthews, who had been ill during class, said friendships from the gym provide support even outside of class.

“One of us will come in, ‘Oh, I’ve got to have this or that done to my car, who’s a good mechanic?’ And we share that information,” she said.

They go out for coffee on days they do not work out, and she said the coaches emphasize making the space feel like a big family with semi-annual lift-offs, potlucks and holiday parties.

“Everybody reaches out to other people. Yeah, sure, they sit with their family or the ones they know better, but there’s no sense of it being like a high school cafeteria,” she said.

It makes the class more fun and more sustainable, she said

“I’m very inconsistent about anything good for me, whether it’s sticking to a food plan or exercising or anything like that. So I’m willing to pay for that kind of guidance,” she added. 

In Balance & Power, Doughty provides that guidance.

For those interested in joining the class, Resilient Fitness is enrolling new participants. Balance & Power is held at 9 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. A punch-card membership costs $250 per person and a monthly membership is $125 each month. Learn more at resilientfitnesstucon.com.

Arizona Sonoran News is a news service of the University of Arizona School of Journalism.