Airway Heights residents can get in shape from head to toe

For citizens of Airway Heights, who are looking to transform themselves in 2014, the Parks and Recreation Department offers the “New Year, New You,” adult fitness class.

The class will be eight weeks and will help teach workouts participants can use at home and without equipment. The workouts are modified for men and women of all fitness levels. The class takes place Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 5:30-6:30 p.m., at Sunset Elementary.

Andy Gardner, Parks, Recreation and Community Services supervisor, said the class was something Parks and Recreation wanted to do for the city.

Although the lack of a proper facility is something the department has battled when it comes to hosting a fitness class, Gardner mentioned that Sunset provides space for workouts.

“We can do running in the hallways,” Gardner said. “We’ll be using the music room to do workouts.”

Kelli Proctor, a fitness teacher at Cheney High School, has been working as a recreation assistant for youth and adult programs for two and a half years. When the department was looking to expand fitness beyond the adult athletics program, she helped come up with some of the ideas that evolved into the Total Body Conditioning class held in 2013. After Proctor became a certified instructor, she took on the task of overseeing the classes.

After Total Body Conditioning was well received by the community, Parks and Recreation started a Boot Camp class in the spring.

Proctor said the idea for the “New Body, New You” fitness class is to introduce people to fitness. She plans on focusing her lessons on three of the five components of fitness: cardio respiratory, muscular endurance and muscular strength.

She mentioned that the classes would comprise of proper exercises that people can do with their own bodies that will be as effective as if they used workout equipment, but without the cost of renting or purchasing machines. Students will do some of the workouts themselves, while other exercises will involve them collaborating with other students or the whole group.

“The goal is to have everyone break a sweat and learn something new everyday,” Proctor said.

Over the course of the class, Proctor will also be putting together a booklet that will include exercises and routines that were demonstrated in the class. The book will allow students to use some of the routines in class and use them at home.

In addition to learning new exercises provided from the instructor, the class gives citizens a chance to have a support system where there are other people working toward the same goal as them, as well as gives them a chance to bounce new ideas off their classmates.

Although no one is registered for the class at this time, Gardner said the department would still offer it to anyone who wants to join.

“We might stop it for a few weeks and open registration back up in February,” Gardner said.

Proctor said she excited for the class and blessed to be a part of a community that wants to offer people different fitness programs. She added that Parks and Recreation plans on having three more fitness classes this year.

The registration fee is $50 a person. Anyone interested can register online at http://www.cawh.org/register.asp.

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.