SMC Luncheon Speaker: Becky Caulfield, Neighborhood Club

On March 12th, Becky Caulfield, the Wellness Program Manager for the Neighborhood Club, told us about the importance of exercise for seniors and how the Neighborhood Club can help. The Club is a community nonprofit that was established in 1911 to provide a professionally organized program of recreation and wellness services for families and individuals of all ages. Becky is a personal trainer, a group instructor, a yoga teacher, and a triathlete.

Becky explained that we need 150 minutes a week of exercise. It doesn’t have to be an intense workout and can be split into short blocks. It could include activities such as walking, gardening, singing, dancing, swimming, tennis, and bowling as well as more traditional exercise. Exercise is important for mental as well as physical health and can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s. It can improve our balance to help prevent falls, and can reduce body weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, joint pain, and loss of bone density and muscle mass as we age. It also improves sleep and mobility as well as your mood and outlook on life.

Seniors should learn to stretch and a new stretch machine at the Club acquired with a grant from the SMC Foundation helps facilitate stretching. The Club offers more than 70 fitness classes and workshops for all ages. Their instructors will adjust their classes to suit all fitness levels. Classes that might be of particular interest to SMC members include low-impact yoga, chair yoga, tai chi, balance and mobility training, meditation, pickle ball and low-impact boxing. Their fitness studio includes traditional exercise machines as well as low-impact versions. Their walk-in pool is 86 degrees.

The membership cost for seniors is $47.00 per month or $77 for a couple. However, you can participate in the various programs and pay only $10 per day or $5 in July. The Club provides a member orientation, fitness assessment and exercise prescriptions. Check out the Wellness Center at St. Clair and Waterloo in Grosse Pointe. You can view a copy of their latest program brochure by clicking here.

Reported by George Arsenault and David Morrow