Seniors stay in shape at Conway fitness center

Bill Fill may huff and puff through a workout at the Conway Regional Fitness Center for good reason the affable guy is a mere 97 years of age, a fitness guru who gave up water skiing when he turned 90.

Fill moves sprightly while keeping up with his wife Dora Anna who is 90. They are fixtures at the fitness center three times a week.

Call them marvels of fitness, except for the fact that there are some 16 other folks 90 years of age and up involved in fitness training who could claim that distinction. And what about the 54 devotees of fitness who are 80 years old and up who make the scene at the center walking, lifting weights, traveling on elliptical machines and on treadmills.

Unquestionably physical fitness training is considered to be a young person's game or the domain of tender age females, but among the 700 or so members of the facility on Salem Road there are many seniors performing admirably.

So what posses them to elect to spend time and effort at the gym and not in an easy chair enamored of television or reading a good book. The reasons are as varied as the principals themselves, yet if one is inclined to accept the dictum that "movement is health, exercise is medicine," the reasons oldsters are attracted to physical exertion become apparent.

Fill accepts that statement without question. He has been at the center since 1996, virtually becoming an appendage. He was a financial manager in the health care field before retiring.

"I started out here in this facility in the pool because I'm a water rat," he chuckled. "Believe me. I have pictures of me water skiing in Olympic, Wash., where I lived before coming to Arkansas."

Begging the question about his health, his wife interjected with the comment that her husband "is in good shape and mentally alert. In fact, he is a computer expert and amateur radio operator."

"You forgot to mention the pacemaker want to see it?" Fill smiled. He said the device was installed last year after low blood pressure took its toll and he fainted. A hurried trip to the emergency room followed and physicians ordered the pacemaker.

His regimen at the center includes walking the track and engaging in workouts on the cardio machines 12 in a row Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He says preventive care through physical activity is what he does.

From Mrs. Fill comes the assumption that even at 90, physical training "makes me feel better. It wakes you up. It makes you feel alive, gives you more energy to do what you have to do and makes you more alert."

The couple is not above finding enjoyment in the social aspects of life at the fitness center. He gets laughs when he shows off his T-shirt, which exhibits his age in Roman numerals, his name and a message: "Peace, Love Established 1912."

The activity that seems best suited to the elderly is the single expedient of walking, which has had its adherents through the ages. John David Thoreau wrote about it; Paul of Biblical notoriety lived it and modern day Johnny Appleseeds, who belong to the tramping throng, simply traipse around the country at the drop of at hat.

Adding his reflections on the subject of exercise, Burlie Thomas, a 92-year-old exponent, said that he agrees with the assumptions of its benefits.

And after a couple of turns around the track, he stopped long enough to declare that after three heart attacks, a light stroke and by-pass surgery, he was doing right well and enjoying his regimen at the center after a spell of rehabilitation at Conway Regional Medical Center in 2005.

"I walk on the track, and sometimes I'm on the treadmill, " he said. "And I feel good."

Thomas spent many of his early years on a 170-acre farm near Lake Bennett north of Greenbrier raising mostly cotton. With the advent of World War II he was summoned by the Army and served for three years. After discharge, he went to work for a shoe factory in Conway and stayed 25 years. He also found work at the Ward Bus Company.

He is a devotee of fitness and vows that he will continue his workouts at the center as long as possible.

Another strong disciple of fitness is 91-year-old Jewel Moore who can be found at the gym five days a week. She heads for the pool and the arthritis class daily, spending an hour there. A spate of time on the strength machines follows.

"The Tai Chi class on Mondays helps with my balance," she explains.

Asked why she is a champion of the workout discipline, the one time biology professor at the University of Central Arkansas, said, "It's to keep you going. If you stop, you'll probably land up in a nursing home. So you get up and do it and that sets the pace for the day. I've been doing it for about 10 years."

It translates to prevention, she declares.