By Charles Muir/Special to The Oregonian

Who: Karen Snow, 61, 5 feet, 4 inches; Jerry Snow, 59, 5 feet, 10 inches.

Karen is a retired school teacher, Jerry a primary care physician at Woodstock Family Medicine. The husband and wife live in Portland.

Workout: Karen teaches dance aerobics Tuesdays and Thursdays at Grout Elementary School. Drawing on a dance background she minored in dance in college she takes students through an aerobic workout that may include tap, jazz, Western-themed, Celtic, ballet, waltz and many other styles of dance. She starts with a warm-up and works to peak intensity, then finishes with a cool-down and flexibility work. To measure how hard they're working, she has students take their pulse intermittently. Some routines include hand weights at a slower pace to tone the upper body.

Karen and Jerry also exercise at a gym together, using weight and cardio machines. But they prefer dance aerobics and outdoor activities such as hiking, canoeing and bike riding.

Feedback: Karen has taught dance aerobics for Portland Parks & Recreation since the aerobics boom in the early 1980s. Her format is unique because she strives for variety and choreographs all her dances. She believes that by combining the pace of aerobics with the movements of dance she challenges students to strengthen their hearts, tone their muscles and sharpen their brains. Her husband, Jerry, notes that since he started taking her classes, his balance has improved.

Many of her current students are baby boomers, but Snow has taught students ranging in age from 16 to 79. Two people have taken her classes for 20 to 30 years. New students are welcome, though she takes a break from teaching during the summer.

Nutrition: The Snows eat twice a day, never later than 5 p.m. They emphasize natural foods. Karen takes a calcium supplement; Jerry takes vitamin D.

More:
My workout: Dance aerobics is a lifelong workout for heart, brain and muscles