ZANESVILLE -- Bea Alwood has two guiding principles for her water aerobics class -- have fun, and if she can do it, so can you.

Alwood, 92, has been teaching water aerobics at the Fieldhouse Family Sports and Wellness Center for 13 years. Her class meets for an hour every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

During a recent session, Alwood bobbed around the pool calling out instructions and encouragement to a class of about 25.

"Keep moving those feet!" was a common refrain.

The group counted and cheered together, waving their arms and legs, running in place and hoisting plastic foam weights above their heads.

"It's a lot of fun, but we work," Alwood said after the class. "... You meet new friends. I think that's real important."

A former ballroom dancer, Alwood first got into water aerobics after her husband and dance partner, John, died in 1999. She loves teaching and plans to do so "as long as the good Lord lets me," she said.

Alwood teaches one of more than 10 water aerobics classes at the Fieldhouse, said Alainna A. Durfee, director of marketing and corporate welfare. The classes are divided based on intensity and impact.

Alwood's class has anywhere from 25 to 30 people, and the average age is 80, Durfee said.

"They feed off Bea's energy," Durfee said. "They're saying that people are living longer, and it's because of exercise and healthy living."

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Local resident stays in shape through water aerobics at 92

Credit: Rusty Ray/News 13

75-year-old Sylvia Lindsay leads her water aerobics class in the pool at the Grande Dunes Ocean Club on Thursday morning. The former physical education teacher says exercise has always been a part of her life, and she credits constant activity to helping her feel and look young.

MYRTLE BEACH - Sylvia Lindsay carries around bags full of water toys--including barbells and water noodles--in her car wherever she goes. She isn't entertaining grandchildren, though. The 75-year-old is busy as a water aerobics instructor at several different places around the Grand Strand several days a week.

"It's not just little old ladies splashing water," said Lindsay. "It's a good, heavy work-out."

On Tuesdays and Thursdays she teaches at the Grande Dunes Ocean Club in Myrtle Beach, where Lindsay and her students usually have the resort-style pool to themselves.

"Everybody can find a pool someplace," Lindsay said. "Or, if they have to, they can go down and get in a creek!'

Lindsay says the buoyancy creates drag--but not strain--on the body's movements, and that can equal a greater workout with less strain. That makes water aerobics an attractive fitness option for just about anyone.

"This is good rehab for surgery," said Lindsay. "I do have people in classes that are coming out of cardiac rehab, especially, and they were told to come and get in a water program."

Lindsay, a former physical education teacher, first tried water aerobics 25 years ago. She said she grew up going to her local YMCA, where she enjoyed swimming, archery, and golf, among other activities.

Now, the 75-year-old says she feels young and loves to help others feel better and look better, too.

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Myrtle Beach woman says water workouts are a fountain of youth

Another study, by the National Centre for Geriatrics and Gerontology in Japan found that language ability of a group of 47 older people with mild cognitive impairment improved when they took part in a mixture of aerobic, strength and balance exercises over a 12 month period.

A third study by a team at University of Pittsburgh on 120 older adults reported moderate intensity walking can grow the region of the brain related to memory.

Dr Anne Corbett, Research Manager at Alzheimers Society, said: While weightlifting and workouts may not be everyones cup of tea, this research shows once again how important exercise is for the brain.

We know regular exercise can reduce the risk of developing dementia by up to 45 per cent but these studies show it can also have real benefits for people with cognitive impairment.

There are 800,000 people living with dementia in the UK. Research like this is crucial to help us provide the best treatment and care for people with mild cognitive impairment and dementia.

The Prime Minister promised to double investment into research, now we need to make sure its spent in the most effective way.

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Weightlifting 'slows down memory loss'

News - Friday, July 13, 2012 Keep on dancing Aerobics instructor Joan Rabin going strong after more than 30 years

by Emily Efland

Rabin, 67, owns the Mountain View franchise of Sorensen's program, where she has been teaching aerobics classes for more than 30 years. Apart from the dance routines and music, Rabin notes one other striking change in aerobics there are more older students enrolling in the classes. Rabin attributes this trend to research on the benefits of exercise in old age, even for people heading into their 80s and 90s.

"People used to get to age 50 and they would drop out; now people are staying longer into their 60s and 70s," she notes.

Yet she does not only teach senior citizens. Rabin offers childcare during her hour-long classes, and says that contributes to the large turnout of young mothers. She describes her childcare as a "little preschool" for the children, who paint, draw, read and socialize while their mothers exercise.

Rabin's students praise her positive attitude and enthusiasm for teaching. One student, Debby Hagenmaier, has been taking Rabin's classes for 25 years.

"What happens is that it really becomes a support group for a lot of people," says Hagenmaier, 62. "There's something contagious about being with Joan, and everyone picks up on that and supports one another. Some people are amazing dancers, but we also have people who have never danced. It doesn't matter what you look like in that class, it's completely free."

Florence BeGole, who began taking classes from Rabin five years ago, uses her childcare services.

"I can go to any exercise class, but I stay with Joan because of her personality," BeGole says. "She does it because she loves it. There's no other instructor who does it with such enthusiasm."

For Rabin, the range of age groups speaks to Sorensen's flexible dance routines. Her class contains 20-year-olds and 70-year-olds, and students exercise at their own pace.

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Keep on dancing

Students taking part in the mass aerobic exercise at Sekolah Wawasan USJ 15 in Subang Jaya yesterday. Pic by Sairien Nafis

About 3,000 students participating in the exercise at SMK Seri, Balik Pulau, Penang, yesterday.

Special needs students during the exercise at SMK Bukit Besar, Kuala Terengganu.

SUBANG JAYA: A NEW Malaysian record was created yesterday when more than 3.6 million students from 10,000 schools carried out a simultaneous aerobics exercise throughout the country.

Launched by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at Sekolah Wawasan USJ 15, the event was carried out under the Education Ministry's 1Malaysia 1Student 1Sport policy.

Muhyiddin, Education Department director-general Tan Sri Abd Ghafar Mahmud and senior ministry officials joined 2,500 students at the school field for the aerobic exercise lasting 45 minutes.

Muhyiddin said the policy hoped to create healthy students by getting them to participate in at least one sport.

"The policy also demonstrates the government's intention to make sports a major tool for unity because it has been clearly proven that sports can unite a multiracial community and make the 1Ma-laysia concept a reality."

Last year, the 1Malaysia 1Student 1Sport Simultaneous Run also made it into the Malaysia Book of Records. It was participated by 4.1 million students from 9,980 schools.

In Perak, 300,000 students and teachers from 1,092 schools took part in the aerobic session.

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An exercise in creating a record

Marty Acuff, 64, has been taking Zumba for the past year at the Carter Senior Center. She said the dancing aerobics class fits nicely into her schedule, which also includes strengthening and cardio fitness classes five days a week.

"It's been a godsend for me," said Acuff, a diabetic. "I found it was helping me with my joints and weight."

The Strawberry Plains woman has lost 33 pounds.

"If I don't exercise I know it, and I miss it," she said. On a recent Monday at the Carter Senior Center, she was prepared to leave her exercise class a few minutes early so she could change into her bathing suit to go to a water Zumba class at another location.

When it comes to the Baby Boom generation, it's not just bingo and card games at today's senior centers.

Hemal Tailor, director of senior services for Knox County, said the emphasis is now on exercise and health. "We have belly dancing, pi-yo and ballroom dancing," Tailor said. "The active programs are a lot more popular."

Seniors are no longer content to stay home.

"Job fairs are still very popular," Tailor said. "They want to be a continued presence in our community."

The centers also offer things like tai chi and line dancing and have movie and book clubs.

"They're always talking about the latest best-selling novel," she said. "They know what they want. And they'll tell you exactly what they're thinking. There's no holding back with them whatsoever."

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Active boomers redefine senior centers

M. Spencer Green / AP

Chicago Housing Authority Asset Manager Sondrae Lewis, takes part in a well-being check on Bessie Rogers, 83, at her home in Apartamentos Las Americas on Friday.

By Miguel Llanos, msnbc.com

Chicago on Friday suffered through a third straight day above 100 degreesthe first such string since 1947but that didn't stop seniors from their regular aerobics class at the city's Levy Senior Center. If anything, the heat was an incentive given the air-conditioned refuge.

"They're very happy to get inside," said Joyce Gallagher, executive director for the city agency that oversees 21 senior centers.

But she was also clear that the centers aren't shelters to come in for a nap."It isn't a place where you come and sit to get some cool air," Gallagher emphasized. "It's a place where you come to participate and socialize and coincidentally it's air-conditioned."

It's normally in the mid-80s this time of year in Chicago, but this week has been special: 103 degrees on Friday, and the humidity made it feel like 108. Thursday also saw 103, which is just 2 degrees shy of Chicago's all-time record, set in 1934. Wednesday topped out at 102.

The 95-year-old woman's death on Tuesday might have been heat related, officials said, but an autopsy was inconclusive, NBCChicago.com reported. Heat stress was determined to be a contributing factor in the deaths this week of two men, one 53 and the other 48, both of whom were obese and died of heart disease.

Related:Tips for seniors to avoid heat stress

Tens of thousands of Chicagoans also lost power during the weekend storms that impacted millions across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic.

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Triple-digit temperatures don't keep Chicago senior citizens from aerobics

Everyone knows exercise helps keep us healthy and feeling better, but who wants to exercise in the heat of the summer?

The Wayne County Recreation Department has the perfect solution to beating the heat and getting good exercise at the same time: Giana Edens low-impact aqua aerobics class.

The class is offered Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week from 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. at the Cracker Williams pool. The fee is $3 per class.

The students were enthusiastic following the class last week about the virtues of the program, which is geared for seniors or others with physical limitations but is open to anyone.

Beth Hatton, 80, said, Ive been coming 12 years and its wonderful! It has helped me with my arthritisIve had arthritis since I was about 40in my hip joints. Your buoyancy keeps the weight off of those joints, and youre just so relaxed!

Sally Glass also has arthritis and was advised by her doctors to avoid impact exercise. She says the aqua class is a great help to her.

Eden says the program is an excellent way for anyone to begin an exercise program, especially people who are out of shape or have arthritis, joint replacements or other health issues, following a doctors permission to exercise.

The buoyancy of the water lessens the impact, she said, but the water resistance makes it very good exercise. The emphasis is on building core strength strengthening the abdominals and the back and its very good for the joints.

She explains that the joints get gently exercised with the support of the water as the student is building endurance. Its easier on your body to do 20 minutes of aerobics in the water. Students are able to jog and do jumping jacks and other exercises that would not be possible for them out of the water.

Eden noted that another advantage of the class is that it allows exercising in the water without requiring the ability to swim. A recreation department lifeguard is on duty for the classes, but no swimming is involved.

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Aqua aerobics class provides fun, cool and healthy exercise option

Join the Pacific Daily News and its community sponsors today for activities focused on health and wellness. The Good Life outreach will be from 1:30 to 4 p.m. today at the Micronesia Mall center court.

The Department of Health and Social Services Division of Senior Citizens and the Guam Diabetes Association will provide free blood-pressure and blood-sugar testing. And those looking for a good workout can participate in several other activities today at the mall:

* 1:30 p.m. Aerobics workout hosted by the Dededo Aerobics Club and Physical Fitness of Tamuning, Tumon and Harmon Aerobics Group. * 2:15 p.m. Zumba with Jocelyn Camacho and the Mangilao Z. Familia. * 3 p.m. Guam Aikikai demonstration.

The event will also feature tabletop displays and presentations by the AARP.

This is part of the Pacific Daily News community project The Good Life. Each week, the Pacific Daily News offers features aimed at helping people ages 55 and above live their best.

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Good Life: Residents stay health at Micronesia Mall

There is a misconception that water aerobics is only suitable for pregnant women and the elderly. But water aerobics is quite intense, providing significant cardiovascular and strength training benefits. This is a workout that is appropriate for all ages and fitness levels -- even for professional athletes who are cross-training. This summer, trade in your land-based aerobics class for one in the water for a cool, intense workout.

Before You Begin

Water aerobics is essentially performing aerobic exercises in chest-deep water. For those who want a more intense workout, they can opt for deep water aerobics. This workout is performed in water where the participant is unable to touch the bottom floor with his or her feet. In such a class, participants wear flotation devices and paddles; kickboards and buoys are used for added resistance.

When engaging in water aerobics, it is best to wear a comfortable and modest swimsuit to prevent unexpected wardrobe malfunctions and old sneakers or aqua shoes to prevent foot abrasions. Before engaging in any aerobic activity it is important to do basic stretches above water or in. Don't forget to hydrate. Just because you are in the water it doesn't mean that you aren't sweating as much.

Health Benefits

According to the American Council on Exercise, water buoyancy reduces the "weight" of a person to 90 percent. This reduces the burden on stress-bearing joints and muscles. For this reason, water aerobics will less likely cause injury and muscle soreness. If you are having difficulty performing certain body movements on land, you may find relief when performing them underwater. That is why water aerobics is excellent for those with arthritic joints or those recovering from painful injuries.

Your heart rate when exercising in water will be 17 beats per minute less than land-based workouts. Though your heart rate may indicate that your workout is too low, you will actually be working out quite intensely. Pay attention to your body and not your heart rate when engaging in water fitness.

Water aerobics also increases muscle strength. Instead of weights, the water provides a natural resistance to your movements. Being in the water also increases your lung capacity since your lungs are forced to work harder from the pressure of the water. Increase your long-term flexibility by performing difficult stretches. Being underwater will give you a wider-range of motion.

Balance Is Key

Despite the numerous benefits of water aerobics, it does not help in bone strengthening to combat osteoporosis. It is important to combine water aerobics with some land-based exercises weekly to achieve a complete workout.

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The Benefits of Water Aerobics: Not Just for the Elderly