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

June 25, 2014, 4 a.m.

Five teams and five soloists progressing to national level and a junior on the rise earning the equal-highest score for the weekend School Aerobics state championships have rarely been as successful for Warrnambools EKB Fitness and Aerobics academy.

Five teams and five soloists progressing to national level and a junior on the rise earning the equal-highest score for the weekend School Aerobics state championships have rarely been as successful for Warrnambools EKB Fitness and Aerobics academy.

Coach Emma Bellman was yesterday upbeat as she detailed the success of her squad at the annual titles at Geelong on the weekend.

Last year we had two soloists and a few teams qualify, so its better than last year, she said.Everyone was really happy with the results, even the ones who didnt make it through still did really good routines.

It was a weekend where everyone was happy when they came off the stage with the routines they did.

The five soloists to qualify for national championships on the Gold Coast from August 8 to 10 included a trifecta in the Future Legends class.

Brianna Kilpatrick, Maddison Drake and Bella Wallace filled the placings, with Brianna scoring 92.9 the equal-highest for the two days.

Jordan Rooke was second in the secondary males solo class while Aylish Auchettl also placed second in the secondary female solo class.

The five teams which qualified finished first in their respective classes. They included Brianna, Maddison and Bella, who competed as Emmas Angels, in the Future Legends trios yellow stream.

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EKB squad shines at state titles