Exercise Evangelist Post Falls Personal Trainer Preaches Virtues Of Active Life

“It’s too hot.”

“It’s too cold.”

“I know I should.”

“I am going to start.”

“It’s too late.”

Steve Colwell has heard all of the exercise excuses.

And at 66, this Schwarzenegger of the senior set could likely come up with a few of his own.

“I’m not immune from problems,” says Colwell, a certified personal trainer and all-around exercise guru, cheerleader and fitness proselytizer.

Despite high blood pressure and some creaky shoulders and knees that have come with the passing decades, Colwell has enlisted dozens of people - many much older than he - to start walking at Coeur d’Alene’s Silver Lake Mall and, most recently, at the Spokane Valley Mall.

He teaches fitness classes at health clubs in Post Falls and Hayden, and spreads his better-living-through-exercise message to several area retirement communities.

Colwell says he feels about 45 years old. But his trim, jogging-suit-clad body could pass for one a couple decades younger than that - save for the bifocals and shocking white hair.

He’s mild-mannered, soft-spoken, maybe even a bit shy. But wait until he starts talking about fitness.

“If I could, I’d get a big megaphone and stand on top of The (Coeur d’Alene) Resort and shout to everybody to get yourselves in shape,” says Colwell, who lives in Post Falls. “It’ll make your lives better.”

The changes won’t come after the first lap around the mall - or even the 20th. But Colwell can tick off a list of ailments of which his regular walkers have been relieved: High blood pressure has lowered, balance has improved, shoulders are less painful, upper bodies are more flexible. They have more energy.

Retirement is a double-edged sword, Colwell says. There’s plenty of time to do the things you’ve always wanted to do, but some seniors choose to mentally and physically check out of life.

“Part of successful aging is continuing to be involved and active,” he says.

Jessie Wilcox could be the poster girl for successful aging.

At 85, the tiny Coeur d’Alene woman is old enough to be Colwell’s mother. Yet she has pounded nearly every inch of the Silver Lake Mall’s pavement, walking about two miles there twice a week since 1996.

She didn’t want to join the walking group at first.

“This is horrible,” says the spunky woman, who turns 86 Sunday. “I didn’t want to go out there and walk with a bunch of elderly people.”

Her opinion has changed since then.

She now looks forward to her 6:45 a.m. treks to the mall and says her body can tell when she misses a workout.

“It’s a marvelous program,” Wilcox says. “It’s just a good place to see people and get out of the house. And it’s good for you.”

Roger Armstrong realized that years ago.

The 74-year-old Hayden man has made thousands of halting, laborious laps around the mall since suffering a stroke in 1992.

With a cane in one hand and a friendly wave in the other, Armstrong walks the mall five days a week, greeting just about every walker by name.

“If I don’t walk, I’d go to bed and die,” he says.

Colwell wishes more people, especially seniors, would realize the physical and mental benefits of exercise. It’s great to see 50 or so sweat-suit-clad walkers come to his twice-weekly stretching classes at the mall, he says, but he’d rather see thousands.

“I want the whole mall to be full of people,” he says.

Colwell and his wife of 30 years, Lynn, moved to Post Falls from Tucson, Ariz., in 1994. The couple discovered North Idaho when they toured the Northwest after a tandem bike rally in Albany, Ore.

He had worked as a real-estate broker in Arizona but found the job too sedentary. Before that, he performed for 13 years with the musical troupe Up With People, traveling to 48 countries singing and playing his guitar.

With three kids in their 20s, Colwell knew he wouldn’t be moving to Idaho to retire.

“I needed to bring in some money,” he says.

So he started Steve’s Senior Service, a catch-all business to help seniors with home repairs, maintenance and other chores. He also hoped to help them with their personal fitness.

But then he became a certified personal trainer, and the handyman business was benched. He hadn’t planned to focus on older-adult fitness, but he realized he could best understand the aches and pains and creaks that come with age.

“I can relate to it,” he says. “It’s a natural for me.”

Fitness is a good fit for Colwell, who grew up playing sports and eventually played basketball at Occidental College in Los Angeles. He coached Little League in Arizona and taught tennis at clubs.

He tries to stay mentally sharp as well. He got a bachelor’s degree in history in 1996 and recently started taking a painting class because he has always admired people with artistic talents.

Even with his busy schedule, he tries to fit in five days of aerobic activity each week: four sessions on the exercise bike, one on the treadmill. He makes sure to get some outdoor exercise on the off-days, like a game of tennis or a tandem bike ride with his wife. Three times a week he does strength-training exercises.

He eats fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and tries to stay away from “anything manufactured.”

“But that’s not to say I don’t enjoy a good slice of apple pie with ice cream,” Colwell says. “I’m not big on diets. I’m just big on common sense.”

And he dishes out heaping helpings of that to his mall-walking proteges.

The clip-clop of an army of walkers echoed through the Silver Lake Mall on a recent Friday morning, about an hour before the stores opened.

At 8:30 a.m., about 40 walkers gathered in the mall’s center court for Colwell’s stretching and toning class.

With “Good Day Sunshine” lilting through speakers, members of the group lifted their arms and kicked their feet. They used brightly colored latex bands to stretch their muscles.

A couple of exercisers sat or leaned on benches; some moved more slowly than others. But everyone kept up with the routine.

“Keep going. You’re doing good. Keep going,” Colwell prodded.

As class members dabbed at beads of sweat, Colwell read them a message for the day:

“Yesterday is history,” he said. “Tomorrow’s a mystery. Today’s a gift. That’s why we call it the present.”

Later, Colwell said he sometimes dreams of giving up his 40-hour-plus workweeks. But that doesn’t mean he’s picking out a rocking chair.

“Retirement from a job, yes, but not retirement from life,” he says. “Avoid inactivity at all costs.

“We don’t wear out,” he claims. “We rust out.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: STAYING YOUNG Tips for living Here are some of Steve Colwell’s favorite ways to stay young: 1. Exercise. Exercise. Exercise. 2. Stay mentally active. Take classes, read books, be involved. 3. Try new things. Learn a new skill, take up a hobby. 4. Keep in touch with friends and relatives. 5. Participate in political, religious or community groups.

Exercise classes Steve Colwell leads stretching and toning classes at area malls as part of a mall-walking program. The classes meet Mondays at 8 a.m. and Fridays at 8:30 a.m. at the Silver Lake Mall in Coeur d’Alene, and Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 a.m. at the Spokane Valley Mall.