Fitness classes for low-income to start

After joining a fitness group led by personal trainer Jill Sheffels a year ago last February, Sprague, Wash., resident Audrey Lynn has lost 73 pounds and six dress sizes – one size away from her goal.

The group members meet twice a week at Sprague High School for core and strength training exercises while working out individually the rest of the week. Along with Lynn, two other participants have lost more than 70 pounds.

Now, with funding from the Denton Foundation, Sheffels is hoping to replicate those results for low-income Spokane Valley residents at Legend The Sports Club.

Starting Tuesday, Sheffels, a certified trainer, will offer an hour of fitness training two days a week for six weeks, along with nutrition and dieting information and encouragement. The classes will cost $20 for 12 sessions with a $10 refund for those who have perfect attendance.

And if the response is good, Sheffels hopes to add more classes in other locations.

“Primarily I’ve been doing this as community service,” said Sheffels, who also leads two fitness groups from a Mothers of Preschoolers group at Berean Bible Church in Spokane Valley.

“With Jill’s exercise weight-loss workshops, she gets these people in these workshops, and they exercise and feel better and lose weight and start to believe in themselves,” said Dick Silk, president of the Denton Foundation, who noted that low-income people have less access to everything from medical services to exercises classes and educational workshops. “Those things all cost money, which they don’t have.”

The mission of the Denton Foundation, said Silk, is to provide emotional and physical support and workshops primarily for low-income people. Sheffels’ fitness class fits that mission.

The foundation has also donated funding to the bicycle repair shop run by Cup of Cool Water Ministries, a nonprofit organization that serves teens living on the street – and is underwriting a parenting workshop at First Presbyterian Church.

By creating low-income fitness classes, Sheffels hopes to even that playing field, so cost isn’t a hurdle to good health.

“My hope is to reach as many women as possible,” she said. “My focus is: Let’s start exercising, start looking at your diet, and see some success. Through working at their diet and exercising and starting to lose some weight, they gain some self-esteem. That snowballs into other life changes and a positive outlook.”

Success, she said, isn’t always a lower number on the scale. It may be fitting into a smaller clothing size, having lower blood pressure, or seeing increased energy levels and strength.

After getting in better shape and shedding some extra weight, Sheffels said clients often report having more energy for daily life, like having the energy to do the dishes and read a bedtime story to their children after a long day at work.

“That is where I say, ‘yeah,’ ” she said. “It is hard to imagine that you get more energy after you workout, but it does. Energy creates energy. It affects so many different aspects of your life.”

Over the last year of workouts and weight loss, Lynn noticed her back and knee pain had gone away. She could garden more easily, and she could sit cross-legged again.

“I feel really good. I feel like I have more energy. I feel more attractive,” said Lynn. “I can shop in the women’s section. There are more options for me. I went to the General Store and bought a pair of Wranglers. I feel better about life.”