Park Centre thinks outside the box with balcony fitness

Around 70 percent of the residents at Park Centre take part in some kind of fitness class. They enjoy the opportunity to exercise as a way to also socialize with others.

COVID-19 forced Park Centre to shut down all social activities recently including the group exercise classes offered at the senior housing facility. With the lack of regularly scheduled activities, wellness director Alyssa McCarl and wellness coordinator Brittany Hopwood had to think outside the box.

“We struggled at first,” McCarl said. “The group exercises are huge here. They look forward to them every week.”

McCarl and Hopwood were conducting some workouts on Facebook Live but not everyone had the opportunity to take part in that. Another idea surfaced last week. The Park Centre wellness duo decided to take advantage of a couple nice weather days and created balcony fitness.

“It was an impromptu thing,” McCarl said. “We set up a few flyers and tried to get the information out by word of mouth. The workouts lined up with all fitness levels and with the help of some other members of our leadership team we created a fun workout that the residents did from their balconies.”

McCarl said not everyone has a balcony but those who didn’t, could participate by opening their windows. They played music and the workout lasted around 30 minutes. Every balcony was full both days with about 30 residents taking part in the class, which included mostly exercises that focused on range of motion, flexibility and balance.

“It was really nice to see everyone all at once,” McCarl said. “It was nice to socialize. We even played a game charades afterwards. We were able to reach people who don’t normally take part in the group exercise classes.”

Besides group exercise classes, residents also have 24-hour access to the facility’s fitness center, which includes treadmills, NuStep machines, yoga mats and free weights. McCarl said her fitness team also has created some walking routes outside, but as long as COVID-19 takes away the group classes, McCarl said they will keep trying to be creative.

“We will continue to do this because it’s reaching so many people,” McCarl said. “We will continue to do balcony fitness weekly, if not more, if the weather cooperates.”

Contact Troy Hyde at 641-792-3121 ext. 6536 or thyde@newtondailynews.com