Many find Team Fitness a worthwhile pursuit

Monday, March 25, 2019

Ronda Graff

YMCA Notes

Misery loves company.

That isn’t right.

No pain, no gain.

No, still not right.

It will all be worth it in the end.

That is perhaps a better description for the YMCA’s Team Fitness Challenge.

Since January, participants have spent countless hours in the fitness classes, on the treadmill and in the weight room as part of the 9th annual Team Fitness Challenge...to simply become healthier, more active individuals.

The YMCA’s 2019 Team Fitness Challenge wrapped up Sunday with the highlight of the event, the group workout and award presentation.

The workout includes more than 100 people lunging, squatting and jumping in the gym in unison. There were even small cups involved, but

I’m pretty sure they were part of a planking exercise and not drinking.

Maybe that came later.

First, the numbers.

This year’s Team Fitness Challenge involved eight teams with 102 team members, with each team gathering together at the Y once a week for a group workout led by the YMCA fitness staff.

Since the initial fitness assessment the first week of January, the participants lost a total of 518.2 pounds, lowered their fat weight by 478.2 and decreased the percentage of body fat as a group by -4.9%.

There simply is less participants now than three months ago...and that’s a good thing.

But it isn’t all about the numbers. The Team Fitness Challenge is dozens and dozens of people who want to lead a healthier lifestyle, who want to be more active, who want to be more fit.

And this year, the healthiest, most active and fittest woman was Glenda Ellerton, who also found time to participate in her first triathlon when she did the YMCA’s Partners With Youth Indoor Triathlon last month.

Rounding out the top point earners were Lana Stewart and Amber Carpenter with Jim Stewart at the top male winner.

The Team Fitness Challenge is not simply based on who loses the most weight.

Rather, points are awarded by percentage of weight loss, percentage of fat weight loss and percentage of muscle weight gained.

Participants also earned points for attending their weekly team workouts and weigh-ins, along with points for participating in the YMCA group fitness classes throughout the week.

The challenge would not be possible without the community sponsors including Red Willow Aviation, Subway, MNB Bank, Community Hospital, Valmont, Weathercraft, Brettani Pearson at Beauty Zone, The Pinnacle Agency, Pinnacle Bank, Primetime Painting, and Wal-Mart, as well as Pat Rice and Monica Wacker, dieticians at Community Hospital.

Prizes were also donated by Brettani Pearson, Beauty Zone; Lori Schmidt, Advocare; and Michelle Gonzales, personal trainer.

Thank you also to Mike Gonzales, Tracy Burkey and MacKenzie Gonzales, who help every year with the fitness assessment testing.

Every fitness class grew during the Fitness Challenge, led by instructors Mike Roth, Kelsey Messinger, Anna Sis, Barb Hoyt, Hayley Uerling and Tracy Burkey.

And while the participants may have have spent a lot of time at the Y, the YMCA”s team fitness instructors sometime double and triple their workload during the challenge. With eighth additional classes during the week, the trainers were leading two or three classes...a day.

Trainers who not only continued their regular fitness classes, but also took on extra team workouts were Angie Ruppert, April Jones, Lori Schmidt, Martha Chmiel and Michelle Gonzales.

Thank you to everyone who participated and we hope that the gains (and losses) you achieved over the past three months will continue throughout the year.