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Sally Stanton

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Bryce Alderton

Sally Stanton used to look at exercise as nothing less than hard

labor.

“I hated it,” the seven-year Costa Mesa resident recalled “The

only way I would really move would be to hail a cab when I was trying

to get somewhere in a hurry. I tried gyms but lasted about a month

each time.”

Stanton then took one dance class at the YMCA and got hooked, and

after working for a year at the YMCA, she started her own exercise

programs and went to work for the city of Newport Beach’s Parks and

Recreation Department in 1978, and she has been there ever since.

Now she can’t get enough exercise, teaching classes at area and

county locations in addition to overseeing a home-based water

clothing line business on the Web (waterwarmups.com).

Her love of dance and people sparked Stanton to create “Sally

Stanton Total Fitness” five years ago. She contracts with 15

certified fitness instructors whom she places throughout Orange

County with city recreation departments, private community

associations and retirement communities to teach exercise classes

both on land and in the water.

She now teaches water fitness classes at the Newport Dunes Resort,

Newport Beach Tennis Center, the Bayside Village Mobile Home Park in

Newport Beach, Laguna Beach High and in Laguna Niguel. She currently

teaches four water workout classes and two dance fitness classes per

week in Newport Beach and Corona del Mar.

Five years ago Stanton tried a deep water workout and came upon “a

whole new world,” as she described it.

Her expertise is a program she developed in 1980 called “Sally

Stanton Dance Fitness” and most recently, “Sally Stanton Water

Workout.”

Stanton, who is certified as a national United States Water

Fitness Association instructor and trainer and has a credential

through UC Irvine’s fitness instruction program, also teaches classes

on land that include dance fitness and jazzercise.

On Sept. 8, Stanton will be teaching a certification course for

prospective water fitness instructors at the YMCA in Newport Beach.

The water fitness classes she now teaches focus on flexibility,

conditioning, cardiovascular endurance and strength training.

Participants can burn up to 500 calories in her water workouts.

“Recent studies suggest jogging in water burns more fat and

calories than on land,” Stanton said. “(Water fitness) is a pretty

cool thing. Men are now getting into it so its not just older women

anymore.”

Water fitness began more than 20 years ago as a way for people to

strengthen their joints from the wear and tear of arthritis.

Now the clientele includes people in their late teens to early 20s

all the way to exercisers in their 60s, 70s and beyond.

Water fitness provides a way for people to recover from physical

injuries in non-jarring motions to joints as experienced by runners.

Stanton’s water fitness clothing business features ultraviolet

fabric clothing for protection against the sun and clothing to give

swimmers warmth in the water.

Her idea for warmer clothing for the water came when she taught

classes in September and October and noticed that about three

quarters of the people were dropping out.

“I am fulfilling a need and having a great time and the best part

is I am able to stay home with my 11-year-old son Tyler,” Stanton

said.

“I love what I do and all the great people I have been fortunate

to know.”

Stanton was born in Evanston, Ill., and moved to Tustin in 1954,

where her father opened the first veterinary hospital in the city.

She moved to Newport Beach when she was 21 and attended Orange Coast

College where she majored in liberal arts and business.

The sales and business expertise she gained from working for

various businesses in the area eventually led her to starting her own

company in 1978.

‘I am one lucky girl,” Stanton said.

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