Flexing muscles with class

Orange Coast College offers a strength and balance class for students over 50 and plans to add more to its 50-plus catalog.In an effort to strengthen its ties to the community, Orange Cast College has started offering more classes geared toward varying sectors of the population.

Administrators and instructors in the physical education department are reaching out to the local senior population, and this semester, they are offering the first in a series of fitness classes geared toward adults over the age of 50.

Barbara Bond, dean of physical education and the school’s athletic director, said that with such a huge baby-boomer population out there, she felt there was a need for something like this at the college to help meet their health and fitness needs as well as boost enrollment.

“It just seemed logical to me, and I thought it would be a great program to start,” Bond said.

She added that the department was fortunate to hire Laura Behr as a full-time physical education instructor and crew coach. Behr is teaching a strength and balance class for seniors. Bond said she is a good fit for the program because of her extensive cardiac rehabilitation background.

“I think Laura’s the perfect instructor to get it [the program] going,” Bond said.

Only one class is being offered this semester, but Bond an Behr said they expect to add more classes in the fall and to continue expanding from there. Bond’s ultimate goal is for it to spread to other departments so classes for seniors are offered in subjects such as creative writing, painting and photography.

This semester’s one-hour fitness class, which meets every Tuesday and Thursday at 9:30 a.m., focuses on strength and balance, which is important in helping prevent falls and injuries as people age.

“The more they stretch, the more flexible they stay,” Behr said. “Everything we do in class, they [the students] can do at home. It’s more of a lifetime learning behavioral change than just a class they come to twice a week.”

Longtime Costa Mesa residents Bill and Ellen Wright, 72 and 68 respectively, enrolled in the class and are taking it together.

“It sounded interesting. It sounded fun, like something we could do together, and we thought it would be helpful,” Ellen Wright said. “Both my husband and I are doing the exercises and getting more limber and flexible.”

She said that the older you get, the more flexibility and resilience become a concern.

“I’ve noticed muscles that I had forgotten all about,” Bill Wright said of his first week of class. “It [the class] is a good pace. This instructor really knows what she’s doing, and she’s careful to make sure no one gets hurt in the process.”

He said he would love to take up tennis again -- he hasn’t played in 12 years.

“If I get really lucky, I’ll get a little spring in my step and I can play tennis again.”

20060204iu4zj2ncKENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)Babette Kelly, left, and Eva Moeller warm up at Orange Coast College on Thursday during a fitness class for adults over 50.