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Business & Tech

Don't Be a Slouch

Posture class helps over-50 set stand up for life.

If you want to lengthen your life, try lengthening your
spine

That’s the goal of “Posture Perfect,” an exercise class at designed to help people over 50 improve and preserve their quality of life.

“It’s very different from all the other programs out there,”  says Woody McMahon, healthy lifestyle coach and trainer at Sequoia, “It’s exercise that has been proved by science to actually improve your health.”

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McMahon developed his “Posture Perfect” program based on the exercises of Sara Meeks, a physical therapist that specializes in osteopenia and osteoporosis.

“The program takes her principals, along with the
experience I have had, plus some strengthening,” says McMahon.

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McMahon focuses on the older population, often lost in the shuffle of classes and programs for people in their 20s and 30s.

”From the standpoint of a timeline marker, 50 is the place that people start to think about the kind of things they want to do to preserve their health,” McMahon says.

The hour-long class starts with simple exercises to improve balance. Exercises gradually become more challenging, both physically and cognitively. Participants in the class then move to floor exercises, designed to open up and lengthen the spine, reducing the hunched over look that aging can often bring.

“I thought this class sounded interesting and was something
that would help me”,” says Pat Lenz, 81, of Reston, who takes the class with her husband Allen, 83. ”And Woody really makes it fun and that keeps it interesting.”

“It has increased my awareness and helped with balance,”
says Allen Lenz. “It raised consciousness and got me started thinking about it more.”

“I actually have a bit more energy,” adds Pat.  “And I think at our age, you have to keep moving.”

An 8-week session of “Posture Perfect” classes cost $160.

“It’s really about balance and functional strengthening,”
says McMahon. “Those are things we need to do every day and if we don’t, the simple acts of sitting or standing can become difficult as we get older.”

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