The City of Estevan’s leisure services division wants to see more people registered in its land and aquatic fitness classes, which can help people live healthier lives.
Roanna Fleischhacker and Carla Dayman are among the instructors contracted out to offer the classes. They stressed the city has a variety of classes for the general public between the ages of 16 and 65.
Speciality classes are offered for mothers and babies, senior citizens and those with health issues, such as hip replacements and arthritis.
“It’s go at your own pace,” said Fleischhacker. “The classes are welcoming. They’re well structured. They’re safe. And you can work as hard as you want.”
It’s also a great social opportunity for the participants.
Land fitness classes include the circuit, which is a circuit training session to work all muscles in the body; an easy stretch course created to build flexibility; a high intensity interval training aerobic and strength conditioning workout; a spin class that uses stationary bikes for cardiovascular training; a mother and baby/tot stroller class to build strength, power, agility, balance, stamina and core strength; and tabata, which features 20 seconds of training followed by a 10-second break.
All land fitness classes, except for spin, are drop-in sessions, and included as part of the pass for the Estevan Leisure Centre.
Spin class is $100 for 10 sessions, but the $100 includes a leisure centre pass, which entitles people to attend the other classes and use the centre’s other amenities.
“It is more of a specialized class,” said Dayman. “It is something we’ve added to the Leisure Centre. It wasn’t part of our basic land fitness class.”
They are limited to 14 participants per spin class due to bike availability. The other classes can accommodate up to 25 people. They believe Regina is the closest community to Estevan with a spin class.
“Spin usually is well attended,” said Fleischhacker. “The reason we’re trying to notify the public is there’s a lot of people who don’t know we hold fitness classes here.”
Spin class is located in a room adjacent to the Affinity Place walking track. The other courses are taught at the leisure centre’s multipurpose room.
Aquatic fitness classes are at the RM of Estevan Aquatic Centre. They include the mother and baby aquafit that allows new mothers to ease back into fitness, and babies six to 24 months of age to be introduced to the water; deep water fitness that incorporates cardiovascular fitness core strengthening and toning; an aquastep class that builds strength and balance; and the twinges and ihinges program for seniors that incorporates both land and aquatic training.
The land program for Twinges and Hinges is located at the Affinity Place walking track and incorporates Urban Poling for walking.
Aquatic classes are also included in Leisure Centre monthly passes.
Classes begin at 6:10 a.m., 9:10 a.m., 5:15 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. They hope to reintroduce noon classes in the future. Most of their participants are female, and they would love to see more men involved.
“We’ve had more participation from men in the spin and the evening classes, at 5:15 or 5:30 p.m.,” said Dayman.
The people who come to the classes are generally very happy with the programs that are offered, and are surprised to learn so many classes are offered.
“We have participants who have been spinning with us for four years since we started this program, so they love it,” said Fleischhacker. “And we love teaching it.”
All of their classes at the Leisure Centre are run by instructors with the requisite training and certification. Jessica Lewgood is an exercise therapist through the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. The others – Fleishhacker, Dayman, Kendra Nichol, Dana Zayats, Tara Christensen and Jacinda Drew – are certified with the Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association, which allows them to instruct across Canada.
