Fitness Warriors video
Yolanda Jones became a Fitness Warrior last year.
The program seeks to bring health training at no cost to those living in some of the metro Richmond neighborhoods with high rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic diseases. Jones and other volunteers go through a six-month training regimen to be certified as group exercise leaders, then provide their services at locations including schools, churches, senior facilities and community centers.
Now, Jones leads two free workout sessions each week at the Hickory Hill Community Center on East Belt Boulevard. Her class at 12:30 p.m. on Mondays is comprised mostly of women age 58 and older, while her sessions at 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays draws a group that ranges in age from 8 to 74, she says.
Jones loves being able to give back her time and effort to the community. “The reward is, you help people reach their goals,” she says.
Fitness Warriors is a component of Richmond Sports Backers’ Keep It Moving initiative, in a partnership with the city of Richmond Health District, American Council on Exercise and Fit-To-Go, according to a release. There are two training classes each year, with classes on weekends a couple times a month. Participants are taught leadership skills and learn about fitness instruction and coaching.
Saturday, Jan. 27, the Fitness Warriors boosters and participants will come together for the annual Warrior Nation Celebration. It begins at 6 p.m. and will be held at the Robinson Theater Community Arts Center, 2903 Q St. in Church Hill.
The program was founded in 2014, and classes led by Fitness Warriors attracted 1,200 first-time visitors in 2017, according to information from Sports Backers. The program logged 10,900 class visits for the year at about 60 sites. Nearly 90 percent of the first-timers identified themselves as overweight or obese.
Weekly workouts are offered at sites across the metro region and are available for all ages. For example, in Petersburg, Tiffany Copeland leads sessions geared to children as young as age 4 on Mondays at the Petersburg Public Library.
She has seven to 20 children involved each week, offering them an array of activities, from hip-hop and line dancing to pushups.
“It’s kind of important to give kids a taste of everything,” she says.
Copeland, the mother of a 5-year-old and a 9-year-old, says she became involved in Fitness Warriors through two friends, Louise Lockett and Jacki Quinlan. For Copeland, the program is a chance to help people in her community, to encourage someone and show them that they can start now with small steps to improve their health.
Jones started her coursework in June 2017, but her community involvement has been a long-standing passion. She says she had donated clothing to those in need, worked with feeding the homeless and donated to scholarships. She’d also had always been active and had had personal trainers. She had met goals, but wasn’t happy and felt like she could do more.
Then, she found that Mimi Redaed, a sister in her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, was a Fitness Warrior. She went to one of community classes and was inspired.
“I saw what she was doing and said ‘Whoa,’ ” she says. “It was perfect. The opportunity was there.”
She taught her first class solo in September. That session was a full house, with 28 participants drawn from the community and also friends and family in support of her.
“I cried afterwards, but it was the best feeling,” Jones says.
The end is near for Top Docs (voting)
The best of the best of Richmond’s medical community will be recognized as Top Docs in our April issue. Winners will be determined through an online survey, which runs through Jan. 31. Participation is open to licensed physicians, psychologists, podiatrists, pharmacists, chiropractors, nurse practitioners and optometrists in the metro area. They are asked which local care providers in various specialty areas they would visit themselves or recommend to family members. Email tharong [at] richmag [dot] com for additional information. Check out last year's winners.
CAPSULES
A roundup of the week’s health and medicine news
- Virginia Commonwealth University will play host to two panel discussions focused on the opioid epidemic. A session on Careers Combating the Opioid Epidemic is offered at 4 p.m. on Feb. 5 in the University Student Commons Forum Room, and a session from the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, titled The Opioid Epidemic: Impact on Communities, will be presented at 11 a.m. on Feb. 6 in the University Student Commons Richmond Salons. A recent survey by the Wilder School showed that 82 percent of Virginia residents support expansion of community-based treatment centers for opioid addicts, and that 71 percent support providing housing in their community to those who are in recovery.
- A DriveSafety driving simulator (pictured below) is part of a new program offered at the Faison Center to teach people with Autism Spectrum Disorder how to drive. The Community Access Training Program is offered in collaboration with Clemson University and Smithfield Foods.
Faison Center Community Access Training Program
Photo courtesy the Faison Center
