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By Robin Ruehlen
C & G Staff Writer

Keeping a New Year’s resolution to stay fit doesn’t have to mean working out for hours each day with a tedious or grueling routine. The commitment to a healthy lifestyle is often right down the street, and comes with the fun and variety parks and recreation programs offer.

Jeanie Branch is a personal trainer and fitness specialist at the Warren Community Center and currently has clients ranging from age 10 to 95. Branch works with her clients for one hour at a time in the Community Center’s fitness room.  

“I guide people through, and show them the correct form and specific order for a correct workout. It’s an ongoing process, from people who just want a basic program and others who come in several times a week.”

The Community Center, located at 5460 Arden, offers aerobics and dances classes, tai chi, pilates, yoga, Zumba, lap swimming and open swim, open basketball, karate, co-ed softball, baseball, golf lessons and volleyball.

According to the American Heart Association, regular, moderately vigorous exercise helps to strengthen the heart and combat fatigue, stress, high blood pressure, depression and anxiety.

Fran Lovello, director of senior programming for Farmington Hills, said the city’s Parks and Recreation Department at the Costick Center, 28600 W. 11 Mile, offers a wide range of choices for people of all ages who want to stay fit and active.

“For adults 50 and better, we offer aerobics classes, yoga, tai chi, strength training and balance improvement,” she said.

“We also have line dancing and ballroom dance classes, Wii sports, and we’ll be starting a Zumba Gold class in February.”

The same classes are also available for those under 50, as are water fitness classes, various dance classes, pickleball  — a combination of tennis and Ping-Pong — and a variety of Wii sports teams.

The Macomb Township Recreation Center, located at 20699 Macomb, has two gyms, a figure-eight track, two pools, an aerobics room and a recently expanded fitness center. Among many other offerings, the Macomb Parks and Recreation Department offers a spring break fitness challenge, fitness boot camps and boot camps for beginners, interval training with cardio and weights, body sculpting classes, cardio kickboxing, tae kwon do, and winter tennis and basketball.

For a best-odds program, the AHA suggests choosing activities that are fun, rather than exhausting, and starting with low-to-moderate activity levels. Over time, the goal should be to exercise for 30-60 minutes per day. Anyone who has been sedentary for a long period of time, is overweight or has a high risk of coronary heart disease or other chronic health problem should see a doctor prior to starting any exercise program.

For more information, visit www.cityofwarren.org, www.fhgov.com or www.macomb-mi.gov, or call (586) 268-8400, (248) 473-1800 or (586) 992-2900, respectively.

You can reach Staff Writer Robin Ruehlen at rruehlen@candgnews.com or (586) 279-1105.