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Body a wreck? Take a rec class
(News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 17--If you're looking for a way to get more active this fall, look no further than your local parks and recreation department.
It wasn't long ago that your parks and rec catered pretty much to the slow-pitch softball and half-court basketball crowds. Guys, mostly, who still had unresolved issues from their high school days.
"I couldn't rebound worth squat back then, but watch me throw an elbow or two now!" That sort of thing.
Today, even the smaller parks and rec departments offer a range of fitness and recreation options.
And now is a good time to start planning for the fall. Some -- Apex, Cary and Raleigh -- have already put out their fall program brochures. Others will be doing so shortly.
It's a good idea to scope them out early because registration is limited and certain classes fill up quickly.
Even if you don't live within the jurisdiction of a certain department, you can still take a class there. You may just have to pay a little extra. For instance, you live in Zebulon but like the looks of that tone and strengthen class offered at Cary's Herbert C. Young Community Center. You'll just have to shell out an extra $5 ($22 total) to sit in.
So what kind of fitness classes are out there?
In Apex you can still do the organized competitive team thing -- coed adult soccer ($30), coed indoor volleyball ($15) or suit-up your own basketball team for $475.
But you can also take ballroom dance ($65, Oct. 1-Dec. 3), where you'll learn such cardio-happy dances as fox trot, swing, waltz, cha cha, rumba, tango and the Hustle. The hour-and-a-half class meets once a week for nine weeks.
As the population ages, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of programs aimed at older athletes.
In Apex alone, the 55-and-up crowd can take weight training ($16), kickboxing ($10), yoga ($21) and tai chi ($9), among others.
Raleigh offers a free seniors tennis program at the Millbrook Tennis Center as well as a free seniors adult basketball league (both for ages 55 and up).
You can find family programs. In Cary, there's Family Tai Chi ($100 per family, ages 10 and up) and the "multimedia-driven" HOPSports Family Fitness Class ($21, ages 5 and up), which exposes families to different exercise programs each week. Not crazy about this week's offering? Next week's may be just what your family has been looking for.
Into the martial arts? Raleigh offers everything from Aikido ($35) to Shotokan ($30). You'll find the old standbys -- step aerobics ($10) and Pilates ($65) -- as well as stuff you may not have heard of. NIA, for instance ($56), described as "the hottest fitness fusion for mind-body wellness."
In short, you'll be hard-pressed to not find something that works for you.
Just score your parks and rec's fall brochure -- online or at your local community center or library -- and start perusing.
joe.miller@newsobserver.com or (919) 812-8450
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Copyright (c) 2008, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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