Thursday, July 13, 2006
Taking your workout inside - Body talk: black health and fitness
JONTA French isn't going to freeze her eight-year exercising regimen because the temperatures dropped. The Chicagoan decided to move her workout inside, like others who live in areas where the winter weather can be uncomfortable or unsafe to walk, jog or cycle outside.
When it's too cold and gets dark too soon to exercise outside, French enjoys working out in the gym of her apartment building or in one of the health clubs where she teaches aerobics, kickboxing, yoga, Pilates and aqua aerobics classes. She stays in shape by teaching classes throughout the week and completes her personal fitness routine by taking tae kwon do, lifting weights three days a week and running on an indoor track. This stay-at-home mom, who has a 3-year-old daughter, Jaimie, works out one to three hours a day.
"I weight-train to be more physically fit," says French, who placed second in the 1995 Indiana State Bodybuilding Competition in Women's Fitness. The contest combined bodybuilding development and aerobics skills.
French balances exercise and rest for optimum health, working out five days a week, but continues to do something active--although leisurely--like stretching exercises or yoga, on her days off.
Staying fit is more than a hobby for French, who views fitness as a way of life. She says she is well aware that there are uncontrollable factors that influence health. "I want to maintain fitness because I noticed a lot of people in my life had problems because of their weight and not working out," says the fitness expert whose grandmother and two uncles died of cancer. "I feel I can beat the odds if I keep myself healthy inside."
In her effort to stay healthy, French also rarely eats red meat, cuts down on sweets and doesn't eat carbohydrates after 3 p.m.
Despite the harsh winter weather, French plans to continue her lifestyle of eating right, exercising and spreading the word to her students.
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