A newcomer’s Taller, Thinner, Fitter experience at the Glen Arbor Athletic Club

By Jane Greiner
Sun contributor
Fitness has never been my strong point. But at 59, I had reached a point where I knew it was time to change the progress from “bigger, fatter, slower” to “taller, thinner, fitter.” Or else.
So I checked with friends about the Glen Arbor Athletic Club. What was it like? Was it fun? Did it help? Was it worth it? And most of all, did it feel strange to go there and bounce around in front of strangers?
My friends assured me that it was a friendly, non-threatening place. Actually, they said, it was “kind of fun.” You do a circuit similar to “Curves” moving from one machine at a time to the next, and the next, and so on until you have tried them all.

I decided to go and see the place for myself and try to make a decision on joining.
One thing is for sure: the people at the club are not strangers, at least not for long. From the moment I went to inquire, I was greeted warmly by the owners and staff.
On the first day the woman at the desk welcomed me and offered to show me around and explain things as best she could. She started with the machines on the women’s side of the main floor. The whole main floor is divided into two large rooms, with women’s equipment in a “Fit Express” circuit workout on one side and various weight machines, ellipticals, bicycles and treadmills on the other side for general use.
She invited me to try out the equipment while I was there or come in anytime for a free “circuit” on the ladies’ exercise machines.
I was glad that one side of the building was set aside for women. I knew I would feel exposed and on display doing exercise in public, and even more so if there were men hanging around watching us.
The facility seemed small at first, and crowded with exercise equipment. But the old school rooms, with their high ceilings, walls of windows and worn wooden floors, soon won me over and made me feel right at home. I was told that during the summer members will sit at tables out on the deck and drink coffee and turn the place into a social setting. In addition, there are a couple of groups who meet in the morning and walk together, followed by exercise at the club and coffee at the Leelanau Coffee Roasters.
Fortunately, only a few people were there when I arrived, and I did not feel “on-display” at all. So I followed the helpful staff person and tried out the circuit machines. She explained how the routine works and how you move on to a new exercise each time the recorded voice who they have named “Leroy” says “Change stations.”
I took home some information on membership costs plus the few, simple rules on use of the club. The important rule seemed to be to bring clean, sand-free gym shoes to the club to avoid tracking grit onto the wooden schoolhouse floors or onto the exercise equipment.
The next day when I came in, there was a message for me that one of the owners, would not be in until later, but that I should feel free to try out the equipment, do an exercise circuit if I liked, and she would see me on my next visit. I was impressed that communication was sound enough that the owners knew a new person had left me a message.
I had my clean gym shoes and was ready to have a go at the circuit. The desk person showed me the locker room, shower and bathroom and found me a place where I could “park” my tennis shoes when I was finished so that I would not have to carry them back and forth every day.
When I was ready to exercise, she suggested a place to start on the circuit and told me it was normal to do the circuit three times, which takes about 30 minutes. She showed me a couple of things about the machines, reminded me that she was right there at the desk if I had any questions, and left me to it.
Music with a pronounced bouncy beat was playing and Leroy interrupted every 40 seconds to tell us to “Change stations.” I had chosen to start out on one of the two-foot square cushioned platforms and jogged gently in place until Leroy beckoned me to the next piece of equipment.
Another woman was moving through the circuit when I started, so we talked a little and I watched how she moved from exercise to exercise. I followed her pattern, and in no time I was doing the circuit like any other old-timer.
At first it felt real easy. I barely had time to feel fatigued from one exercise before I was moving on to the next. I tried keeping time to the music, which helped give me a peppy workout.
But by the time I had completed one circuit I began to feel like this was more exercise than it had seemed like at first.
By the middle of the second circuit (about 15 minutes altogether), I was beginning to wonder if I would even be able to complete the expected three circuits. But I stuck with it, telling myself that if other woman could do it then I should be able to as well, and gratefully completed three circuits.
I walked around a bit and grabbed a towel from a cart by the desk, feeling pretty good, knowing that I had taken a step toward making myself fit.
On my second day of exercising I completed the club membership paperwork with Marcia Walters, one of the owners. She was very pleasant and welcoming, and immediately introduced me to other members who were doing the circuit. In fact, both Marcia and Linda Gretzema (another owner) make an effort to introduce new people to anyone already active on the circuit. I found that very helpful, as it broke the ice and I was able to chat with the other ladies, which made the time fly by much faster.
As part of the joining process I was given a free Glen Arbor Athletic Club t-shirt — even one in my size. I was also offered a free half hour with a staff personal trainer named Judy Briggs, who I had met on the first day.
Completing the three circuits became a little easier the second day, especially since I had someone to chat with. Nevertheless, it required effort, and I was glad when the workout was over.
By my third day, completing the three circuits really wasn’t a problem. Sure, I worked up a sweat and breathed a little harder during the jogging and stair-stepping stations, but I no longer doubted that I could finish.
The circuit is carefully arranged so that you constantly move from upper body exercises, to leg exercises, to arm exercises, to stomach exercises, to thigh stretches. You never really burn out on any movement before Leroy says “Change stations” and you move on to something else.
After attending the club for a week or so I had improved my stamina enough to know that I could always complete the three circuits. The challenge then became to work a little harder on each exercise. The arm lifts, for example, could be sped up. The faster I pushed those bars, the greater the resistance from the machine. So it was very easy to make the workout more challenging simply by accelerating the movements and putting more emphasis on the jogging-in-place intervals.
By this time I had also begun to recognize some of the regulars and had even learned a few names to go with the faces. I already appreciated that if I chatted with someone while exercising, the time went much quicker. I was afforded the double benefit of forgetting that I was exercising while also meeting new people.
Gradually, I began adding treadmill walking to my circuits workout. I worked up to a mile or two each day. I have been in the club for about three months now, and lately I have switched from treadmill to elliptical machine, which is more of a full body workout and easier on the knees. I have been working my way up from a starting time of only five minutes to my current level of 20 minutes. The elliptical along with the three circuits take me about one hour of gym time, and I feel great afterwards.
That is one of the unexpected benefits I have discovered from the exercises. Even if I feel low in the morning, if I get myself down to the gym and complete my workout, it’s like a booster shot of cheerfulness. Not only do I feel better physically for having exercised, I also feel mentally uplifted, not to mention some sort of pleasant social interaction with another person.
In short, it’s a win-win-win situation.
I have chatted with other members of the Glen Arbor Athletic Club to learn about their experiences.
I had already met “Mickey” Barr and remembered her because of her unique nickname. Mickey joined the club last December at age 80. She said she had been having a lot of back problems and “could hardly walk.”
So she worked with physical therapist Mark Candiff for 10 sessions. “He’s real good, and it helped me a lot,” Mickey recalls. “I can walk!” The day of our interview she was working her way around the circuit, seemingly without difficulty.
Mickey does her own routine on the circuit. She skips the jogging and stair stepping stations and opts instead for the exercise machines because she has already walked on the treadmill. She likes to come in when the club isn’t busy, which usually means mid-morning.
Mickey’s son is Tim Barr — owner of Glen Arbor’s world famous Art’s Tavern.
Another member who joined recently is Misty Sheehan, 60, of Empire. Misty said the reason she joined was that she “just finished building my house and now I want to get healthy.
“It’s been great,” she said. “Judith, the personal trainer, showed me around the first day and how to use everything. So I hope I’m doing it right. I am doing this and I am walking on the beach also. Trying to come in every day except Sunday, and doing the circuit five times.”
Misty has worked her way up to five circuits after starting with three. Now five circuits seems easy to her.
I arrived early one day to catch up with the early morning ladies who have been coming to the club for over a year.
Mary Turak of the Yarn Shop treks to the club every day using her walking poles — special fitness equipment similar to ski-poles. Her son-in-law Pete Edwards sells them, and she carries them at her shop. Mary is usually there when the club opens at 7 a.m. She will do about a half-hour routine and then moves on her way, walking with her poles, back to the Yarn Shop.
Ruth Conklin, of the Conklin Gallery, is also enthusiastic about the club. “It’s a wonderful thing – it’s the best thing that has ever happened to Glen Arbor. I dropped my cholesterol 100 points!”
Ruth joined a year ago. She is also there when the doors open at 7. She uses the elliptical machine for two miles and then exercises 15 minutes on the circuit. “And every other day I do two of the weight machines,” she added.
Ruth’s husband is also a regular member of the club.
Numerous area residents have found the Glen Arbor Athletic Club to be a great place to go for exercise and fitness, or as a social event. That has certainly been my own experience. I feel good each day when I come home from exercising. I have more energy throughout the day, plus it feels as if the exercise acts as a kind of anti-depressant. I have come to think of the club as a “happy place.”
Now that I am an old-timer at the club (I have been there all of three months), I think I can say that I have grown fitter, thinner, and yes, even taller. I feel both physically and mentally better. How could I not stand taller?