Burning Off the Years

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For health-club owners sensitive to the fact that intimidation can be a key factor in seniors' deciding not to join, the social upside of working out is also a good recruiting tool. "We get 'em in the door with breakfasts and other gatherings, where they meet people and have fun--and gradually get used to the look of the place," says Joe Diemert, co-director of senior programming at Franco's Athletic Club in Mandeville, La. Since Franco's started actively pursuing seniors, the 13,000-member club has drawn 2,000 men and women over 65.

Once older adults are comfortable, the intensity of their workout routines can daunt any 20-year-old. Former Mr. New York City Terry Richardson, 85, who arrives at 4 a.m. for his duties as morning manager for Reebok's Sports Club/LA, works out five times a week with his younger buddy John McManus, 75. Richardson "just" maintains his physique ("My bones and joints are 85, so I try to use common sense," he says) with 20 min. of swimming, some weight training, stretching and 200 ab crunches. McManus, who was back in the gym 15 days after a recent bypass operation, rides the bike at the highest resistance for 45 min., then bench-presses 300 lbs.

For adamant couch lovers who couldn't care less about socialization and better health, vanity can be a reliable motivator. Chicagoan Merle Smith, 71, a hardwood-floor distributor, says he wouldn't be caught dead working out except for the fact that he has a cute female personal trainer--and she makes him look fine. "A 36-year-old made a pass at me the other day," he says. Two years ago at the Sun City retirement community near Austin, Texas, hunky senior residents agreed to pose for a community-events calendar dubbed--what else--Aged Beef. The calendar's creators have now launched a website to sell it to non-Texans.

Beefcake pinups aside, the senior-fitness trend is starting to catch the attention of some influential officials. An innovative, full-scale federally funded program run by the Chicago Department of Aging kicked off in 1995 with a few hundred seniors for whom a pricey health club was out of the question. Former director Alisa Markoff says that despite some initial glitches--in the beginning, women unfamiliar with the idea of working out showed up for classes in dresses and high heels--the program now teaches 7,000 participants in more than 50 facilities, for free. Keiser, the leading manufacturer of air-pressurized machines geared to the senior market, has grown from 20 facilities in 1996 to 400 this year.

Most compelling for advocates is the slow-growing attention senior fitness is attracting from managed care. For years, HMOs have offered 10% discounts on health-club memberships, primarily as a marketing tool. Based in Phoenix, Ariz., the company HealthCare Dimensions, which sells and administers a comprehensive senior-fitness program called Silver Sneakers, has taken the lead in getting HMOs to sign up for real intervention. By providing quality assurance and initial research summaries indicating regular exercisers have significantly reduced claims, HealthCare Dimensions has signed up 13 major HMOs from Florida to Oregon to fully cover the cost of 500,000 Medicare-eligible members who attend clubs that teach Silver Sneakers. In return, HealthCare Dimensions trains instructors and keeps a full-time program administrator at every member club.

"It has been a long, uphill battle," says Dimensions founder and CEO Mary Swanson, whose next study will look at the effect of fitness on medication usage. "But we've shown that covering club dues is a relatively inexpensive investment with a huge return: senior fitness is not a fad, it's the future."

As that idea continues to sink in, smart fitness-club owners will pursue the senior market ever more aggressively. They may even find that 20- and 30-year-olds appreciate Benny Goodman alongside the standard fare of Top 40 pop. Back in Needham, Mass., HealthFit's John Atwood has already begun to get calls from executives at major fitness chains interested in emulating his model, and he knows that before long, Atwood the visionary will be--yawn--Atwood the guy who runs another one of those senior athletic centers. He doesn't mind that much.