If there’s one thing I really like to do at 6 a.m., it’s work out to the sounds of the Rolling Stones and Elton John.
Well, maybe not so much myself personally, but a lot of people are into it. Just ask Bonnie Larochelle, who’s been the volunteer leader of an early bird aerobics class at the YMCA since 1979.
A nighttime aerobics class was started a few years before, “and I was very involved and they decided to try more classes, so I said I would,” Larochelle said.
The class has really been pretty much the same since the beginning – it’s always been on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and always at 6 a.m. The only real differences between now and then are the soundtrack and size of the class.
“Back in the days when they didn’t have other options like spinning and boot camp, we had about 30 people usually,” she said. “Now it’s about 10 or 12.”
Most of those dozen or so participants have been taking the class for ages, she said. One woman, Donna, has been coming for about 30 years. Some others have been coming for about 20 years, and a few just started the last few years.
I decided to join those 10 or 12 die-hards last week, along with my daughter, Julia – who just so happens to be Larochelle’s granddaughter, too. What a coincidence!
After many invitations to wake up earlier than ever before and head out into the dark morning to work out, I finally took her up on the offer, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I didn’t hate it.
The class consists of a lot of stairmaster work, which was more challenging than it looks. Bon Jovi is tough to keep pace with before the sun comes up.
Soon enough, though, the song changes and the routine shifts back to level ground for some running-in-place maneuvers.
There’s a little running session next, then it’s back to more in-place workouts. All the while, cool ’70s music fills the gym.
“My music is different every day – that’s actually the best part,” Larochelle said. “I like to mix it up a lot. One CD is all Stones, one is all Elton John, one’s all Billy Joel. The music has to go with what you’re doing,” she said.
And changing the music up regularly is about more than just matching the tempo of the workout.
“I know people have different tastes in music, so I’ll do everything,” she said. “No matter what exercise program I’ve been involved with, music is so important.”
Another thing of great importance to Larochelle is fitness. I guess you’d have to be pretty into staying fit to get up at 5-something in the morning every other day for 36 years to go teach an aerobics class – and then go off to teach kids at Christa McAuliffe School. This woman has more energy than I thought was humanly possible.
And I’m not the only one who notices.
A few weeks ago, Larochelle was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the YMCA’s 163rd Annual Meeting, recognizing her decades of volunteering at the Y.
Though many awards were given out that night, the Lifetime Achievement Award was saved for the end due to how special it is.
But if you ask Larochelle, she’ll tell you it’s no big deal.
“It was kind of hard to accept it because I truly feel that the Y has given more to me and my family than I have given to the Y,” she said. “I just think the Y is an amazing place, and this city would not be the same without it.”
Although she said it was hard to accept the award, she’s not ungrateful.
“I was humbled and honored, but maybe there are other people who do more.”
So what does she like the most about doing this?
“Two things,” she said. “One, it forces me to get out in the morning. It would be really easy to roll over when you don’t have other people waiting for you on the other end. And fitness is really important to me, and I always want to be able to keep up with my kids – I don’t want to be the grandmother who can’t climb a mountain because I’m out of shape.”
She definitely has no problem with mountains, this I can confirm. Marathons? She ran Boston this past year and has completed New York and Chicago, too.
And, of course, she isn’t showing any signs of slowing down any time soon.
“I’m going to let my body decide how long to go on,” she said. “As long as I can go on without injury.”
One thing she preaches is persistence.
“I’m 63 and still running marathons, and it’s due to sticking with something over time,” she said.
And since most of her class is people who have been showing up for years, maybe some of that persistence has rubbed off on them. Maybe they had it to begin with. Either way, it’s the fact that they’re there that counts.
“The thing that really keeps me going are the people,” she said. “So many friends I have outside the Y I met at the Y, and we’ve been through a lot of stuff together. That’s part of why I go every morning.”
That, and she also just really loves being awake and active as early as possible. “I am a morning person, and I think the morning is the best part of the day.”
That makes one of us!
But while I enjoyed my one and only foray into the world of still-dark aerobics, there’s a good chance I’ll sleep through the next several classes. It takes a special breed to get up and do that week after week, year after year, decade after decade.
“So far I haven’t really felt that I’m ready to move on yet,” she said.
To sign up for a class, go to the welcome center at the YMCA (it’s the main desk in the lobby). If you’re not ready to sign up, you could just try it out using a guest pass. The aerobics class runs year-round, although the YMCA usually does sessions by season. Drop by the YMCA or call 228-9622 for more information.
