• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Aerobics & Alleluia Mount Sinai Baptist is Among the Midlands Churches Offering Exercise for Both Body and Soul Mount Sinai Baptist is Offering Exercise for Both Body and Soul Aerobics Class

Posted on: Wednesday, 8 December 2004, 12:00 CST

Few aerobics classes wind down to "Amazing Grace" and a prayer.

Then again, few aerobics classes look like the one offered at Mount Sinai Baptist Church, which has opened its fellowship hall to exercisers who work out and praise God at the same time.

It's a weekly worship hour for grandmothers, toddlers and all ages in between -- even school kids, like two 11-year-old boys who recently stopped in.

They bounce, step, march and box on the hall's linoleum floor in time to rap, techno and dance music with Christian lyrics.

Over the pulsing music, instructor's shouts and self-deprecating laughter, you sometimes can hear prayer, like Vernita Jones' "Yes, Lord! Thank you!" following the class's weekly devotional -- a Bible verse or simple prayer for good health.

The class is part of the church's larger effort to help women make exercise part of their regular routine.

Members Anita Whitney and Vickie Young launched the free class earlier this year along with a walking and education campaign funded by a $5,000 state grant.

It's not unusual to blend religion and exercise. The YMCA and the Jewish Community Center long have promoted physical health.

Individual churches also promote exercise. Morning Star Baptist Church in north Omaha held a walk this fall to raise money for two causes. Nine south Omaha churches have launched a free health program that became so popular that classes were added.

"The women were basically saying, 'We don't feel like two days a week is cutting it. Can you please add more?'" said Virginia McGill of Interfaith Health Ministry, which runs the south Omaha program.

The program's free day care is a magnet for busy mothers who otherwise would have no time to exercise.

Extra classes sound good to Jean Hill, who cut down her coffee drinking and began taking vitamins since starting aerobics at Mount Sinai, 4504 Bedford Ave.

"I need to get more energy in my body," said Hill.

Others agree.

Jones, who wears a soft hat over her salt-and-pepper hair, sees the benefits -- and stresses -- of exercise for her 63-year-old body.

Called "Mama Jones" by her many grandchildren and others who know her, she is one of the senior members in class.

But the sometimes-fast pace and the younger faces don't stop her from trying all the moves -- including the dreaded wall squats.

"I try to hang in there," she said. "Sometimes I get tired. But I get a swallow of water or something, and I have to come back."

That's the attitude of this small band of exercisers, whether its newcomer Tammy Pierce whose job at Kentucky Fried Chicken offers tempting calorie-rich meals at a discount, or 13-year-old Victoria Young.

"I'll sleep good!" Victoria said after one workout.

Keeping the exercisers moving is volunteer instructor Sandy Covi, 44. Her day job is helping Union Pacific Railroad handle shipment of hazardous materials.

Covi's Alabama accent, warm personality and Christian approach fit well at Mount Sinai.

A certified aerobics instructor who knows what it's like to be heavy -- she lost 40 pounds over the years -- Covi felt a spiritual calling to help.

Her message of inner health and physical exercise strikes a chord with the exercisers, who like the class's fellowship and price tag. Muscle and sweat are the only costs.

"God says, 'Your body is a temple,'" Covi read from a devotional before starting a recent class. "That's why we're here -- to take care of ourselves."

Half-way through a recent workout, two boys in baggy pants and hooded sweat shirts entered the room and joined in, swinging uppercuts and jabs during a brief segment on boxing.

Stoic-faced, they stepped, kicked and waved when told -- one boy's 69-year-old grandmother was exercising nearby.

"Bring it up nice and slow!" Covi said as the grimacing class practiced squats with knees bent and backs glued to the wall.

"Feel it?"

The class nodded and one member, squatting under a poster of the Ten Commandments, managed to get out a tired, "Yeah."

Crunches were next.

"Squeeze up!" Covi said.

"And bring it down, slow, slow."

"Inhale! Squeeze 'em in!

"And relax, relax, relax."

The music shifted to Pachelbel's "Canon in D," and the exercisers lay flat on the floor.

"Let us be lighthouses," Covi prayed aloud. "Let our light shine for you."

Mama Jones said she felt so much better after class.

"The exercise is so fulfilling," she said. "You know, you get a little tired. But you keep going and you keep going. And it's really good."

Aerobics class When: Tuesdays, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Where: Mount Sinai Baptist Church, 4504 Bedford Ave. Cost: Free and open to anyone.

Source: Omaha World - Herald

More News in this Category