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

Lifelong Fitness; In the 1970s, She Pioneered Fitness Program for Local Women

Posted on: Thursday, 24 February 2005, 15:00 CST

WHEN LINDA BUCH GAVE up her stewardess wings in 1984, she got grounded by returning to her career roots.

"I went back to what I know best," says Buch, a county native who in 1972 pioneered fitness programming for women and girls at the Lancaster Family YMCA.

Buch, 54, now a Denver, Colo. resident, reignited her passion for fitness education.

When Buch left the airlines, she became the manager of a gym and eventually became a certified fitness trainer. She also co-wrote a book about fitness, and then, three years ago, began writing a question-and-answer newspaper column about fitness and health called "Body Language."

Buch's column, which now appears in The Denver Post and four newspapers in the San Francisco Bay area, debuts today in New Era Magazine. Her column covers topics ranging from bodybuilding to menopause.

"The beauty of her columns is that she's always quoting the latest research, and you realize what she's writing is based on both the hard facts and years of personal experience," says Linda Castrone, Sunday business editor and former features editor at The Denver Post, who helped Buch launch her column there. "She has her fingers on the latest research, but working with people, that's her gift."

"Buch's column is a wonderful addition to our ongoing Healthy Habits Club," says features editor E. Martin Hulse. "The column will offer New Era readers the opportunity to get their health and fitness questions answered by an expert who actually got her start here in Lancaster."

***

Living in Lancaster in the '60s, Linda Buch got physical.

She lettered in several sports at Penn Manor High School, including basketball and tennis. She also swam competitively in the Lancaster Aquatic Club.

"In Lancaster it was actually pretty progressive when it came to women's sports," says Buch.

Buch's father, Stan, ran Buch's Pharmacy and taught trampoline and gymnastics at the YMCA, where he served on the board of directors. Her mother, Irene, continues to work as a Red Cross swim instructor.

"She probably taught everyone in Lancaster how to swim at one time or another," says Buch.

After graduating from high school in 1968, Buch attended Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, graduating in 1972 with a double major in health education and history and a minor in physical education.

Buch then returned to Lancaster to take a position at the YMCA to expand programming for women, including everything from aerobics and aqua-size to a kindergym and baby-sitting.

"I also tried to add interesting stuff like fencing, judo, self defense for women, a massage therapist," says Buch. "My job was to get area women interested in joining. I did manage to bump up the membership rolls by 150 or so."

But in 1974, Buch, who had a yearning to see the world, decided one of the most economical ways to travel was to work for the airlines.

"I became a sky goddess," she says.

For a decade, Buch flew the friendly skies with Continental Airlines, based first in Seattle and then in Denver.

"I saw a good bit of the world," says Buch. "I went to Europe several times, Micronesia, Hawaii, Mexico.

"I never would have passed up the stewardess experience. But there comes a time when you need to lift up your eyes and see what else is there. I was lucky that I was able to return to physical fitness."

***

Before her personal-training business, Balance Enterprises, took flight in the early '90s, Buch fine-tuned her own fitness. In the late '80s, she won several regional body-building titles.

In 1999, Buch and Seth Anne Snider-Copley's book, "Commercial Break: The Complete Couch Potato's Guide to Fitness," was published.

"It's basically a book that teaches you how to exercise during TV commercials," says Buch.

The book was bought and re-published by a larger company in 2002 and renamed "The Commercial Break Workout: Trim and Tone Two Minutes at a Time."

After Buch started her column, she also completed a yearlong series of articles for The Denver Post, which chronicled the weight- loss program of a Post writer.

As a personal trainer, Buch is currently juggling 23 clients.

"This is a busy season," says Buch. "When the swimsuit edition comes out in Sports Illustrated, it tends to inspire people."

Buch fields a wide variety of questions from people who respond to her newspaper column.

"I find lately I've been getting a lot of questions about weight and fat loss and what supplements to take," she says. "I also get comments from people who are frustrated because they can't seem to get information from their doctors. I find it somewhat alarming they are looking to a certified fitness trainer for answers.

"I do the best I can. I use the Internet. I have a Rolodex of doctors and specialists I can call to get answers, but I try not to get in the realm of taking the place of a doctor."

Buch's own fitness routine includes lifting weights two or three times a week, and a 30-minute boxing routine that incorporates jumping rope, calisthenics, medicine balls, abdominal training and working out with boxing gloves.

In the summer, she bicycles, swims and kayaks.

"I'm certified in scuba diving, which I learned from Smokey Roberts (Smokey's Divers Den) right there in Lancaster," she says.

"I'm excited about my column appearing in Lancaster. It's like going full circle."

Source: Intelligencer Journal

More News in this Category