Valley Parks and Rec makes weight training accessible
BY KADIE TAYLOR
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
VALLEY — Valley Parks and Recreation offers 30-minute adult and teen Weight Training Learning Sessions to help those new to weight lifting learn how to exercise safely, use equipment and maintain weight room etiquette.
“We do the teen Weight Taining Class [for] younger people who are less experienced with weights, but are looking to try to start using fitness equipment to improve their bodies, for sports, general fitness or whatever,” said Valley Parks and Rec Aquatics Manager Bobby Poer. “It’s first and foremost a safety class. We have a lot of weights in here, and many of those are free weights, so there is an inherent danger involved, specifically when you’re dealing with free weights, because they’re not attached to anything; there’s no safety mechanism to stop you from hurting yourself. So that’s the main thing, teen weight safety, we [want to] create an environment where the younger people can come in here and learn, but do it in a safe and responsible way.”
Poer said teens are welcome to use the Valley Parks and Rec weight room, but they must be age 13 or older, ages 13-17 can only enter the weight room after completing the Weight Training Class and ages 13-15 must be accompanied by an adult — even after completing the course.
“With everything being based on safety, it is something that we require for the teenagers to do,” he said. “[We like] knowing that every teenager that comes in here to lift weights is familiar with how everything works, familiar with safety protocols and that sort of thing.”
For adults, Poer said the Weight Training Class is often utilized by aging adults who have limited experience with weights, but are working to increase their strength and health.
“Most of the time, this is going to be [for] senior adults who have found out that they need to do some sort of strengthening, rehab or something that their doctor has told them that they need to start doing in order to extend a healthy and viable life,” he said. “So they come in here, and most of them don’t ask necessarily — so I just kind of watch for newer people, and if they look like they’re not really familiar with gym equipment and how it works, I will tell them about the class… I’ll show them how everything works, and again, explain all the ways to be safe while lifting weights and general ideas about how to organize a workout — as far as number of repetitions, how much weight and that kind of thing.”
To schedule a weight training learning session, visit the Valley Parks and Rec front desk, or contact Bobby Poer by email bpoer@cityofvalley.com.
“We have it where someone [can visit the] front desk, and the front desk will put them in contact with me,” he said. “Then we just set up a specific time that works for them, where they can come in and I can meet them here and go through the whole process. After we’ve gone through the process, we go back to their account and make a note on it that they’ve been through the Weight Safety Training Class… The community loves it — our fitness room is used early, and often — there’s rarely, if ever, a time that you can go in it and there’s not somebody in there working out.”
