Workout group works to avoid gaining weight this holiday season - KOAM TV 7

Workout group works to avoid gaining weight this holiday season

While many eat more and more this time of year with turkey, sweets and pies some are getting ready to battle the fight of weight gain by working out.

Freeman Hospital physical therapists say that running in the Joplin community has really grown in the past few years and so has working out.

Now a class offered with Freeman's Sports Medicine Center in Joplin offers all of those thing in one.

Whether they're doing inverted push-ups or kettle bell squats, the students are "Training 2 Run".

"I didn't even know what a kettle bell was before the class and we use the kettle bells a lot and all of it is really being focused on your movement and knowing where you're at," says Mary Frerer.

Frerer started running about a year and a half ago and wasn't seeing her time improve.

"Started running and got hooked on it but wasn't doing to well as far as my time, and so I discussed it with Kendra Boswell and she said 'hey, we've got this thing going on, why don't you give it a try?'" says Frerer.

That's when her friend and physical therapist Kendra Boswell stepped in and told her about a class Freeman was offering specifically designed to help runners.  Boswell is also a certified strengthening and conditioning specialist.

The class is a boot camp style circuit based on strength training for endurance athletes.

But they don't actually have to run in class.  Boswell designed the class for those looking to improve their times, work in weight training, and for those looking to join running clubs.

"Because a lot of times what we see with athletes like runners is that they're getting out and they're pounding the pavement, putting a lot of miles on their body and they're not doing as much strength training and so we wanted to offer this as an alternative form of training for some of athletes in our area," says Boswell.

"Especially a lot of time during the holidays people tend to slack and just get a little bit lazy, but having a structured workout that you come to every week keeps you focused, helps you remember that you need to eat right because if you're eating too much you're basically undoing all that you're doing in your training," says Boswell.  "So it just kinds of keeps you motivated and holds you accountable."

Jennifer Fuller also enjoys the unique workouts.

"One of the main draws for me was having a 19 year old daughter who has gone away to college and who has come home again and we do this together," says Fuller.  "So for me I enjoy spending that time with her, but I also enjoy seeing improvement and I have seen quick improvement in myself."

While the workouts are intense and the strength training can be difficult, it's the people that draw Fuller and Frerer back.

"Has been the friendship and the comradery and everybody's at a different level but we all work together, we really push that, the Train 2 Run class pushes that, we work in groups and you have a parent and it's the 'don't leave your partner' behind and that has been really beneficial," says Frerer.

The class runs at about $60 per person.  A new class will start up at the end of the year.  For more information visit www.freemanhealth.com/train2run