Golden Opportunity

above: Lauren Bruzzone, 79, works out with trainer Wesley James five to six times per week at Chelsea Piers.
Photography by Katharine Calderwood

PANEL OF EXPERTS

Lauren Bruzzone moves with quiet determination through the gym at Chelsea Piers Connecticut. First, she effortlessly executes some box jumps; an advanced move that involves leaping from the ground onto an elevated padded platform. Then, it’s on to abdominal work. She lays flat on a mat holding a plated weight over her head, and moves from her prone position to an upright one. She makes it look easy, but that’s a move even some seriously fit folks find impossible.

Last month, the Stamford resident celebrated her 79th birthday. When I meet her in October, she is on her second workout of the day. At 6 a.m. she started her morning, as she often does, at Stamford’s Crossfit Affinity.

“I couldn’t do a pullup. And all I wanted to do was one stupid pullup.” – Lauren Bruzzone, 79, Attorney, Consultant and Professor

The still-working attorney, IBM consultant and part-time UConn/Stamford professor’s grueling workouts have made her a viral social media sensation thanks to the Instagram reels personal trainer Wesley James began posting of her age-defying feats (the top post has received more than one million views). Their collaboration (and friendship) began when Bruzzone was 71 and frustrated with an elusive goal: “I couldn’t do a pullup. And all I wanted to do was one stupid pullup.”

James overheard her lament and invited her to join a group of women he was training. “First, I said, ‘How old are you?’” recalls the trainer, now based at Chelsea Piers, where he and Lauren work out together as partners because they like their state-of-the-art facilities. “I had clients half her age who can’t do what she does. They won’t even try.”

When James posted a reel of Bruzzone completing 15 sets of a modified pullup using anchors he fastened on her feet for upward momentum, he was trying to inspire older clients (and maybe gets some new ones, too).  But the world took notice. Comedian Chelsea Handler’s personal trainer reposted James’ reel and so did former “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah and then, “Good Morning America”. James continued posting Bruzzone’s workouts and they kept going viral, making her an unintentional global senior fitness influencer.

“I know almost nothing about Instagram,” she says during a workout, adding her devotion to strength-training is rooted in her overall commitment to healthy aging. “I don’t do this so I can go out and win the Crossfit games. I do this so I can pee on my own when I’m 90,” she laughs. “But if it inspires people to get out and try something that makes them feel better, I’m perfectly okay with it.”

Bruzzone began taking fitness more seriously at 59. “I was starting to have trouble with little things, like picking stuff up the floor,” she explains. She found Crossfit Affinity and began training. “I was always the oldest and the weakest, but I really didn’t care. I just wanted to get stronger.”

“I had clients half her age who can’t do what she does. They won’t even try.” – Wesley James, Fitness Trainer

As this New Year begins, many well-intentioned people will venture to the gym or fitness studio hoping to make good on their resolutions. “But most of the people you see here in January will be gone by February,” James says.

Hoping to buck that prediction, we asked several local fitness for their stick-with-it tips. Whether you want to lose weight, master that tricky yoga pose, or just walk around the block, here’s their advice for adopting a growth mindset to accomplish your goals.

STEP 1
Find Your Why

Wendi Hoak, a personal trainer and owner of Stamford-based Beyond Fitness, says understanding someone’s underlying personal motivation is the critical foundation to any fitness transformation. A client may enter her Long Ridge Road studio with a weight loss agenda, but she will gently reframe that goal.

“The conversation about weight loss for the sake of weight loss is changing. Even if someone comes to me saying, ‘I want to lose 30 pounds,’ I may completely support that, but I want to have a deeper conversation about the reasons behind it,” she says. “Is it because you want to play with your grandkids? Is it because you have health issues that you want to address? Having tangible reasons attached to your goal is ultimately more motivating than seeking a specific number on the scale.”

Carolyn Brown, a registered dietician and co-founder of Indigo Wellness in Stamford and Westport, also stresses the goal of overall health and wellbeing. “It’s not just about ‘I want to be thin,’ because for an older adult, thin is not necessarily a good fitness goal,” she says. “To me, fitness is not about your jeans size. It’s more about building muscle mass, keeping your bones healthy and being strong men and women.”

Clarifying the “why” behind health and wellness goals also makes it easier to get back on track if things go astray. “Everyone has a bad day,” Brown says. “But when you look at the bigger picture, sometimes a setback can seem less insurmountable if your ultimate goal is just to be a fitter, healthier person.”

Focusing on personal goals also guards against unhealthy comparisons. Take power yoga, a fast-paced practice focused on flow. All those bendy, twisty postures can seem intimidating. “But you’ll find very few yoga people who can actually contort themselves into a pretzel,” laughs Aimee Elsner, an occupational therapist and co-founder of Connecticut Power Yoga. Instead, Elsner urges building on small, attainable goals to move her clients’ practices forward at their own pace.

“The philosophy behind yoga is the perfect way to think about fitness in general. It’s about looking within. If you consider that just being on the mat and breathing is doing yoga, you always have something to build on and a new challenge to take on.”

Much like Bruzzone, Hoak and Elsner are examples of Stamford women whose personal “why” motivated them to commit to a fitness-focused lifestyle.

Elsner was a recreational runner who morphed into a triathlete, but her fitness journey took a devastating detour when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at 38. The mother of two young children had a radical mastectomy followed by radiation and chemotherapy. She turned to yoga, eventually training intensively with power guru Baron Baptiste, as part of her recovery wellness journey. She and her husband Tim opened their Summer Street studio in 2016, intent on creating a supportive community of fellow power yogis.

Hoak’s mother died of breast cancer at 51 and her sister suffered from lupus. When the trainer’s two adult sons were young, she developed four bulging discs in her back, which required intensive physical therapy and limited her mobility. She also has Hashimoto’s Disease, a chronic autoimmune disorder that attacks the thyroid gland and can cause lethargy and weight gain.  Getting serious about fitness and becoming a trainer “was a way to honor my mother and sister and the vitality of my own body.  I just have a profound gratitude for what it can do when you nurture it to be healthy and strong.”

STEP 2
Have a Game Plan

When Brown begins nutrition counseling, her clients’ food journals are an integral part of her coaching process. These diaries often reveal busy days that lead to frequent nighttime overeating because a client has skipped meals. Sometimes, they’ll illuminate more subtle patterns that can derail fitness goals but just need a tweak. “Writing things down gives you a roadmap to what you need to work on as well as the progress you are making.”

Hoak offers new clients a detailed fitness assessment which includes body scans that analyze everything from weight and muscle mass to metabolic rates. Hoak uses this to work toward tangible goals. “If your goal is to lift up a grandchild, then we have to get you to the point where you can pick up a 25-pound weight,” she says.

“Is it because you want to play with your grandkids? Is it because you have health issues that you want to address? Having tangible reasons attached to your goal is ultimately more motivating than seeking a specific number on the scale.” – Wendi Becker Hoak, Beyond Fitness

Lofty fitness goals—like training for a marathon—may require a more tailored planning approach. “It’s not just about adding more miles to your routine,” James says. “If I’m working with someone who has a big goal like that, I’m also thinking about the wear and tear on their body. So, I’m doing things like core work; building strength in their legs and, in general, I’m thinking about more resistance workouts to keep them strong.”

“Time management is [also] actually a part of every good fitness plan,” says Hoak. “If you are not making time for fitness, it is not going to happen. I always tell my clients who are parents that one of the things they are doing is setting a really positive example. Making that time for fitness is also teaching your kids that your personal health and wellbeing matter. I tell people to put it in their schedules the way they would a doctor’s appointment or a work meeting.”

STEP 3
Fitness Starts in the Kitchen

“My mantra is that you can’t out-train a bad diet,” says Brown. “Probably the biggest thing I see consistently in my female clients who are fitness-minded is that they are not eating enough. They tend to restrict food throughout the day when they really need it and then, they almost have these mini binges at night because they’re starving. And then they are going to bed with the heaviest meal of the day in their stomachs.”

Another goal killer? Avoiding post-workout refueling. “It’s a huge issue,” Brown says. While downing a bowl of Greek yogurt topped with berries and nuts may seem counterintuitive after burning up some calories at the gym, Brown advises that replenishment is critical in the hour after a workout. She recommends combining protein and carbohydrates to replenish. “A smoothie with some added protein can be a great fast way to do this,” she says. Other options include that yogurt bowl; a salad topped with a protein or some eggs and sourdough toast. “Eating after a workout is a tough thing for a lot of my clients to swallow, and it goes back to our old diet culture mentality. But I really try to work on ending this restrictive mindset.”

The most important ingredient in our experts’ nutritional training arsenal is protein. “Most people are under eating it while eating too much of the wrong stuff,” says Brown. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone eat too much salmon, but a lot of us consume way too much sugar.”

“My mantra is that you can’t out train a bad diet.” – Carolyn Brown, Indigo Wellness

Brown recommends starting your day with protein. “If breakfast is just carbs, you are playing catch-up all day,” she says. Strive to have about four to five ounces of good quality protein at each meal, and include it in snacks, too.

Some of Brown’s clients also partake in a WOW week which calls for seven days of no sugar, dairy or gluten to jumpstart their nutritional tune-ups. “It’s impossible to lead a sugar-free life,” she says. “And I don’t avoid sugar in things like fruit, but I look for it on all my packages. And I really try to avoid it at breakfast. If it’s the first thing that hits your stomach in the morning is a blast of sugar, it can set you up for a day of highs and lows and eating all the wrong things.”

Clients at Beyond Fitness have access to community partner Dr. Katie Takaysu, an integrative medicine specialist, head of Wellness Insights in Darien and author of Plants First, on a “diet detox.” “We have had several clients lose 20 to 40 pounds in a year by rethinking what they eat,” says Hoak. She now follows a “plant-forward” diet that, while not completely vegan, minimizes her consumption of animal proteins. “In the summer, I almost never go to the grocery store because most of my food comes from the farmer’s market.”

Brown also recommends limiting alcohol consumption; suggesting no more than four alcoholic beverages a week for women, no more than seven for men. “That can be tough if you like wine,” she says. “But I do urge people to get as close to none as possible for their overall health.”

Brown’s also big on advance meal planning and preparation for her time-crunched clients. “Map out your week and cook for those days you are crazy busy,” she says. “Have the food ready to take on the go.” Too busy to cook? Her go-to local resource for healthy, ready-made meal deliveries is New Canaan-based Kinney Lane. “All meal delivery services are not created equal,” she says. “But they do a great job of creating nutritious and really delicious food.”

As far as indulgences go, these fit folks enjoy them in moderation. “I love pizza, ice cream and cookies, but I don’t have them more than once a week,” says Bruzzone, whose workaday meals include lots of chicken, fruit, Greek yogurt and nuts.

Elsner, who went vegan after her breast cancer diagnosis, has gradually added animal protein back into her meals. “I would probably have a six pack if I didn’t have a greasy Chinese or Thai takeout meal every Sunday night, but that’s a joyful ritual for me and my family,” she says. “If you are too restrictive about anything, you are going to set yourself up for failure.”

STEP 4
Just Move It

Dr. Stephen J. Massimi, a sports medicine specialist at Hospital for Special Surgery, says the key to creating a successful fitness routine really comes down to “finding the things you can do, things you enjoy doing and then, doing them.” His top picks for mature exercisers include swimming, walking, dance, Pilates and Tai Chi, a great choice for the balance challenges many older adults face.

Elsner advocates for a well-rounded approach that incorporates elements of cardio, stretching and strength training. “Fitness doesn’t have to be doing box jumps or running marathons,” she says.

“I would probably have a six pack if I didn’t have a greasy Chinese or Thai takeout meal every Sunday night, but that’s a joyful ritual for me and my family. If you are too restrictive about anything, you are going to set yourself up for failure.” – Aimee Elsner, Connecticut Power Yoga

How you find that balance is personal. Bruzzone, for example, relies on advanced callisthenic moves like repetitive burpees for her cardio workouts. Hoak does two to three strength training workouts a week, takes Pilates and walks. To push herself, she sometimes joins her outdoors-loving sons for more rigorous hikes.

Our experts voiced a collective enthusiasm for walking as a great starting point for anyone currently sedentary. Dr. Massimi suggests dance training as a great way to engage in a cardio workout that has real cognitive benefits. “Learning those patterns also works your brain,” he says.

“I’m a fan of walking for my yoga clients because it’s as simple as having a pair of sneakers and heading outside,” says Elsner, who says running was her initial entrée into fitness. “I was a young, broke professional in New York City. It was something I could do to get fit that didn’t cost any money. But if you are older or can’t take all that pounding, walking is just a great way to go.”

STEP 5
Then Push Yourself

Now comes the hard part. “At just about every gym out there, you look around and you see people who have been coming for years doing the same thing every single day,” James says. “Their bodies don’t change because they haven’t changed anything they are doing.”

Bruzzone’s quest to master that elusive pullup is James’ masterclass in the kind of boundary pushing that takes fitness to the next level. “Everything she did to get there has made her a little stronger,” says James, who now considers Bruzzone a training partner and friend rather than client.

Kicking things up a notch doesn’t have to mean mastering pullups. “If you are a walker, it can be as simple as going from a flat path to a hilly one,” suggests Hoak. “If you are strength training, add more weight or try some new, more challenging moves It can just be trying something new.”

Because of her background in occupational therapy, Elsner knows firsthand that there is real value in “mixing things up.” “Every exercise challenges your body in new ways,” she says. “If you only lift weights, you are going to have an imbalance. If you only run, the same thing is true.”

And be mindful to strive for personal bests. “I spin next to someone who is much better than I am, but that doesn’t matter,” says Elsner. “If you compare yourself to others, you are kind of destined to fail, but it also can’t stop me from pushing myself to do hard things.”

Bruzzone suggests committing to a “just try it” period when trying something new. “Anyone can do something for 60 days,” she says. “By then, it may become a habit.”

Celebrating her 80th birthday this year, Bruzzone is thinking about what’s next to keep her body and mind in top form. She’s started learning French. “And I keep talking about taking up running.”

DOCTOR’S ORDERS

Slow and Steady (But Do It)

”Our bodies are essentially like big, biological machines,” says Dr. Stephen J. Massimi, a sports medicine specialist affiliated with HSS who sees patients in Connecticut through its collaboration with Stamford Health. “If you want to become stronger and do more, exposing the body to the stimulus (of exercise) helps us to become stronger and improve our function.”

Yet older bodies are, well, a lot like older machines. “The parts have their limits,” Massimi says. “And if we exceed their limits, we can end up injured.”

How do you challenge yourself without being sidelined by injury? The doctor says it’s about calculating risks for the long haul.

“The biggest risk for anyone at any age is doing too much too soon,” he says. “People get excited and then, they go all in and the next thing you know, they are in my office. So I often caution people that the older you are, the longer it’s going to take you to get from point A to point B, and that slow and steady is the way to go.”

As a specialist who treats issues impacting the hip and spine, Dr. Massimi sees lots of disc injuries from movements involving lifting and bending (think squats and leg lifts) as well as hip injuries sometimes exacerbated by overstretching. “You’ll have someone with hip or back pain and they think, ‘I need to stretch it out, so I’ll do some yoga,’” he says. “And the reality is, they can end up making things even worse.”

The key to keeping things safe is learning the subtle difference between the discomfort that can come from pushing yourself and the pain of injury. “It’s imperative that you always listen to your body,” he says. “It will give you the best clues. If the pain goes away after a couple of days, that means you pushed yourself. But if it keeps coming back or you are feeling these ‘little twinges’ pay attention.”

When in doubt, he adds, it’s fine to push back against an overzealous trainer with a “doctor’s orders” excuse. “I say, “Go ahead and blame me,” Massimi says. “My doctor told me not to do it is a perfectly reasonable response.”

His seven tips for older adults include the following.

1 Checking in with your doctor before beginning a fitness regimen if you have any underlying health conditions, prior injuries or reasons for concern.

2 Strength-train at least twice a week. “There are so many benefits as you age, and it’s not just about increasing muscle mass. It also helps so much with maintaining bone density and long-term mobility, a benefit that is too frequently overlooked.”

3 Work with trainers with excellent credentials who ask about your health history and honor your physical limitations before beginning any new program.

4 Strive to do some kind of cardiovascular activity 30 minutes a day, at least five times a week. The doctor’s picks include low-impact choices including swimming, walking and dance, for its cognitive benefits.

5 Pilates and Tai Chi are great options for flexibility and balance work.

6 Build rest days into your plans. “Everyone from elite athletes to weekend warriors need it.”

7 Know you can do it. “A person can make physical stridesat any age.”