Ok, if you are reading this you have no excuses for not getting into shape. I can no longer say that I’m too old. After reading this I can truly say that I am embarrassed. I am talking about 71-year-old certified personal fitness trainer Ms. Ernestine Shepherd of Baltimore. Yes, you read it right. She brings new meaning to the old adage “age ain’t nothing but a number.”
She wears a ball cap that reads: Determined, dedicated, disciplined to be fit.
Five days a week, she trains women of all ages -- three days at the gym and two days at her church, Union Memorial United Methodist Church, where she has a class of 25.
She drinks 16 ounces of water and eats a light snack that includes a bagel with peanut butter or two hard-boiled eggs before starting her workout. She usually starts off with about 15 minutes of cardio, running in place, then she does floor exercises working on the abs, legs, upper and lower obliques, and then proceeds with the weights. Her training sessions last about an hour.
With 10 percent body fat, Ms. Shepherd is 5-foot-5 and 130 pounds of inspiration to her clients, many of whom she includes in her routine of walking or running, which begins at 4 a.m. (There is a thin line between genius and insanity.) But Shepherd hasn't always had a focus on fitness in her life. In fact, in her younger days she was a 'prissy' girl, with little athletic interests. It wasn't until she turned 56 that she began to exercise with the aid of her sister. They were both spurred on to join a gym after shopping for bathing suits and not liking what they saw in the mirror.
Ms. Shepherd is retired school secretary at City Springs School in South Baltimore. She has been married to Collin Shepherd, 77, for 52 years. They have a son and a grandson.
Other acclaim: Has appeared in Essence (1991 and 2003); The Baltimore Times (2002); and the book Self Seduction, Ultimate Path to Inner and Outer Beauty (2003); has appeared on The View (2001); in a Carmax commercial (2004); and in the Miss America Senior Pageant (2004). She models for Nova Models in Baltimore.
2 comments:
Fantastic! I have many ailments but this has truly inspired me. I'm getting off my butt and being all I know I can be. Tks for this inspiring post.
You have inspired me. I posted this over a year ago, and now I see that it was not just for my benefit. I'm going to get busy writing again. Thank you.
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