Lyn Thornton may just be one of the most experienced fitness instructors in the country. For 56 years she has been teaching exercise classes and at 76 years old she is not planning to stop.
"I love it. I couldn't imagine my life without it," she says.
Three times a week Ms Thornton takes the active senior classes at the YMCA North Shore. She has been working with the organisation for 51 years and started out in a church hall in Devonport instructing aerobics. Ms Thornton's classes grew to five different locations on the Shore. She even took on volunteering at the YMCA camps to help raise funds to build the organisation's building on Akoranga Drive.
Ms Thornton was the first woman in 150 years to be made a life member of the YMCA last year.
Anyone trying to get into fitness at an older age should not be scared to come here, she
says.
"For older people it can be quite a daunting place but I try and make them feel relaxed and welcome," she says. "With the baby boomers coming into the older age bracket now there are a lot of people who have been active all their lives."
Copyright - North Shore Times
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/north-shore-times/5200756/56-years-of-leading-fitness-classes