For Buckhead boomer friends, fitness club a hot spot since 1980s

Shortly after Jane Fonda donned her leg warmers and got the country moving to a popular fitness craze called aerobics, a group of Atlanta exercise enthusiasts followed suit. As the fitness industry evolved and new exercise trends bit the dust, the Buckhead residents kept marching to the fast-paced, foot-stomping movements they enjoyed.

Decades later, they’re still moving their boogie bodies to hard-hitting beats.

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Joey Ivansco / jivansco@ajc.com

Andrew Hemming leads an aerobics class at Jeanne’s Body Tech. When times changed and many gym rats moved from basic step classes to more trendy spinning and Pilates classes, a group of about 20 Baby Boomers stayed the course. For several years, the group has met twice a week at Jeanne’s Body Tech for a one-hour step aerobics class.

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Joey Ivansco / jivansco@ajc.com

Diane Barber, 64, pumps it up during an aerobics class at Jeanne’s Body Tech. She joined Jeanne’s in 1992 after the birth of her twin daughters, now 35.

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Joey Ivansco / jivansco@ajc.com

Michelle LaLonde keeps in step during an aerobics class at Jeanne’s Body Tech.

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“They just didn’t stop working out,” said Andrew Hemming, owner of Jeanne’s Body Tech, where the small contingent of baby boomers meets twice a week for aerobics plus body sculpting, spinning and a host of other fitness fads. Many of them first got their hearts racing when the club opened in 1988 and their dedication has paid off in the form of increased stamina and high levels of energy.

“They are very energetic for their age group,” said Hemming, whose club attracts a diverse clientele. “There are younger people who can’t keep up with them,” he said.

Andrea Donnelly started gyrating, swaying and pounding her feet to pop music in the early 1980s after moving to Atlanta from Durham, N.C. She first joined the YMCA, then Arden Zinn, where Jeanne Ward Sauban taught before opening Jeanne’s Body Tech. Donnelly followed Sauban to Jeanne’s as an original member of the aerobics squad, which soon added a step to its upbeat repertoire.

“[Now], we’re a high-energy group of 50-year-olds,” said Donnelly, a part-time interior design assistant in her 50s who loves the classes because they are hard but fun. Three days a week, she participates in high-intensity classes when she’s not walking and running six miles around Chastain Park, an activity she describes as “a good way to start your day.”

‘Hard to live without’

A former runner, Diane Barber started walking around Northside High School to lose weight after the birth of her twin daughters, now 35. She enjoyed the health benefits of weight loss, stress relief and the rush she felt from elevating her heart and exercising her body and mind.

“You get those endorphins and it’s hard to live without them,” said Barber, 64, who joined Jeanne’s in 1992 and now takes a class — aerobics, kickboxing and weight training — every day for a total body workout.

“I don’t understand why everybody doesn’t exercise,” she said.

Her enthusiasm proved infectious as her husband, David, three children and grandchildren enrolled at the gym.

Initially reluctant to join his wife’s gym, David Barber met other men while weight training, and soon, the former marathon runner welcomed the camaraderie of group exercise classes, too. He now participates in spinning, strength and cardio classes and says the combination of exercises helps him maintain balance and strength for overall fitness as he ages.

“I’ve noticed more balanced conditioning opposed to just knowing that I can run 10 miles,” said Barber, 63, an elder statesman of the class who says the younger participants push him to work harder. “They can lift more, but I can keep up with them with stamina.”

A dose of nostalgia

A “heartbeat away from 50,” Sherri Carufe can be considered the baby of the Boomer bunch.

Five mornings a week, the interior designer says her car “just kind of drives its way over to the gym” where she takes step aerobics, body sculpting, kick boxing and spinning. Her consistency wards off the pounds from cookies and ice cream she likes to devour and keeps her body in excellent health.

Even when she travels, she works out in the hotel and resort gyms in addition to walking on the weekends.

“It’s just a tradition,” she said.

For instructor Hemming, aerobics provides a sense of nostalgia for him and the cohesive cohorts.

“It’s more than just a class,” he said of the hour-long routines preceded by engaging conversations about children and grandchildren. “Those women are comfortable with it and they love it so much; they just don’t want it to go away,” he said.