“You’re not going to turn into the Hulk by picking up a 20 lb. dumbbell,” Becca Fetter tells clients at her strength-training gym in North Liberty, Iowa.
Too many adults, especially women, miss out on the benefits of weightlifting for fear of getting hurt or developing bulky bodies, says Dr. Fetter, who opened Enduring Strength Physical Therapy and Fitness early this year in Beaver Kreek Center. The gym has attracted a roster of male and female clients in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.
“Lifting weights itself is not dangerous, especially if someone is helping you,” she adds. “When you use decent form and don’t overload, it’s very safe.”
Injuries are rare. So are client complaints of too much bulk. Instead, Dr. Fetter hears success stories about renewed self-confidence, improved resistance to falls, and better ability to carry out the activities of daily life. An older female client reported after a few weeks of exercise that she fell in the yard but was able to stand by herself. This was a person who could hardly get herself up from the floor on her first visit to the gym, Dr. Fetter recalls.
Another female client surprised the male clerk at the feed store by picking up her own bag of birdseed and carrying it to the car. “Grandma comes in. Grandma can move some stuff around. Grandma is strong,” laughs Dr. Fetter.
Clients are also having fun, developing friendships, and learning new skills and ways to move that engage their brains.
“Constantly learning new things is a good thing,” says Dr. Fetter, a 2005 University of Iowa graduate whose own learning curve took a jump thanks to a bold career change in 2017.
Dr. Fetter began her career in mechanical engineering, working in design software support at Siemens after earning her BS in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Iowa in 2005. She worked with high-profile clients like John Deere, Disney and Caterpillar, but after more than a decade of “staring at computer screens all day,” she was ready for a change. She applied and was accepted into the Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Washington University in St. Louis.
The Wash U training included five semesters of classroom training plus 30+ weeks of clinical work, preparing her for her first job of her new career at Ability Physical Therapy in Mt. Vernon. Despite growing up in Denver and Omaha, she jumped at the chance to live in rural Iowa.
“It’s fun. I love the small town,” Dr. Fetter says. “I’m one generation removed from the farm. My grandparents always lived in a small town where everybody knows everybody.”
She soon got a lesson in the networking power of small communities. A PT client diagnosed with osteoporosis asked for advice on strength-training to build bone density. After talking with her boss, Dr. Fetteer decided to start a weight-lifting class for post-menopausal women.
An article in the Mt. Vernon-Lisbon Sun brought in eight enrollees. “Word got out,” chuckles Dr. Fetter. Soon she was running two classes a week, with women averaging 70 years old coming in twice a week to use bar bells and perform squats, deadlifts and bench presses, lifting 50-125 pounds.
The next year, Dr. Fetter reduced her hours at Ability to begin offering weight training classes at a CrossFit gym in North Liberty. “My business took off from there,“ she says. Early this year, Dr. Fetter left Ability entirely to lease space and open Enduring Strength.
The gym is open daily. Attendees in strength classes are still mainly women but some men have joined.
“Strength training especially helpful for women,” says Dr. Fetter. “They lose strength starting in their 50s,” due to “the precipitous drop in estrogen levels” after menopause. “It’s scary but it can be slowed down.”
Clients include one of the original enrollees from Mt. Vernon. There are few dropouts, except for people who move or take long trips. The emphasis is on safety, working at your own pace and having good time, says Dr. Fetter.
“Exercise can be fun and still be beneficial,” she says. “Everybody cheers for everybody. Challenging themselves to see what they can do is fun. I don’t think they knew it was fun before they started.”
Variety helps as well. For two weeks last month, Dr. Fetter added Olympics-inspired tweaks to exercise routines. She laid four-inch strips cut from yoga mats on the floor that attendees walked like balance beams They threw rubber balls like shotputs.
The biggest mistake people can make, regardless of age, is to not exercise, she says. “You just have to try it. Everybody starts somewhere. Aside from a few medical conditions, we can always get stronger.”
For people in their 70s and 80s, “stuff is going on. We have to modify,” she says. Among her other mantras: “Intentional underdosage,” “Live to fight another day,” “Something’s better than nothing,” “Less is more.”
Dr. Fetter is happy to see her clients enjoy better health and mobility, but “a cool by-product” is helping empower women to “take up space and make some noise.”
“We’ve been told ‘you’ll break yourself.’ We haven’t been allowed. That is changing. Women are finding out they are so strong.”
Many gyms and fitness centers around the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids area offer programs geared for older adults. We’re interested in profiling facilities and personal trainers that do an especially good job of working with older populations. If you have recommendations, please email Emery Styron, estyron@uiowa.edu or call 319-467-1435.