WOMEN WHO INSPIRE
COMMON SENSE AND ACCOUNTABILITIES
Maintain lifelong balance for optimum health
By VICKI BENNINGTON
Jody Blanton of St. Paul, Missouri works
hard to stay fit. Basically, she always has. But
seven years ago, not long after she entered
her fifties, she decided to take the whole idea
of healthy living a step or two further.
“We now have a young granddaughter, and
a grandson on the way, and I knew back
then that I didn’t want to be the kind of
grandmother that couldn’t push the stroller at
the zoo or swing with them at the park,” she
said. “It’s all about being as healthy and fit
as I can be and keeping myself strong.
“I don’t want to go into a slump ‘because of
my age,’” she added. “I rebel at the thought
that age could keep me from being active.
That’s one of my biggest motivators.”
The mother of five children, Jody said even in
the days when she worked full time and “had
no time” to workout, she made sure she still
found a way to exercise.
“I would go to work early, and run up and
down the stairs of the ten-story building
where I worked, showered, and then went to
work,” she said.
Now, her weekly workout routine consists of
three days of weight training and three days
of cardio, with one day of rest.
“I change up the routine every few months
to keep my body responsive to the workout,”
Jody said.
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For cardio, she may switch from a steady, long
run to High Intensity Interval Training. The
weight training might be changed from working
all muscle groups in a session, to focusing on
only one or two body parts per session.
Years ago she began setting aside an hour a
day to work out and to think about the effect
the food that she ate had on her body before
she put it in her mouth.
“That hour became my balance; my stress
reliever,” she said. “The more that became
my priority, the more my family respected
that time and began to emulate it.”
Though she said her diet is not as disciplined
as a fitness competitor, she stays focused
and eats what she knows supports her
GAZELLE WEST