Fitness Center at the Pasadena Senior Center Gets $70,000 Makeover

The Sy Graff Fitness Center at the Pasadena Senior Center, 85 E. Holly St., will soon undergo a $70,000 renovation, including new equipment, funded by a grant from The Ahmanson Foundation.

The community is invited to a ribbon cutting Monday, Aug. 28, at 11 a.m., when all-new exercise machines and equipment will be unveiled, including treadmills, ellipticals, recumbent cycles, exercise balls, an upright cycle, stepper, leg press, chest press, hoist flat, abdominal machine, ab bench, free weights and more.

Guests will tour the fitness center, enjoy light refreshments and help cut the ribbon that will signal the official reopening.

The equipment, designed for cardio exercises and strength training with older adults in mind, will replace existing apparatus that was purchased more than a decade ago.

Studies have proven that older adults who exercise on a regular basis can improve their flexibility, strength, balance, mind/body coordination, mood and more.

“As we get older and our bodies change, the best investment we can make is to work out and stay active,” said Akila Gibbs, executive director of the Pasadena Senior Center. “There currently are 400 users of the fitness center, and we always are happy to welcome new members.”

The fitness center is open seven days a week, including holidays. Members can exercise on their own under general supervision of specially trained volunteers or sign up with a certified personal trainer to help them achieve their fitness goals in a safe, nurturing environment. Membership is only $90 per year. In addition, strength training classes are offered for only $4 per class.

The Sy Graff Fitness Center is named for Sylvester “Sy” Graff (1921-1998) whose wife Dorothy donated the original equipment when the center was established in his memory in 1998.

For more information visit www.pasadenaseniorcenter.org and click on Sy Graff Fitness Center.

Founded in 1960, the Pasadena Senior Center is an independent nonprofit organization that offers recreational, educational, wellness and social services to people ages 50 and over in a welcoming environment. Services are also provided for frail, low-income and homebound seniors.