Issue link: http://www.wacmagazine.com/i/920099
34 WAC Magazine | wac.net RON LYNCH Amid heavy bags that hang from the ceil- ing, WAC member Ron Lynch dely winds orange hand wrap across his knuckles and wrists. Beat Box class starts in a few min- utes, and Ron is standing in Studio C on the 4th Floor. He's lean and toned, wearing a tech-fabric T-shirt and long black shorts. Hands ready for business, he grabs a jump rope and joins the whirring and clicking of the warm-up. Ron looks every inch the journeyman boxer. But the 59-year-old banker is rela- tively new to Beat Box, or any fitness class for that matter. It's one of several habits he adopted just last year while participating in the WAC's Wellness 360 program. "It wipes me out," he says about the fierce session of calisthenics, shadow-boxing, and sparring. But he keeps coming back for more. Instilling new positive practices is a hall- mark of Wellness 360, which starts with an eight-week immersion that provides mem- bers a comprehensive fitness, nutrition, lifestyle and recovery program. It delivers a mix of education, support and accountabili- ty that focuses as much on developing good routines and smart decision-making as on hitting specific fitness or weight-loss targets. Meanwhile, Ron hardly seems like a man who needs better fitness habits. Even before Wellness 360, he made hiking the cardio-buster trail up Mount Si a semi-reg- ular activity, and for years he's been a steady presence at the WAC. "I come in, I jump on the Stairmaster, I'll go do some machines," he says. But he watched his weight inch up to 193 pounds from his gold standard of 175. "I wasn't doing enough to bring the weight down and to give me the kind of energy I was looking for. Going over 190 was a wake-up call." WAC Nutritionist Eric Chen, who leads the Wellness 360 program, calls that the Harajuku Moment—or "oh my gosh" moment—when something shakes up your thinking in a fundamental way. For Ron, it was crossing the Rubicon of 190. For other members, it has been a major health concern, such as surgery or an injury; or getting bad cholesterol results or blood-pressure readings; or, as in the case of one 74-year-old member, realizing you simply don't have the energy to play with your grandchild. When awareness leads to the desire for change, Wellness 360 calls in the A-team to get it done. Pulling together a variety of health and wellness components—including personal training sessions, unlimited group fitness classes, nutrition con- sultations, wellness coaching, B-12 shots, and even a salon makeover— in one package, the program puts members on the right path to feeling and looking their best. Ron can testify. He got down to his target weight and gained muscle mass. Now he says he's eating smarter, developing more effective workouts, and staying diligent about flexibility and mobility exercises. He's also sticking with Beat Box. Per- haps most telling, his wife, Oralia, followed his footsteps and entered her own Wellness 360 program.