Sandy Kaplan has always been active; as a teenager, she remembers ice skating on the weekends at Steinberg Rink in Forest Park and going dancing with friends in junior high and high school. “I still enjoy anything related to music,” she says. “It’s part of every exercise I do except for riding my bike.” Kaplan, who has two grown daughters who also are very active, works out at Wellbridge Athletic Club & Spa in Clayton every morning. “I love that it takes me about 5 minutes to get to the gym, and it’s fun walking into a class and seeing the same friendly faces,” she says. She varies her schedule to mix things up. “I’m small boned, so I want to make sure I do a lot of weight-bearing exercises,” she explains. One of her main classes is a choreo step aerobics class, which she tries to attend twice a week. “It’s a workout for your mind and body—great cardio, but you really have to concentrate on the dance part of it, too,” she notes. “Zumba is fun for the same reason!”
NIA is the newest exercise Kaplan is trying out. “It stands for neuromuscular integrative action and is an advanced form of fusion fitness, blending modern and jazz dance with healing arts,” she says. “It creates a high-powered synergistic workout that is very joyous.” Another class she enjoys is ballet barre, which consists of about 20 minutes of weights before the barre exercises start. “I used to take jazz classes when my daughter took dance, so I’m familiar with the moves,” Kaplan says. “It’s good for posture and balance.”
When she’s not doing something dance-related, Kaplan is on her bike. “There is something wonderful about biking,” she explains. “It’s a great way to wake up. I love being on the road in the morning when there’s no traffic, passing the same people every day who are also out getting fresh air. I don’t do any group rides or go for that long, but I always want to ride my routes when the weather is nice.” Kaplan, who is retired after decades of working in development at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, also finds time for her artwork, an integral part of her daily schedule. She often can be found at Craft Alliance’s clay studio working on sculptural pieces for shows, galleries and commissioned projects. She plans to continue her routine as long as she can. “If I can ride my bike in the morning, dance and work on my art as part of my day, I’m set.”
[the routine]
Every morning, I take a class at Wellbridge in Clayton. Depending on the day, it could be step aerobics, NIA (neuromuscular integrative action), Zumba, ballet barre or a weight class. The instructors are all great, which is key, and there is always fabulous music. I also love to bike outside, and I do that a few times a week. Some mornings before class, I’ll bike down Wydown Boulevard to Skinker Boulevard and back, which takes me about 40 minutes. On Sundays, I’ll bike to Forest Park and ride the trail.
Photo: Charles Barnes