By Cecilia Holling, Owner of Curves in Monterey Park

It was summer and I was furthering my health and fitness education by taking on line courses. With limited time and in the midst of a few horrendous heat waves I planned for cool salads, fruits and veggies. It was time again anyway for my inactive and sluggish family to “get the health and wellness talk!” I expected backfire as usual, however, something much more interesting happened.

One afternoon I sat in my study and overheard them sharing tidbits of health information I had been blasting for weeks over the computer speakers. Then shockingly I heard stories of their new exercise activities and my jaw dropped as they discussed ways to increase metabolism and the energy benefits of foods. As if that wasn’t enough to make aire de jeux gonflable my head spin that night my girls joined me outside for some exercise. Like crazy women we pushed our way breathlessly through a turbo fire-cardio-kickboxing program that made our heart rate soar past 250 bpm (ok perhaps a slight exaggeration). Right beneath

a quick undercut and high jump I saw through the sliding glass doors my son enter the garage, then his friend, then another friend, then my daughter’s boyfriend and finally my husband. 1-1/2 hours later I scraped myself off the patio slab of cement where we were finally stretching and I went inside to get a badly needed cup of cold water. It was the strangest sight. One dim light shone in the family room, the TV screen was black, the leather couches were free of bodies, and there were no laptops illuminated.

Then the door to the garage opened and I caught a glimpse of what was happening inside. There was a room full of TESTOSERONE and SWEAT! I had the most bizarre epiphany: All the family, including our guests, were EXERCISING!

My youngest daughter, 22, and her boyfriend are now jogging with their West Highland Terriers, Chester and Chloe, because they want to lose weight. My oldest daughter, 23, is now walking her dog Marley (the girl dog who was supposed to be a boy–another story for another time) because the plants and grass in the yard have no chance of survival if “Marley-cakes” continues to frolic and romp through them like a crazy horse. My son, 20, is now strength training, has a regular sleeping regimen, and has stopped eating out because he’s “tired of being tired” and doesn’t want to spend every minute feeling sluggish and sleepy. The biggest surprise is my husband. He put an exercise program together for our son and while coaching him, he began his own exercise routine. Not only do they all physically look and feel better they seem happier.

For now I’m enjoying seeing biceps flexing, the fridge full of veggies, and don’t mind (temporarily of course) the sets of dirty tennis shoes strewn about the house! Hmm, what else might we be able to do if we put our minds to it?

Cecilia Holling and dogs