Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Estelle Underwood. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Estelle, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
This is a great question as earlier in my life I never knew this fitness business would become my purpose. But now I see that it comes down to teaching, which has always been my purpose ever since I was a young child. I began my career as a teacher in bilingual education. Loved it and was so inspired by it. I took a “break” (which is still going on 40 years later) to raise my two children–now 42 and 38 years old. As a former gymnast, exercise and fitness had always been a passion–and a necessity–for me. So that part of my life continued while child raising. While pregnant with my second daughter, we moved to the San Gabriel Valley and I became a member of the local YMCA. It was there that one of the directors approached me and asked if I’d be interested in teaching an aerobics class. I was stunned! Me? I was terrified, but agreed to give it a try and found that I absolutely loved it! I continued as a volunteer on a regular basis, and as my classes grew in numbers, I was offered a paid position. Long story short, I later rented space from a local dance studio and went out on my own, publicizing my classes through local preschools. It was a huge success, and after a period of time, I took a risk and in the early 90s opened up a larger studio of my own, where I expanded my certifications and training in various areas. Thus, the birth of Bodyworks for Total Health. I’ve never looked back.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
As my business has evolved over these many years, as a certified senior fitness consultant, I now work with the 50+ crowd. This isn’t your typical “senior fitness program”—these are results-focused workouts designed specifically for aging bodies. Unlike “cookie cutter workouts”, they are very specialized and individualized for every client, making them extremely effective. I love it because every client’s needs are different, keeping my focus varied and distinctly different from client to client. For some, it means general fitness–improving and maintaining mobility, muscular strength, flexibility, endurance, balance, and everything relevant to daily function. For others, it’s all the aforementioned skills but with a focus on improving bone density when there are issues of osteoporosis or osteopenia. For those who have had joint replacements, certain exercises are contraindicated and some exercises are critical to improving the function of those joints. These are just a few of the many examples of special needs that show up in this population. I work with clients from 50 all the way into their 90s because it is never too late to gain muscle, strength, flexibility, and mobility. And these skills are necessary to achieve “successful aging”.
One of the things I hear from clients on a regular basis is how they love the fact that every workout is different. We continue working toward all the same goals, but I vary the exercises regularly and find that it keeps clients excited and motivated. Boredom is never an issue, and their bodies are responsive because of the variety. They feel challenged–and so do I! It’s fun! In order to maintain my ability to provide these cutting edge, up to date varied workouts, I spend a lot of time indulging in continuing education. It’s a path to staying on top of the latest research and thus being able to deliver results to my clients.
I see most of my private clients at my home studio in Los Angeles five days a week, but with a very full client load, in order to reach more people I offer two other options. I teach a live Zoom class three times a week, offering workouts relevant to seniors at many different fitness levels. If the live class times are not possible for some clients, the same classes are recorded and fed into our “Bodyworks On Demand” program so that people can access our ever growing library of workouts for seniors on their own time for only $69.99 per month or $599 per year. This program can be accessed with a one week free trial period by visiting our website at www.mybodyworks.fit. We are currently working with a marketing company and will soon be launching a YouTube channel as well as offering a newsletter with valuable information relevant to seniors who want to enhance their quality of life through exercise. I invite anyone interested to check out any or all of these services. Also available is a “Contact Estelle” page on our website where people can reach out to me for more information or to get on our email list.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The first thing that comes to mind is my ability to “listen” when teaching individuals. I learned that early on in my adult life as I was teaching school and then raising my children, and adults are no exception. We all have concerns, fears, insecurities, and issues that impact our lives, and when being trained to effectively move our bodies, those issues come up. I’ve found that I cannot expect the same physical performance from every single client. I have to listen and pick up on unexpressed cues from them in order to encourage them to keep moving forward. It’s my job to meet them where they are and make them feel safe–and heard.
Another skill that has been impactful on my journey is my understanding of how the body works. It is first and foremost in keeping my clients safe so as to encourage exercise without the fear of injury. 35+ years of working with clients plus a whole lot of education has given me knowledge and expertise to help them learn to move effectively and safely. I have the honor of helping them understand their bodies so as to have a command over their anatomy–even in a limited way. It’s empowering to empower others. Anatomy is an amazing thing, and I will always have more to learn myself, thus my own education continues indefinitely.
Diversifying my own education has been crucial in my success. Being certified in any one area is not enough. As we age, we undergo changes in health and physical abilities, and it has been of great value to me to study these changes and how they are impacted–either positively or negatively–by exercise. These are a few of the certifications I hold:
AFAA Certified Personal Fitness Trainer & Group Exercise Instructor
Senior Fitness Consultant
Zibrio Balance Specialist
Self Myofascial Release
Functional Movement Systems (FMS) Certified
For those people who are embarking upon a fitness career working with seniors, I would advise that they continually seek out and participate in various educational offerings–courses, seminars, lectures–whatever they can find to add expand their expertise. Education is invaluable. You cannot train every client in the same way, and you especially cannot train a senior in the same way that you would train someone in their 20s and 30s. It’s just not smart or possible. Learn to be flexible and versatile in your planning of workouts. That takes education and observing more experienced trainers. Great trainers are in demand as there are approximately 76 million baby boomers currently in the U.S. Consider the opportunity there! Helping seniors in this way makes for a wonderful career!
Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
Both. In my line of work, I believe in going all in on our strengths so that others can benefit from that expertise, but I also see so much value in improving on areas of lesser strength. It’s here that I have seen so much growth on my part over the years. For example, many years ago I had my first experience of training a client who was going to undergo knee replacement. I realized that while she was recovering, I had to increase my knowledge of what her post surgery limitations and requirements would be–as well as what kind of additional training she would need to reclaim her mobility and function–safely. So I indulged in many seminars and hands on classes to learn what I needed to know.
Another client ruptured his achilles tendon and was determined to keep exercising while getting around on a scooter and not being able to bear weight on that leg for many weeks. He called me up and said, “You have to figure out a way to keep working me out while I’m going through this!” So I did, and it took a lot of imagination and creativity to do so. To this day he still teases me about writing a book with him entitled, “So You Think You Can’t Exercise? Think Again!”
That same client just last year had undergone a radical back surgery where his spine was fused and stabilized with titanium rods and “clips” all the way from T-4 down to L-5 S-1. That’s the majority of his spine. He was recovering for more than one whole year and became very de-conditioned, losing the muscular strength that we had worked on for years before due to inactivity. He came back this past April, and I was presented with a spine that cannot ever again forward flex, laterally flex or rotate, or extend. What do you do with that? Well, you dig out everything you know and come up with a plan to strengthen his entire body without asking his spine to do any of those things. Respecting those limitations, you strengthen the muscles that support his spine, as well as train all the other muscles in his body. Just as an example, in order for him to lie down on his back on a mat on the floor, he gets into a kneeling position beside the mat, gets on hands and knees, and lies face down. Then he rolls like a log onto the mat. And from there, we begin our floor exercise. The possibilities are endless. But he trusts me and knows that I won’t hurt him. Today, 4 months later, he is getting back into great shape.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mybodyworks.fit
- Instagram: @mybodyworksfit
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/mybodyworks.fit/
- Linkedin: estelle-underwood-555b6923
Image Credits
Stephanie Miller
Ross Johnsen
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