Arriving at CrossFit Seymour at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Norma "Gram" Cottingham was ready to get active.
After spending a few minutes on a rower, she followed personal trainer Desiree Hall to a white board, where she learned what her workout would consist of that day.
She then alternated between doing bar lifts and standing on a stability ball. With Cottingham’s second time doing bar lifts, Hall added a couple of weight plates.
"Oh yeah, Gram. Beautiful. How’s that feel?" Hall said.
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"Heavier," Cottingham replied.
"You’ve got that right," Hall said. "Give me one more just for funzies."
Next up was a rotation of wall ball shots, walking while carrying two 18-pound kettlebells and burpees.
"Nice job, Gram. So good," Hall said as Cottingham got up from a chair, threw a ball at a wall, sat down and repeated a few times.
Moving to the kettlebells, Hall told Cottingham to think of walking with heavy suitcases.
Then it was time for Cottingham’s least favorite part — burpees.
Three minutes into the 7-minute rotation, Hall said, "Gram, you’re a rock star. Looking good. Feeling good?" Cottingham replied, "Yep."
In the third and final rotation, Cottingham had time for wall ball shots and carrying kettlebells.
"All right. Bring it home. The last hurrah," Hall said as Cottingham finished up.
Cottingham then was able to sit down and cool off with some well-earned water.
Oh, did we mention Cottingham is 89 and she goes to the facility at 209 E. Second St. three times a week?
To her, though, age is just a number. It doesn’t hold her back from trying whatever Hall suggests. No excuses.
"You don’t know you can do it unless you try," Cottingham said. "I always try whatever she says. I tell her, ‘If I can’t do it, I’ll tell you,’ but I try."
Hall said trainers always have Plan A, Plan B and Plan C for clients just in case.
One time, Hall was going to have Cottingham try jumping rope, but first, she gave her a Wiffle ball on a stick as practice.
"She was doing really good with that, so I gave her a regular jump rope and I said, ‘Gram, you want to try it?’ and she says, ‘Yep,’" Hall said. "She took one big jump and then fell right on her caboose, and I was like, ‘Well, now we know that we’re not going to jump rope anymore.’"
It’s all about trying, and Hall said Cottingham has always been willing to do just that.
"We’re very honest," Hall said. "I can really tell now by her body language if that’s the right fit or not, and sometimes, she gets a little bossy and says, ‘This is too easy. Next time, can do we do this?’ and I’m like, ‘Absolutely.’"
Cottingham and Hall have maintained a great client-trainer relationship since Cottingham started going to CrossFit Seymour about six months ago.
She had been going to another gym and remained active by walking and mowing her lawn.
"My granddaughter comes here, and she asked if I wanted to, and I’ve been exercising ever since," Cottingham said, smiling. "I’ve always been pretty active because it helps my mind and my body."
During her first workout with Hall, Cottingham was able to get to know her, find out how CrossFit works and learn what she would be doing during her two workouts a week.
"She got on the rower for a little bit and we talked about that," Hall said. "We went through about 5 minutes of just moving around and showing her some things, and she said, ‘I think this is going to be all right.’ I wanted to make sure that she felt calm and like this could be her happy place just like she had been happy working out other places."
When asked what kept her coming back, Cottingham pointed at Hall.
"I like her, and I liked what we were doing," Cottingham said. "I liked building up my strength and working on my balance."
In the beginning, Hall had Cottingham do workouts on Mondays and Fridays to give her some recovery time to get used to the things she was doing.
"I told her at the very beginning that she was going to be the machine. She wasn’t going to be using machines like treadmills and things that she had seen in the gym before," Hall siad. "We eased into that because her training should look no different than my training should look, no different than anybody else’s training."
CrossFit athletes do the same things, but the number of reps and what that looks like may be modified a little bit, Hall said.
"She does everything that anybody else would do," she said of Cottingham. "She runs, she does wall ball shots, she does burpees, and then once she felt comfortable, she would start saying, ‘You know, I feel really good about this.’"
With fitness, a person’s age or gender doesn’t matter. If they are willing to try different types of exercises, there’s no stopping them.
"You can be in the same class working with a 17-year-old athlete in school, a 63-year-old grandmother, a 35-year-old doctor," Hall said. "I like to say we’re all athletes here because we are no matter what. I want everybody to know that they are an athlete no matter what they do."
At 89, Cottingham is Hall’s oldest client. She also works with a client in their 60s, one who is 70 and a man who is 83.
"I have several active older adults, which I don’t like to call them that. They are legends in my eyes. We don’t use the O word around here," Hall said, referring to the word "old."
"She’s the most seasoned person we have," Hall said of Cottingham. "She’s 89 years young, and she works harder than a lot of the 30-year-olds that I see in this gym."
Cottingham said staying active and exercising are important because her doctor recommends both, and she wants to follow the doctor’s orders.
"I was having trouble with my balance, and I’m getting a lot better at that," she said, noting her strength has improved, too.
"You can open up those pickle jars now," Hall said.
"I’m a lot stronger," Cottingham replied.
She also keeps going to CrossFit Seymour because of Hall.
"I think her and I have become friends," Cottingham said. "She has made me what I am."
Even when the gym was closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she kept exercising.
"Oh my gosh, she was chomping at the bit to get in here," Hall said. "The three days that we would normally see each other, I would give her a call, ‘How’s it going? Did you go for a walk?’ She would do some sits on her couch, wall pushups."
Like the Energizer Bunny, Cottingham plans to keep going and going and going.
"As long as I’m able," she said, smiling.