Barb Davis, 58, has always made fitness a priority in her life and grew up playing sports in high school, including gymnastics and softball.
The Duke Energy project manager and her husband joined Unbreakable Athletics Academy after their recent move to Monrovia in the pursuit of more land.
As an avid Crossfitter for several years, Barb’s primary motivation has always been to stay healthy, stay fit, and to stay as mobile for as long as possible. “I don’t want osteoporosis and I want to build good strong bones. I’ve lost some agility with getting older and I want to prevent even more loss.”
Eight million women and two million men in the United States are estimated to have osteoporosis, and experts say it is now responsible for more than two million fractures each year.
“Numerous studies have shown that strength training can play a role in slowing bone loss, and several show it can even build bone. This is tremendously useful to help offset age-related declines in bone mass. Activities that put stress on bones can nudge bone-forming cells into action. That stress comes from the tugging and pushing on bone that occur during strength training. The result is stronger, denser bones…
And strength training…targets bones of the hips, spine, and wrists, which are the sites most likely to fracture. What’s more, resistance workouts — particularly those that include moves emphasizing power and balance — enhance strength and stability. That can boost confidence and reduce fractures another way — by cutting down on falls.” *
What Barb really loves about Unbreakable’s Crossfit classes is that she doesn’t have to come up with workouts on her own, and that there is always a coach here that is watching what she’s doing to ensure good form and technique.
“I also think it’s more fun that everyone is ‘dying’ together. And it doesn’t matter that I may not be as strong as someone beside me, because we are working as hard as we can within our abilities.”
Her favorite exercises include ab work and pushups, or any gymnastic based movement, but she finds snatches difficult to master mostly due to the speed required to get under the bar. Barb’s husband also attends Crossfit. “We both have different things that we are good at and we push each other.”
But, one thing about Crossfit still perplexes her. “What’s with double-unders? Why can’t we just do regular jumping?” she asks comically.
