Marmora duo, for whom activity is a way of life, offer tips, center’s website
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
MARMORA – For Carrie Merritt and Lisa Rumer, a couple for whom physical fitness is a way of life, they have one message for people stuck at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic: Keep it moving to feel better physically and mentally.
The Marmora duo are well known in fitness circles, Rumer because of her work at the Ocean City Aquatic and Fitness Center and Merritt because of conditioning local athletes, many of them at Ocean City High School, through TLC Performance Training.
In combination, they work with all ages, from the adults and senior citizens at the Aquatic and Fitness Center to high school and college athletes – not to mention various events for children. (Think Superhero Run where kids dress up as their favorite heroes and race.)
Rumer said although the center is closed to prevent the spread of the unique coronavirus, it remains open in the virtual realm with classes available online to anybody who is interested.
“My feeling is you need to take the time for yourself,” Rumer said. “We’ve always said it is important … to get some movement, but boy is now a really important time to schedule it in and make sure you’re getting some movement. It makes you healthier. It makes you feel better. It makes you stronger.
“There is so much out there that you can do at home,” she added, “whether it is just some meditation or some chair yoga.” She also suggested Tai Chi or more vigorous workouts.
It’s also a good time to try something different or to take bits and pieces of different workouts. “Maybe it’s not an hour of full core cross-training, but it’s four or five different things you can put together.”
She agreed that one advantage of going online to get information or follow along with videos is that people don’t have to worry about any fear of embarrassment of trying something new in front of a crowd.
“Lisa’s instructors have been really on the ball,” Merritt said, “sending her videos to share with the patrons at the Aquatic and Fitness Center. They’re doing their part, thinking about their clients.”
“And we pulled that together pretty quickly,” Rumer added. “We try to figure out how we can manage to stay in touch (with clients) either visually or just with written workouts.” She said although there is a “ton of stuff” available on the Internet, the advantage of using sessions and information from the Aquatic and Fitness Center is knowing the source: “to have someone you’re familiar with, to see their face, to know it’s their workout.
Another aspect is reaching out to the clients who have lost part of their socializing that goes with exercising. She said it is important for them to know someone is thinking about them.
“That’s where their outlet is,” she said of the Aquatic and Fitness Center. “It’s coming to the gym and seeing people and they seem to be appreciative of just the email (we sent) checking in and saying, ‘Hey, it’s Friday, just in case you forgot like I did what day of the week it is.’
“We posted some new workouts. We revamped (the website) so it’s easier for you to navigate. They’re emailing me back if they’re not a Facebook person and I can send them some links, but yes, they need that contact and it’s so important to them the movement that they get so any type of motivation that we can give is important,” Rumer said.
To reach the workouts and other information, go to the city’s website, ocnj.us, go to Recreation and look under Announcements. (The direct web address is ocnj.us/Recreation-Announcements/).
Popular video workouts include Zumba, pilates and barre and general workouts that run anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes. The chair yoga workouts are good for older clients who use very low-impact or water workouts.
“You can pick and choose a couple options on there to make sure you’re spending some time for yourself during the day,” Rumer said. The feedback has been positive and has come with requests for different videos or just telling the staff they went for a walk. She likes passing those messages on to the staff because “they’ve given so much of their time and effort and I want them to feel … that the members really appreciate them.”
High school and college
Merritt works with college and teenage athletes and has been sharing weekly workouts with them. “I’ve been encouraging them to all text each other or start a phone call before they start the workout because many of my clients, whether they’re kids or adults, are used to having a training partner,” she said. “It’s kind of motivating to call that person you usually walk or run with and say, ‘Hey, I’m starting my workout now and even though we can’t do it together, let’s virtually train. Let’s do our usual.’ That way you have a buddy who’s suffering in solitude.”
Merritt also has done some Zoom sessions – online connections that allow her and a group of others to be on at the same time. She also emphasized the social and mental aspects of the workout.
She was working online with the Ocean City High School girls lacrosse team and had a “mental boost” session instead of one where she was torturing them with a heavy-duty physical workout. (A hallmark of teams that Merritt trains is their boundless energy on the field. That comes from intense training.)
The mental boost was when she “checked in on their social and mental piece of the puzzle right now because so many of the people – whether they’re 85 and going to the (Aquatic and Fitness) Center or they’re 18 and working out with me, are not getting that release, like Lisa started to say, that plays into the whole struggle of this time as well.
“The first part of the things I’m talking to teenagers and my kids about is the awareness that this is a time we are not used to and it’s OK to have good feelings, it’s OK to have bad feelings, it’s OK not to feel motivated right now,” Merritt said. “How can we handle that? For the seniors, yes, you’re losing your senior season. But it’s not the end of the road and how can you find happiness and fulfillment during this period? My job as their physical training coach is to encourage and to find fun ways to keep them moving during a time like this.”
Whether old or young or somewhere in between, Merritt said, speaking for herself and Rumer, “The more we move, the happier we feel.”