Joel Howard

Norfolk is undergoing a fitness craze. From Pilates to yoga to Zumba at church, people have more venues to pump it up and shake it out than seen in the recent history of this town.

A unique link in this chain is 7day recreationalists, a holistically designed exercise program devised by partners and Norfolk residents Bill Couch and Kate Briggs Johnson.

 The underpinning of their program is the belief that healthier residents are vital to building and sustaining a more vibrant community. As active volunteers for local organizations, Couch and Johnson both know that increased energy allows for more individual community involvement.  Using personal training, exercises incorporate outdoor activities with stamina enhancing routines with the aim of creating agile minds that spring from healthy bodies.

“We’re about people feeling better, having more energy and improved quality of life, not aesthetics,” said Johnson. This is the central theme that guides them as they assess an individual’s needs, whatever their age or past experiences at exercise.

Getting clients where they feel more energetic and active is attained through a regimen that revolves around five movements  –  pushing, pulling, squatting, lunging and turning. It is, they aver, these specific actions that serve to make the body strong in the very areas that a person relies on daily.

“These are the movements that develop a person’s core strength. Ultimately, it’s about living better this very day,” Couch elaborated. He also explained how they focus on the area from the hip flexors to the rib cage as the core body area, with special focus on a strong back, an area often overlooked and a common area of pain.

What also sets 7day apart is a belief in using the outdoors as a stimulant to both body and mind. Whether a person ultimately has a passion for hiking, skiing, or running, the outdoors adds an element of natural rhythm to the equation. As Couch pointed out, “not too long ago lives were lived working farms and chopping wood. Time has, in a way, been an enemy to the overall health of modern life.”

 “As an architect, my life was sedentary. I found that I was getting foggy in my thinking. Once I committed to exercise, the fog disappeared and my thoughts were much sharper,” Johnson attests.  “Exercise is like Miracle-Gro for the brain.”

Many clients have seen tremendous results working with 7day. “This is the strongest I have been in my entire life, and my back pain is a distant memory,” effused Lindsey Pizzica Rotolo. “But perhaps the most incredible difference is in my brain.  It has been years since I’ve had this much clarity and focus.”

Future goals for 7day include introducing healthier life choices to grade and middle school students, which will instill a bent toward living healthy. “Norfolk takes care of its own,” allowed Couch, reflecting back to the core belief of community betterment through healthy citizens.

Information about 7day recreationalist can be found at www.7dayrec.com.