The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Strictly Ballroom: Margarita Sein and Ray Leuvano step in time at the Willows Senior Center's spring dance Feb. 20.

Glen personal trainer gives seniors strength

Oliver helps seniors fight arthritis, build balance and muscles

By Christine M. Lias

A year ago, Byra Wreden never exercised. In fact, the 83-year-old Peninsula resident says she was "completely sedentary."

Now Wreden exercises twice a week with a personal trainer. She recently went on a trip to Europe and has learned a lot about her body, breathing and physical fitness as a whole. "Exercise has given me a great deal more freedom to move," she says.

She also sees her doctor less and says she now receives fewer pain-relieving shots for the arthritis in her knees than she did just last year.

Wreden says she owes her physical success to Willow Glen resident Jeff Oliver and his personal training company, Personal Best.

For the past five years, Oliver and Personal Best have provided training to about 20 people, ages 30 to 93. A San Jose State University alumnus, Oliver has been in the fitness business for 10 years, working at the Palo Alto YMCA before creating Personal Best. His business extends from Woodside down to the Willow Glen area.

Oliver works with many senior citizens--about half of his clients are more than 65 years old--and has seen that the elderly don't have to give up exercise.

"By conditioning at home, you can make the body more functional," Oliver says.

Oliver and two part-time trainers bill themselves as in-home trainers. They make special trips to a person's home, bringing along a car-trunk toy box crammed with such fitness aids as free weights, stability balls and elastic tubing.

Although Personal Best uses personal training methods, it has created a niche for itself in Silicon Valley through physical rehabilitation, Oliver says.

A first session with Oliver is a complimentary consultation. Trainers complete a 12-point, musculoskeletal assessment and talk about goals with the would-be client.

"For some older people, those goals could be something like getting in or out of a chair [more easily]," Oliver says.

Clients are often drawn to Personal Best after an accident and subsequent referral by a doctor or friend. Such is is the case with Edith Frey.

Frey, an elderly woman who declines to give her age, met Oliver after hurting her left knee in a fall. A friend recommended she see Oliver.

"Personal Best has helped me a lot. My trainer gives me exercises to take, or goes on walks with me. ... While we're walking, he'll ask me, 'Are you breathing?' " Frey says.

Frey uses her personal trainer once a week. She says her physical health has really changed in her year and a half with Oliver.

"I've learned how to walk better, how to use a cane correctly. ... We went on a half-mile walk last Tuesday. I always feel better afterward," Frey says.

According to Oliver, Frey's balance and leg strength have improved, as has her mental outlook. "Many times the elderly are afraid of falling, and it's this fear that actually causes a fall sometimes," Oliver says. "The main thing that people don't realize ... [is that falling] applies to them."

Oliver suggests that seniors do repetitive exercises to strengthen muscles and improve posture. "For most elderly people, sitting up properly is a problem," Oliver says.

Oliver also suggests walking, an activity that he likes Personal Best trainers to incorporate with all clients. "Keeping with a basic regimen just by walking is one way to keep strength," Oliver says.

Oliver also oversees Bootcamp 2000, his pet project to help individuals start an aerobic routine. The group meets Saturday mornings at the San Jose State University track.

"I love my job. I love to help people be the best they can physically," Oliver says.

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