Renu is one of the few training facilities in the country that exclusively focuses on working with adults over 40 helping them turn back the clock. As the years go by many adults pick up aches and pains from past injuries, medical procedures or just sedentary lifestyles.
Working with a body at 40 much less 60 and over is quite different, requiring a unique knowledge base and experience level. Renu acquired just that rare experience after operating out of the Vanderbilt Orthopaedic Institute for 8 years*. Combined with the founder Dino Nowak, being one of the few Exercise Physiologist (ACSM) and Medical Exercise Specialist (ACE) in the country. Plus, additional credentialing specific to adults over 40 including a Functional Aging (FAI) and Older Adult Exercise Specialist. (Cooper Institute)
We’ve seen repeatedly with the over 40 population one of two things happen. Either the individual trains on their own or with a general personal trainer, exercises and movements are selected that even if done correctly aren’t appropriate for their current posture, mobility, joint integrity, injury and medical history, etc... and the person eventually becomes injured. Most programs too quickly push individuals past their current health and body preparedness states, training as if they were still in their earlier decades when the body was very forgiving.
Or the other approach is taken and people are treated with kid gloves not appropriately challenging them out of fear thus failing to reap any meaningful benefits.
At renu our members get an appropriately challenging workout adapted to their individual level. One that can accommodate multiple physical challenges and still be fun. A workout that builds them up, makes them feel better with less pain and empowers rather than beats down. Or makes them feel embarrassed because they couldn’t keep up with someone decades younger next to them.
In our approach, we take clients through a screening and assessment process that looks at their posture, how they move through their daily activities and any asymmetries in their movement patterns. We then develop corrective exercises, stretches and mobility drills to address those discovered challenges. Appropriate exercises and movements are modified and/or removed until they regain proper function. We believe in not putting fitness on top of dysfunction or doing random exercises for the sake of “working out” everything we do has a specific intent behind it though the client may not realize it.
Sometimes if the issue is structural i.e. advanced arthritis, scoliosis, spinal fusions, etc… we work on making them the most resilient, strong and functional they can be with our goal to delay further degeneration and make their life as comfortable and functional for as long as possible. With aging, we’ve learned not everything can be fixed but it can be made as good as possible and slow the advancement of consequences than if the individual didn’t do anything just giving in.
For most however, by addressing their posture and movement patterns we reduce much of the aches and pains of poor body alignment. Increasing their cores’ strength and endurance as well as their stabilizer muscles we again improvement body alignment, reduce the risk of falls and improve overall physical performance allowing them to train progressively harder with more enjoyment.
Thus, improving health outcomes and returning to them a more vibrant, resilient and active life. Many of our members are engaging in activities they stopped years ago, everything from water and snow skiing to hiking more challenging terrain and expanding their travels. Often, they are able to reduce and come off medications entirely as they improve their health, saving money and eliminating potential side effects of those medications. Despite being chronologically older most perform at levels years younger than their age and drastically outperform their peers in physical tasks, energy capacity and overall quality of life.
All this is done via safe and conservative training protocols that go at the pace of the individual, often requiring modifications based on the medical history of the client and recommendations of their physician and/or physical therapist. We also do this in a semi private environment making the services we provide more affordable and providing for many a much-needed source of social interaction and a positive and supportive community.
Over the years renu has become a referral destination for the medical community, in fact close to two dozen medical doctors train themselves with renu due to the reputation we’ve earned. This also makes our members have greater confidence in working with us and is a unique selling position afforded to renu most training centers cannot claim.
With the baby boomers aging and consuming more medical services we are in a powerful position to make a real impact in those individual’s consumption of and their health care expenditures. We will be opening a second location in Raleigh, NC first half of 2018 and the goal is to franchise this model to help it rapidly spread and serve the over 75 million baby boomers in the US alone. This is an under served market and our history, medical references and powerful transformative client testimonials put renu in a strong position to be a leader in this space.
-We are in the early stages of developing the franchise model if you would like to be first on that list to be notified simply email us at info@renuhealthandfitness.com with your information and location-
*(not an implied endorsement by Vanderbilt University or Vanderbilt Medical Center)
