Special
Features / January 2006
Body of Work
 Sherry McCay
|
By Pat Lawrence
No one ever had to tell Sherry McCay to shape up. She was exercising with the television celebrities at three, and at seventeen, she was already a certified fitness instructor.
Sherry’s incorporated her interest in physical fitness into her career as a health professional. She began teaching fitness classes for friends and classmates while she was still attending WVU-P. In her first position as a registered nurse at Parkersburg’s St.Joseph’s Hospital, Sherry worked with in the psychiatric unit with children and adolescents. She implemented fitness programs for the young patients and found that they responded well to structured, but fun, fitness activities. “They became more relaxed and more focused when they were participating involved in fitness programs,” she says. Her fellow employees benefited too, since Sherry always encouraged them to attend the on site fitness programs she offered.
After almost nine years in mental health, Sherry transferred to Obstetrics and Gynecology, but she never stopped teaching fitness and providing training, on the job and off. As an OB/GYN nurse, Sherry instructed child-birth education classes, but she also presented a specialized exercise program specifically designed for pregnant and post-partum women. She says, “Exercise for these women lessened the discomfort of pregnancy and helped women return to their pre-pregnancy fitness levels after delivery.”
Sherry’s experience in psychiatric nursing led to an offer from a private mental health where she later became director of nursing and ultimately CEO. In her off- duty hours she remained personal trainer to long time clients and taught exercise classes when she could.
Sherry’ last nursing position was the impetus for her to finally focus all her attention on fitness and prevention. “Hospice really pushed me into prevention. As a hospice nurse, I began reaching out to individuals with health issues like cancer, MS, Parkinsons, arthritis, and many more conditions. I saw smokers dying while their families stood by with cigarettes in hand. I saw the cumulative effects of overeating and inactivity and just became more passionate about doing what I could to help people change their lives. Fitness became an extension of my nursing.”
For four years she divided her time between directing activities at an outpatient physical rehabilitation and teaching her own fitness classes. Finally, in November, she opened Sherry’s Custom Fitness. An experienced personal trainer, and a certified Tai Chi Arthritis facilitator, she offers a full range of fitness classes, from step aerobics to kickboxing, for women, men and teens, for athletes and homemakers, for seniors and for those with health conditions. Her students can jump into the high energy music and ambience of a turbokick class or increase their flexibility with a specially designed Tai Chi class with lunges and stances suited to someone with arthritis, osteoporosis or joint problems.
Sherry says, “We use machines, weights, medicine balls, stability balls, dynabands, even punching bags to help clients achieve the strength, body sculpting or just flexibility they want. For those who want to lose weight, or gain muscle or bone mass we offer a non-stop, strength training class using high reps, low weight, no rest but low impact. It’s a fast paced training program designed for maximum muscular endurance and maximum sculpting results. But we also offer a Fusion class that combines light yoga, Pilates and Tai Chi movements. Cynthia Martinsen, DO, teaches Step and Sculpt, a class of high intensity, low impact movement performed on and off the step. Athletes come for conditioning and toning, and we offer a restorative class for lightweight strengthening and balance training with a goal of increased range of motion and mobility.”
Still, six days a week, much of Sherry’s time is spent one on one, helping clients implement the fitness regimen that has been personally designed for them. Her clientèle is as varied as the fitness classes-new mothers getting back in shape, men on weight loss plans, teens preparing for sports, patients referred by physicians to help them meet long term health goals. She says, “A lot of what we do is conditioning and strengthening. It isn’t necessarily about being thin. It’s about being healthy.”
For more information, call Sherry’s Custom Fitness, 1100 9th, Street, Suite D, Parkersburg, 304-488-3831 or visit www.SherrysCustomFitnessAndPersonalTraining.com.
Copyright © 2005-2006 A Woman's View. All rights reserved.
Top • Home • Subscribe • Advertise • Submit • Distribution • Contact
Support Our Advertisers • Organization Resources • Women Owned Business
Designed by Livewire Studio
Send an Email About This Article