Preferred Seating

8216;8216;Give me a straight punch,8217;8217; Reymann says as the group unleashes a flurry of rusty right and left jabs. 8216;8216;Keep that elbow soft. I don8217;t want that joint to snap at the end.8217;8217;

Before joining the staff at Charlestown, Reymann8212;who grew up just a few miles away and was a basketball star in high school8212;spent 14 years as a fitness instructor in conventional health clubs.

Her current clients might not be as buff as her former ones, but she says they8217;re more appreciative and more fun to be around. The only special attention they require involves accommodating medical conditions that can run the gamut from artificial hips to multiple sclerosis.

Reymann, 42, makes a point of tailoring movements to different ability levels; for example, demonstrating low, medium and high leg kicks that can all do the job of elevating a heart rate.

Turning her attention to the abdominals, she tells those folks who are popping out of their chairs trying to perform double-knee raises to ease up: It8217;s OK to lift only one knee at a time.

8216;8216;Pretend there8217;s a 100 bill between the butt cheeks. Don8217;t let it fall out,8217;8217; Reymann barks as the class stands up and marches in place, arms still pumping. She8217;s a stickler for proper posture.

The class moves on to throwing imaginary punches while holding one or two-pound dumb-bells. They chop imaginary wood to target the shoulder and back muscles, then do some leg lunges, performed either standing up or half-seated on the edge of their chair.

Meanwhile, the mood music is tripping down memory lane, having switched from thumping disco to the brassy Broadway bleat of Hello, Dolly. Everyone is bent at the waist doing dumb-bell rows, otherwise known as the 8216;weed pull8217; exercise.

8216;8216;Your balance is much better. Two weeks ago you were all over the place,8217;8217; Reymann says to Jane Prince.

Prince, a vigorous 8216;8216;83-and-a-half years old,8217;8217; as she says, started chair aerobics more than three months ago in search of what she calls 8216;8216;some upper body muscles8217;8217;. She found them. She also has gotten rid of the pain in her achy back.

8216;8216;I very much want to stay independent,8217;8217; Prince says. 8216;8216;I will do anything to improve my health.8217;8217;

Milt Levitt, 73, knows his health probably isn8217;t going to get better, but maybe his balance will improve.

8216;8216;I have Parkinson8217;s,8217;8217; he explains, 8216;8216;and my claim to fame is that I fall a lot.8217;8217;

Levitt spends most of his waking time in a wheelchair. That doesn8217;t stop him from attending Reymann8217;s aerobics class and marvelling at the instructor8217;s energy.

8216;8216;Teresa8217;s a whiz,8217;8217; he says.

Levitt8217;s left hook couldn8217;t break an egg. And he can barely lift his right arm anymore. Nonetheless, he rolls his wheelchair into the room every Tuesday and Thursday and puts up his dukes.

You don8217;t always need a knockout punch to be a great fighter.

LATWP