

“The gym scene for me became a toxic environment,” Kelsie says. As a trainer, it was easy to put on a veneer of confidence, but inside she continued to battle with negative self-talk. It worked, and Kelsie shed the weight, but the lifestyle was corrosive. She became a personal trainer to lose weight, and with so many workouts, she was sure she would finally attain the body she wanted. However, she struggled with body image issues for years.Ĭompetitive bodybuilding in her early 20s caused her to develop a body obsession, which led to severe depression and a binge-eating disorder. She’s a certified personal trainer and yoga instructor and has led hundreds of classes and was a popular coach. Kelsie, 28, has always had a career in fitness. “I needed the core exercises, and I’ve noticed a difference in my muscles, and it’s given me a little bit more to strive for,” Patty says. One of the greatest advantages of the ISO-Stick for seniors is that it offers a core workout without getting up and down from the floor, which can often be difficult for older people. “Kelsie made it fun,” says Patty Lechner, a retired nurse and resident at Mission Ridge. Kelsie developed a new isometric workout routine that employed the spring action, which gave the residents an even better workout. They were a hit with residents who say the ISO-Stick was an improvement over the wooden dowel they used previously. She continued to tweak the design, and by November 2018, she built enough ISO-Sticks to outfit the students in her exercise classes at Mission Ridge. “It was just a mess, but it worked,” Kelsie says. What followed was another 12 hours in the garage, working late into the night, to deconstruct all her supplies and build what she envisioned. She needed to find components for her invention but wasn’t even sure what they looked like. Then, she hit up Home Depot, wandering the aisles looking for inspiration. The next day, she spent several hours drawing up a prototype of what would later become the ISO-Stick. Kelsie imagined a hollow, lightweight stick with a spring inside to create resistance. She envisioned a stick that would provide adequate stability and security but was fluid enough that it could provide feedback for balance and resistance for a workout.

Kelsie is a tinkerer - the never-give-up kind - and one sleepless night she got to thinking about her Stick-Fit classes and what she could improve. “When you ignite your core and build strength, it helps you live your everyday life.” 1 things doctors recommend is that people work on core strength,” Kelsie says. Kelsie was having a blast teaching them, and participants improved their balance and strength. They were a hit, and the twice-a-week classes quickly filled. Kelsie took the idea to her supervisor, and after a quick trip to the hardware store, Kelsie started what she called “Stick-Fit” classes at Mission Ridge. Kelsie knew immediately the dowel-assisted exercises would be perfect for the more unsteady seniors in her classes. She used the long, wooden rod for strength exercises and balance support.
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In the video, the woman demonstrated a series of simple movements, both sitting and standing. John’s United Mission Ridge independent living facility. Kelsie came across the YouTube video while researching new exercises for seniors at St. Kelsie is the inventor of the ISO-Stick, a high-tech riff on the broomstick she saw in a quirky fitness video, and her idea is taking off throughout the region. Families report gains in incoordination, visual tracking, and reading.Not many entrepreneurs can say they were inspired by a spry old Russian woman with a broomstick, but Kelsie Hansen knows a good idea when she sees one.

These activities can take place one-on-one or in groups and many kids bring home the balls and activities as part of their home programming. Many of our therapists have taken training to use Bal-A-Vis-X movement activities with their clients. Bal-A-Vis-X enables the whole mind-body system to experience the symmetrical flow of a pendulum.” Requiring multiple thousands of mid-line crossings in three dimensions, these exercises are steadily rhythmic, with a pronounced auditory foundation, executed at a pace that naturally results from proper physical techniques. “Bal-A-Vis-X is a series of some 300 exercises, most of which are done with sand-filled bags and/or racquetballs, often while standing on a Bal-A-Vis-X balance board. The program stands for Balance/Auditory/Vision/eXercises, Bal-A-Vis-X is a program that was developed by Bill Hubert.
