James Hall is pumped up…in more ways that one.

He’s got a dumbbell in each hand, a pretty sizeable one, too. He’s using them, and he doesn’t feel like he’s about to pass out or get sick. He’s not longing to be sitting on his butt at home. He’s not dwelling on the long, hard day he had at work. He’s exorcising it through exercise, regaining his energy, and getting fit and healthier in the process.

Over on the treadmill, his wife Beth is doing the same. Both of them are smiling, looking good and feeling great.

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The Bogalusa couple has been working out regularly at the Bogalusa YMCA Avenue B Fitness Center for two months, and the effects have them excited and determined to stay the course. The Halls have medical issues, and the exercise has already produced tangible results.

“I had open heart surgery, four bypasses, in January, 2004,” said James, 56. “I had a heart attack after (Hurricane) Katrina. And I’ve been an insulin-dependent diabetic for 16 years. I was taking six or seven shots a day. Now, for the last three weeks, it’s just one. I went from 100 unit’s a day down to 15.

“In two weeks I see my diabetes doctor. I can’t wait to see what he says about it all.”

Beth’s doctor should be pleased, too. Before the two got serious about getting in shape, she was taking six pills a day for her Parkinson’s Disease. Now, thanks in part to the regular workouts, she’s down to only one, she said.

The Halls work out an hour and a half a day, seven days a week. That’s a lot, but they’re motivated. Another Fitness Center regular who said he lost 34 pound in four months puts in about an hour five days a week, he said. Still others said they try for at least three days a week.

The center is available 24/7 since members use swipe cards for entry. It has treadmills, free weights and machines to work various muscle groups.

Chief Volunteer Officer Stuart Parker said the YMCA mission is to help enable everyone to build a healthy body, mind and spirit, and the benefits of physical fitness extend throughout.

Regular exercise can not only improve health, like it has the Halls, it can keep it from getting to the point of needing improvement, he said. 

“The YMCA promotes preventive health care,” said Parker. “And the Bogalusa YMCA practices that.”

While study after study has extolled the benefits of regular exercise, today’s lifestyles, complete with too-long work days and only two speeds—hectic rush and complete standstill—leave many people saying they’re too tired or too busy to even walk a few laps around the park.

Hall urges everybody to get motivated.

“I’m here because of my wife and my grandson, Taylor Scott,” he said. “He’s 13, and on the first day of football camp, spring training, he was out of breath, tired. He looked sick. I told him, ‘You’re doing something me and your daddy couldn’t do.’ That got me to thinking about it.”

Beth was pleased.

“My wife had been asking me since January to do this,” said Hall. “We finally did it in June.”

Two months later, he realizes it was a good move. 

“I used to try to push mow part of my yard in 30 minutes,” said Hall. “Now it’s 10 minutes and I’m through. I don’t even have to slow down.”

And now Hall and Scott can compare muscles. The teenager has gotten in shape.

“He showed me his six pack and I said, ‘Papa’s working on a six pack,’” he smiled. “He said, ‘You can’t have an old six pack.’ Just wait and see.

“Next summer I’m going to get Taylor’s twin, Tyler, who’s more of a computer person, on a program. By the end of the summer he’ll look like a bull.”

Hall said he used to go home after work, take a nap and “sit on the chair the rest of the night.” But rather than making you more tired, exercise gives you increased energy, the Halls agreed. They urge everyone to give it a try.

“You have to be self-motivating,” said James. “Give it a 30-day trial. You’ve got to get into a routine. If you don’t see and feel a difference, go back and sit on the couch.”

Beth said it helps to work out with a partner. Her partner agreed.

“If she was not here, I would never do it,” he said. “We do two separate, different workouts, but we’re still here together.”

They’re both feeling good and getting better, they said.

“My doctor said I’ll need to work out the rest of my life,” said Beth.

She won’t be alone.

“Oh, I’m going to have to keep it up,” said James. “Now that I see what it’s doing, I’m going to have to.”

As the couple picked up the pace, James had one additional bit of advice.

“Don’t worry about living longer,” he said. “Worry about living today, about feeling better today.”

For information about the Fitness Center, call the YMCA at 732-3741.