Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont internship, for the Journal Opinion
BRADFORD — Twenty-nine-year-old Cheyenne Dunnells graduated from Oxbow High School and earned a degree in psychology from Southern New Hampshire University. She now works as a residential director for Averte, a residential mental health facility in Bradford. She also teaches group fitness classes at Always Fit Athletic Club in Woodsville. Dunnells sees an overlap in fitness and mental health and tries to bring those benefits to her community.
Q: How did you first get into teaching group fitness?
A: When I first started working at Averte, I joined a local gym that did group boot camp classes, and I fell in love with movement, fitness, and wellness.
We always learn about the obvious physical benefits of exercise, but the mental health benefits really stuck with me. As someone who experienced anxiety, I felt so much better after I would move. My mood was regulated, I felt like I was more energetic, I wasn’t focusing on as many irrational thoughts. So I really fell in love. I pursued my certified personal training certificate and eventually became a group trainer myself. I’ve been doing that for about four years.
Q: For readers who aren’t familiar with group fitness, can you explain your classes?
A: When I started it was a lot more boot camp style, and I think people hear that and think burpees and endless push ups and pull ups—and we still do those things, it’s just that now we’ve tweaked it to be functional. Always Fit 45 is what the classes are called now. We have people as young as 18 and as old as 70 or older, and as the age range varies, the lifestyle changes. So we’ve incorporated mobility, strength, conditioning, and recovery days, not just those high intensity workouts.
We’ve gotten a really great response to this because people will share, “This used to be really painful for me, but now I can do it.” For instance, carrying groceries inside. It seems like an easy task for someone like you and I, who might be younger, whereas someone who’s aging may struggle. And we’ve seen vast improvements and changes in people who are comfortable with being strong, and moving, and moving pain free.
Q: What’s the community like in your classes?
A: Sometimes gym culture can be very toxic, or viewed as very toxic, and I don’t experience that. People are here because they want to be, and there’s the shared mindset that we’re here for ourselves, to be better every day and create relationships with people who are aligned with what we want for ourselves.
Q: Do you think it’s difficult for some people to access gyms or group fitness classes in areas like Bradford?
A: I think accessibility is hard, and I wish we had more options for the local community. There’s Always Fit in Woodsville, and R.E.P. and Fairlee Fit in Fairlee. And that’s it, unless you want to drive to Lebanon, or Hanover, or Lisbon. And most people don’t want that. They don’t want to travel before or after work, or be home late, or get up early.
Someday, my goal is to be able to open up a fitness center in Bradford, because it’s so needed. It is more than just working out. It’s a place for people to find community. It can be a home.
Q: What is your mission as a wellness professional, in both the mental health and fitness field?
A: My mission, I think, is to do good. That’s really important to me. I think we can easily focus on the things that are going wrong rather than the things that are going right. So if I want to do anything in this world, I want to just do good, and make people feel good.
Q: Is there anything else you want people to know?
A: It’s a really rewarding and fulfilling lifestyle, investing in yourself. I’ve heard people say that even just having friends in a class has really changed their life. And coming to these classes has made them feel more empowered and their self-esteem has gone up. I can relate to that: when you do something hard, that you think you couldn’t do, it just brings another level of confidence. Because it is hard. Changing your life is hard. Working out is hard. But it’s rewarding to do hard things and everyone should experience that feeling.