Bio: Denver native Nadyne Leedom has led exercise classes at the Washington Street Community Center near her childhood home for more than 30 years, and is still going strong at the age of 90. A retired federal employee, she worked 33 years as an auditor for the General Services Adminstration, including “seven years of exile to Kansas City,” and until she gave up driving last year, owned an orange 1969 Pontiac Firebird that was the envy of countless male admirers. Married once, for nine years ending in 1946, she lives in the Observatory Park neighborhood with her son, Victor, and her dog, Shadow, a Lhasa apso-poodle mix.
The Journey: Leedom got into the fitness game as a middle-aged pupil in an exercise class led by a young woman at the center in the 1970s. “She gave up,” she says simply, “and I took over.” Today she teaches two mornings a week, leading one group of 10 to 15 seniors in no-impact floor exercises and a second, seated group in chair exercises stressing flexibility in arms, knees and other joints.
“She’s limber as can be. She gives us a solid, 45-minute workout,” says Barbara Bouche, 62, who’s been in the more active class since 1999. “It’s amazing,” says John Heppting, 71. “It doesn’t seem like it does any good. Then you don’t do it, and you feel it.”
The Strategy: “I don’t try to change people’s lives, and I don’t give a hoot about weight. The point is to keep moving and keep all your joints working,” says Leedom, who always brings a boombox to the workouts, spinning mostly oldies but sometimes even hip-hop. The reaction to that? “They don’t tell me,” she says.
Dressed in sneakers and a sweatsuit, she leads her classes by example, moving without pause through an established sequence, announcing position changes in a quiet but firm voice. “Now, on your knees,” she may say. “Relax. Now, push.” She rarely strays from the chosen routine but doesn’t hesitate to switch gears if she sees a need. Recently, she added some finger movements to the chair regimen after getting inspired by the song “Happy Talk” from the musical “South Pacific.”
The Details: Leedom stands 5 feet tall and weighs just 90 pounds. “I don’t feel like I work for my health,” she says. “I just try to work all the muscles, and I think your own muscles can do a lot more for you than any machine. The last time I was in a gym, I was in high school.”
She donates all her fees to the center, and has been recognized by the Broncos organization and received a Minoru Yasui award for her volunteer work. On her 90th birthday earlier this month, the community center – which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year – named the big room where she teaches Nadyne Leedom Hall.
Exercise
Group fitness workouts two hours two mornings a week, plus gardening, housework and daily walks with the dog.
Diet
Breakfast every day, usually cereal and a banana, with a main meal at noon, taken at the community center three days a week. Supper is “a little soup or something,” often followed by vanilla ice cream, but no caffeine after 6 p.m.
