Howard Radin has been on a roll for 15 years, running a mobile gym and maintaining a rigorous fitness regimen. The personal trainer and cyclist, 56, is celebrating a decade and a half of operating Wellness on Wheels, but he’s also enduring a forced slow-down after tearing a ligament in his thumb and has been sporting a cast.
“I ride my bike in the canyons over 200 days a year. I’m an aggressive rider, but this happened five blocks from home,” says the avid mountain biker and unicyclist who has dedicated his career to helping others stay in shape.
Wellness on Wheels is a 34-foot Winnebago filled with Cybex machines and free weights. Radin makes house calls weekdays between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., and specializes in working with older adults. He studied gerontology while earning his degree in adult fitness and exercise science at Metropolitan State College. After working as a trainer at Greenwood Athletic Club, he started Wellness on Wheels in 1997 ().
Q: How did you come up with the idea of putting a gym into a Winnebago?
A: There were other mobile applications that I had been aware of — people would bring workout equipment to people’s houses, I knew of a mobile recording studio, and that planted a seed. A client at Greenwood said, “Do it or shut up about it.”
Q: So you did it. How much did you invest to start with?
A: $100,000 to start back in ’97. You can’t come to someone’s house with lower-level equipment.
Q: How’s the van holding up?
A: It’s got 140,000 miles, a second engine, had a broken windshield, and it needs a paint job. But the equipment has held up, and I keep the place clean.
Q: How often do you visit a client?
A: Trainers try to fool people by saying “you need to see me three, four days a week,” but for seniors — once a week. You need more recovery than you need work. People who work and work are constantly wearing themselves down. I tell my clients, “work plus rest equals benefit.” There’s a fine line.
Q: What are your three top health tips?
A: Lift weights. Lift weights. Lift weights.
Q: Why?
A: Strength training can increase bone-mineral density, muscle tissue, metabolic rate and your functional abilities. It can also improve low-back health, glucose metabolism and blood lipid profile (cholesterol).
Q: There’s so much conflicting fitness information out there. Where do you go for good advice?
A: I recommend “Strength Training For Seniors: The Facts” by Wayne Westcott, a Ph.D. author. You can find it and other columns at . I also refer people to , the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. And providehas a body mass index test, and information about fitness, exercise and nutrition.
Q: What about your goals?
A: My goal is to ride up Mount Evans when I’m 80. I like the hill climbs — it’s hard work and it gets the heart going. That’s what motivates me to live a healthy life.
Q: Are you trying to help people live longer?
A: I’m not trying to increase people’s longevity, I want to decrease the number of chronic ailments as you age.
Kristen Browning-Blas: 303-954- 1440; kbrowning@denverpost.com.
