Thursday, July 10, 2025

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There are certain things you just don’t do after 40.
You don’t ski, skate, play tennis or baseball, train to run marathons, lift weights, engage in any physical exertion that breaks a sweat, and…under no circumstances are you to stray more than seven feet from the television remote.
Or you could heretically put yourself back into the shape you were in at 22. (Well, you can get close!)
If your idea of physical activity is directly connected with Pepsi, pretzels, and a proximity to the remote on a Sunday afternoon in fall, then Dottie Drake has some words that will likely cause a few beads of sweat to appear on your upper lip.
“You don’t get old because you’re 60, or 80,” she said. “You get old because you lose muscle and bone. It’s belly fat—not age—that makes you old.”
Drake spoke from the floor of her newly opened “Miracles: Fitness,” recently moved from the Village Shoppes of Rio Grande to her spacious state-of-the-art facility behind Joe Canals at 408 Rio Grande Ave.
Drake, a registered nurse and founder (1998) of Miracles: Fitness, has been getting people to forget their numerical age and get back to a better life—a life that starts on a foundation of exercise.
“Cardio work is good for you,” she advised, “but if you’ve suffered a loss of muscle, then you’d better get yourself to a weight room.”
It’s the resistance movements, she said, that builds the muscle back up, and it’s always a good time to start an exercise program—no matter your age.
“You see older people walking around like this, all hunched over and moving slowly,” she said, demonstrating with a slight crouch as she shuffled along. “Well, that’s not because of age; that due to the muscles in their legs deteriorating—the quadriceps, the hamstrings. We have machines that isolate those muscles.”
And it’s the machines that line the wall of Miracles: Fitness that really are the heart of the gym. You’ll find treadmills, steppers, elliptical machines (sitting and standing), even dumbbells, at Miracles: Fitness, but it’s the numerous Keiser Pneumatic resistance machines that set it apart from every other gym…at least every other gym I’ve ever seen.
“This is the system used by NFL (National Football League) teams and by high-end personal trainers,” Drake said. “They are pneumatic, not hydraulic. Hydraulics only work one way. With pneumatics, the pressure is there both ways, so you get both the positive resistance and the negative. Body builders will tell you how important the ‘negatives’ are.
“And it makes no difference if you’re lifting a pound of lead or a pound of air. The resistance (and the benefit) is the same.”
But one huge difference is safety. With pneumatics, there’s no danger of dropping a 30-pound dumbbell on your foot. And there’s one other enormous advantage to pneumatics.
“You can instantly increase or decrease the resistance by simply pushing the button on the handle,” she said, pointing to the buttons, ubiquitously located on every handle of every machine.
The weight can be pushed up or down by just a flick of the finger; you need not even get up or change position. You can bench press 90 pounds on your first repetition, then go to 100 on your third, 110 on your fourth, 120 on your fifth…up to, what?
“Sort of unlimited,” Drake said. “I know we’ve been up to 500 pounds. You just increase the air pressure as you need it.”
The machines are hooked to a centralized pneumatic power source, so there’s no variability between machines. And there are machines for every body part or muscle group—arms, back, legs, abdomen.
Miracles: Fitness has every new member go through a health assessment and evaluation upon joining the gym.
“You can work independently if you choose,” Drake explained, “but as a nurse and owner, I want to make sure people workout safely.”
The initial evaluation cost $75, but as a grand opening bonus, Drake is waiving that fee for all who join during the month of October.
“And free re-evaluations are provided every four-to-six weeks throughout your membership,” she said. “You may have to change your routine as your health improves.”
Miracles: Fitness is not only bigger, newer and better (with large-screen TVs in front of the treadmills), but there are also plenty of other upscale amenities to make this a club where you may really enjoy spending your time.
There’s a juice and snack bar (healthy snacks only). She was offering samples of their “Recovery Shake,” for that after-workout boost. (They were “mango-tango.” Very tasty.)
They will also be selling equipment, like heart rate-monitoring watches, and workout gear.
There’s another new addition—a Lux Far Infrared Sauna Therapy. “The same kind of sauna used at St. George’s in Europe,” Drake explained.
Drake’s son, Nick, will be offering classes in performance athletic training for kids, and MC Fitness will be available for those who want a personal trainer.
In the works is power yoga, facials, massages, aerobics, power palates, and always, there’s Dottie Drake’s personal attention to every detail as it pertains to peoples’ health and well-being. You can work independently, or in a classroom structure.
Drake and Husband Tony Geinotta have seen to every desire when it comes to molding the better, healthier you—new locker rooms, special workout area for the handicapped (close by to staff and the main entrance), plenty of off-street parking, and a new, bright building.
So if you’re 40, or 60, or 80, or more (Drake’s oldest member is 98), remember, it’s not the number of candles on your birthday cake that’s aging you; it’s probably the cake itself and your refusal to work it off that causes that weakness in your back, legs, arms, abdomen (oh, that abdomen).
As Drake said, “…you’d better get yourself to a weight room.”