Resident to start free group fitness program in Castle Pines
Marcio Stewart, who is starting a free fitness program for Castle Pines residents, stands at Elk Ridge Park, where the program will be held.
Article and photo by Steve Baska
Castle Pines resident Marcio Stewart, 49, says exercising is more fun and sustainable when you join a group for mutual support, so he is starting a local free fitness group called Castle Pines Fit.
Any interested residents are invited to join, from families to singles, at all levels of fitness, free of charge. Workouts will be held at Elk Ridge Park, south of Castle Pines Parkway and Lagae, about three days a week as the program begins, but could be increased later.
“Because there is no indoor workout facility in Castle Pines, we have to drive north or south to go to one, and that takes time that could be spent exercising,” Stewart said. “I don’t like that and I think a lot of other Castle Pines residents probably feel the same way. So, I’m doing a call-out to people interested in starting a fitness program together in January after the ‘food Armageddons’ of Christmas and New Years.”
Stewart will initially lead the workouts, which will focus on aerobics, body weight resistance and core strengthening of legs and back. “We’ll get a baseline of participants and then we’ll improve from there. So, for example, if you can only do three pushups, we will then improve to doing five.”
Stewart, a logistics consultant who grew up in England and has lived in the city for four years, runs and lifts weights at home, but he would rather get outside to exercise with fellow residents, he said. He has been in workout groups in the past and found them fun and good exercise. If his initial group of Castle Pines residents grows, he would like to add groups of different exercise levels and special interests, such as hiking, biking, running or walking groups.
Elk Ridge Park has several loop trails, a tube slide, a climbing wall, free-standing climbing boulders, a water play fountain, a maze, a pavilion with tables near playground equipment, a synthetic turf multi-purpose field, and three additional pavilions available for rental. Stewart says the fitness groups will probably meet there whenever the temperature is 30 degrees or higher. He hopes Castle Pines gets a recreation center someday, but adds “I don’t want to wait to see if that happens.”
For information or to sign up, call Stewart at 720-295-9726 or visit
www.bit.ly/castlepinesfit.
