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Great exercise - Great crowd
Holiday Inn aerobics in Williams

Members of the Energizer class meet at the Holiday Inn in Williams on Monday, Wednesday and Tuesday each week with instructor Georgeanna Koenig.

Members of the Energizer class meet at the Holiday Inn in Williams on Monday, Wednesday and Tuesday each week with instructor Georgeanna Koenig.

Aerobics instructor Georgeanna Koenig hardly needs an introduction in Williams. She's lived and taught exercise for a number of years in town and even teaches in Flagstaff at the Black Diamond Spa. Her classes are well-attended, due in part to the great exercise and also thanks to Koenig's bright personality. Koenig and fitness seem made for each other.

Koenig teaches aerobics at the Holiday Inn in Williams, offered via the city of Williams. Her classes are free to the public. She's been teaching aerobics in Williams since 1996. Prior to that she instructed in California.

Koenig said one of her focuses in aerobics has to do with safety issues and maintaining a strong quality of life.

"We have really focused now on group fitness, not so much cardio all the time, although cardio is a big part of exercise, but the industry feels like there's so much more to exercise than just the old fashioned aerobic classes. They used to run 45 minutes to 55 minutes of cardio. That's what aerobics classes started out as and now they have shifted back to what they originally were, working on things that actually improve the body quality," Koenig said. "These issues are a real concern for me, about osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, how am I going to keep my joints strong, so that I can preserve my quality of life? As we get older, those are the things that we lose. We lose our strength in our joints, we lose our muscular strength."

Koenig said she discusses a lot of health related topics in her classes as well.

"I don't spend the whole class talking," she said. "But I am a big talker, especially for my group, my peer group. It's never too late for older adults to take an interest and be motivated," Koenig said. "A lot of people think that older adults would rather exercise by themselves, but it's not true. They would like to be with their peers."

Koenig also works at the Black Diamond Spa at Summit Health and Fitness in Flagstaff when not working in Williams. She attends the international Idea Group Fitness Convention each year to keep abreast of the latest fitness news and trends. Education classes at the conventions cover topics such as cycling, Pilates, stability balls, step, choreography classes, gliding and many others.

"They even had a striptease class this last year," Koenig said. "It's gaining popularity and a lot of people like it."

She teaches six classes a week in Williams. Monday through Wednesday she teaches a light challenge class that begins at 4:30 p.m., one that is suitable to a variety of individuals, such as those who may be recovering from injuries.

"Anybody can come to that, but especially people that are a little more issue-oriented, older adults, pre-natal, post-natal, people that are just getting back into exercise and haven't done it for a long time, those are the people that would enjoy light challenge," Koenig said.

Koenig instructs the energizer class beginning at 5:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday. Roughly four to eight individuals attend Koenig's light challenge class, while 12 to 18 people typically attend her energizer class. Classes are held in the Grand Canyon Room of the Holiday Inn.

"I try to incorporate Pilates and a little bit of yoga in our warm-ups and our cool-downs. Whatever I do in Flag I do here. I try to incorporate a lot of those things," Koenig said.

She also extended her thanks to both the city of Williams and the Holiday Inn of Williams for hosting the classes.

"I give the city kudos and all kinds of accolades for the great job that they've done in bringing a program to the people. They sponsor me. The Holiday Inn, they get all kinds of congratulatories, too, because they host me and have for the past three years. They've been so good to me and so has the city of Williams," Koenig said.


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