As people age, it is natural for them to see their physical fitness deteriorate. However, local fitness trainer Adam Ayash has committed himself to slowing the decline in physical fitness that too many senior citizens experience. Through a resistance-based regimen, Ayash is making it easier for the elderly to maintain control of their bodies.
Ayash said he always wanted to go into physical fitness. He attended Virginia Tech, where he got his undergraduate degree in human nutrition, foods and exercise before returning to Northern Virginia and getting his master’s degree from George Mason. Ayash worked as a fitness trainer and professional model before focusing on his own business. In 2016, he established Armada Fitness LLC, growing it over the years to a strong local business. He tapped his entrepreneurial spirit and started another business with his father, Ted. The pair makes artisan health bars for All Day Health Bars.
Soon after starting his fitness business, Ayash began to focus on a population of individuals needing fitness that he hadn’t worked with before: the elderly. As Ayash explains, his friend, Joey Lynch-Flohr, opened an assisted living center, Cobbdale Assisted Living, and asked Ayash to help some of the residents. Since then, he has become a staple in multiple assisted-living homes in his quest to keep residents moving, including Trillium Assisted Living.
Helping the elderly with their mobility is a “forgotten segment” of the fitness industry, said Ayash.
“Fitness is, especially now, very mainstream and focused on the glam, the fat loss, and looking good,” he said. “This segment of the population is not really focused on that, and what I’ve been doing for the past few years is helping them.”
Ayash understands that the people he is training at these assisted-living centers aren’t going to be moving heavy weights; at this stage of their lives. He said it would be irresponsible for him to expect that. Ayash focuses on resistance training, a model that mainly uses body weight and mobility as tenets. He attempts to alleviate disorders like sarcopenia, a health condition that leads to the degradation and loss of muscle mass during aging.
“Resistance training doesn’t have to be lifting weights,” said Ayash. “Getting your body under your load so your muscles don’t degrade is important. In the older population, when people get stuck in wheelchairs or in bed, that process accelerates. I like to get them moving, get the body fluids going to maintain that function.”
Ayash works to make a difference with senior citizens, even though it can’t easily be seen physically. Unlike clients focusing on bodybuilding and weight training, his senior clients seek different results. He is looking to improve their movement and mobility.
“I have worked here with very remedial stuff, not like the glitz and glam that is on the internet,” said Ayash. “It is all about getting people moving… The mental aspect is so key for their overall well-being.”
According to Ayash, helping the communities where he lives is one of the most important aspects of his work. He gets the opportunity to impart a little joy in the lives of people in his community who might get forgotten. He said exercise of any kind can lift spirits, and even taking a walk can help someone feel better.
He recounts working with a client who had Parkinson’s disease and was unable to move very much. Ayash helped him get up and walk for a little bit, allowing the client to feel better.
Ayash said he gets joy from helping his senior clients.
“Maintaining movement while people can is so important,” said Ayash. “Movement is one of the most intimate things of being human.”
More than anything, Ayash attempts to make the time these people have left as healthy and enjoyable as possible. He thinks that through fitness, the goal is to make life easier from a physical perspective. He acknowledges that his work aims to help his clients make the best of their situations.
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