Fitness Expo motivates those New Year's resolutions in Arlington Heights

It's the first week of 2015, and we all know what that means, don't we?

Sure we do. Time to turn our New Year's resolutions for better health and fitness into a sparkling reality.

To prove we really mean it this time, we'll need some motivational fitness slogans off the Internet.

First, something for the ladies: "Sweating like a piggy, so I can look foxy!"

Now, for the guys: "I bust mine so I can kick yours!"

OK, back to the ladies: "You're only one workout away from a good mood!"

Guys: "Guilty as charged! I just killed my workout!"

Wait, this isn't working nearly as well as it should. Maybe Saturday's Fitness Expo at the Arlington Heights Park District's renovated Camelot Community Center had a better approach.

The expo offered free classes in yoga, spinning (indoor cycling), zumba, meditation, barre, "boot camp," even special sessions for the 55-plus age group.

The expo also featured healthy eating tips from Jewel nutritionists and samples of healthy drinks and food from sponsors Corner Bakery and Pure Juice.

That the expo fell on Jan. 3 was no scheduling fluke.

"What better time to kick something like this off for the New Year?" said Stacey VanEnkevort, park district fitness supervisor. "We wanted to get people in who were making health and fitness their New Year's resolutions."

So, the expo was just a ruse to get people into free health and fitness classes?

It worked.

Despite slick road conditions and freezing rain threatening to go full-throttle sleet, people showed up at the Camelot Community Center, 1005 E. Suffield Drive, to participate in the renovated venue's first big event since its grand reopening in October.

"It's awesome!" said Kelly Teich, who moved to Arlington Heights from Evanston six months ago.

She showed up with daughters Zoe, 4, and Phoebe, 2, to burn some running-shoe rubber on the indoor track. (Trivia item: 15 laps equal one mile.)

"I'm here to support the park district and get a jump on the new year," Teich said.

Bev Cook lived on Chicago's South Side before she moved to Arlington Heights 20 years ago.

"I've been trying to get the (district) to offer spin here because no where else in Arlington Heights can you take it," Cook said.

"I've been taking it in Mount Prospect for a while, but that's too far to go and it's inconvenient. So, this will be good because this gets my heart rate up."

Brianna Walker came all the way from Palatine to check out the new Camelot.

"I'm not disappointed," she reported.

"I got a lot of information. I've done the barre class. That was challenging. I'm a little tired and I'm ready to eat!"

Brianna's aunt, Tracy Walker, moved to Rolling Meadows two months ago from Louisiana. And she echoed her niece's assessment.

"I've been to the Jewel nutritionists and the barre class, and I'm heading to zumba," she said.

"It's a very nice place, very spacious and there's a lot going on."

Boot camp instructor and park district physical trainer Martin Sacalski said it would be a mistake to think of the expo strictly as a New Year thing.

"Any time you get the motivation to start up a fitness or health program you should go for it," he said.

"We don't want to just capture our residents for a couple of weeks. We hope these programs help them create healthy lifestyles." Sacalski moved to Arlington Heights from San Francisco six months ago, but grew up in Wheeling and met his future wife Jennifer at Wheeling High School.

"I know it sounds like a cliche, but I know from my own experience that life really is what you make of it. What you put in is what you get out."

Now that's a motivational fitness slogan.