ANACONDA — About a year ago Dustin Hanson and Jessie Orrino decided to open up a CrossFit gym in Anaconda. Just last month, Smelter City CrossFit welcomed in two new members: Orrino’s 81-year-old grandmother Midge Marcotte and 85-year-old grandmother Joan Moodry.
“I was basically doing it for Jessie, and I was curious to see just what CrossFit was — she’s been doing it for years,” Moodry said. “So I came to see what was going on and I enjoyed the few little things that she had me doing. I’m like Midge, my balance is off, so I was really interested in seeing if that would help, and it has made a difference.”
Orrino has taken on the task of personally training her grandmothers by herself. Both Moodry and Marcotte had the same goals in mind – improve their balance, energy levels, and the quality of their everyday life.
“My balance is off, and that’s why I’m worried about walking around. And I can get up off the chairs easier,” Marcotte said.
“That’s the main thing about CrossFit, is it helps promote longevity,” Orrino said. “And so for my grandmas, that’s the one thing I want for them, is to be able to carry their groceries from the grocery store to their fridge in a sense, or to garden, stand up, sit up out of their bed — just live functionally. That’s what I want for them and to do that as long as they can, so I kind of weaseled them in here and it’s been fun.”
It’s only been one month, but both Moodry and Marcotte have seen the dividends that CrossFit can pay. The two come in twice a week for 30 minutes a day to work out with Orrino. They have both seen a boost in their energy levels throughout the day, partially attributing that to being active early in the morning.
“I keep telling (Orrino) a lot of the things that she gives me to do, I say, ‘I can’t do that,’ and she says, ‘Try it,’ and I did,” Moodry said. “So it’s worked pretty well for me.”
Moodry has tried to expand the number of elderly in Smelter City CrossFit, but to no avail … yet.
“And I’ve tried to talk some of my other friends who are a little bit older into coming, but they aren’t quite sure about it yet. So maybe I’ll keep at them,” Moodry said.
