Jazzercise News Releases

Mother, Daughter Differences Shape Choices in Exercise

Exercise Insight Handed Down from Jazzercise Generation to Generation

(CARLSBAD, CA – May 9, 2003) —Founder and CEO of Jazzercise Judi Sheppard Missett, says she recognizes more than ever the differing exercise needs of women - and she appreciates them in herself, her daughter Shanna and her new granddaughter Skyla.

"In my 34 years of teaching Jazzercise, I have learned that people's motivation to exercise is driven by their stage in life," says Missett. She notes that the women in her Jazzercise Simply Lite class (a low impact version of Jazzercise) enjoy the socialization, "but also seek to gain the balance and flexibility that can help prevent injury as they get older."

Missett and her daughter, Shanna Missett Nelson, are good examples of these life-stage differences. "My daughter, Shanna, and I follow similar exercise regimens, but our lifestyles have become demanding in different ways, and our workouts have become important to us for different reasons," she says.

Like other empty-nesters she's seen in her Jazzercise classes, Missett says her attitude toward exercise now places greater emphasis on improving her quality of life. On the other hand, she sees Nelson, the executive vice president of Jazzercise and a new mother, adding stress relief to the list of benefits of her exercise program. While the two now differ in their primary reason to exercise, they do share a common desire to be fitness role models for 9-month-old Skyla. Nelson's daughter, like many children, can benefit greatly from developing healthy exercise habits early to last throughout her lifetime.

Fitness Role Models
A fall 2000 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that obesity levels for children has more than doubled since the 1980s, exposing the youngest generation to a slew of growing health threats. The greatest cause, Missett says, is that children have become increasingly inactive, and a lack of adult role models who exercise exacerbates the problem.

"By establishing physical activity as a lifestyle choice in their early years," Missett says, "we provide our children with perhaps the most effective preventative medicine."

Missett knows only too well the importance of instilling an appreciation for living a fit and healthy lifestyle. Not only has she passed this passion on to her daughter, Shanna, but she regularly witnesses this phenomenon in her Jazzercise classes. Many participants and instructors were introduced to Jazzercise by their family members.

Because children often learn by example, active parents and grandparents improve the chances their children will be active as well. With two generations of Jazzercise women now as role models, Missett's new granddaughter, Skyla, will be sure to live an active life.

Missett and Nelson assert that programs like Junior Jazzercise are one way to establish healthy fitness habits early in life. Junior Jazzercise promotes a doctrine of healthy living - coordination, strength, endurance, nutrition and general physical fitness principles - and focuses on teaching these values as much as it does engaging kids in them.

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Jazzercise, created by Judi Sheppard Missett, is the world's leading dance-fitness program with more than 6,800 instructors teaching 30,000 classes weekly in the U.S. and around the globe. Since 1969, millions of people of all ages and fitness levels have reaped the benefits of this comprehensive program, designed to enhance cardiovascular endurance, strength, and flexibility. For more information, go to jazzercise.com or call (800)FIT-IS-IT.