At age 83, Bel Air continues his journey with the Baltimore Kettlebell Club

BALTIMORE COUNTY – Carol Anne Cassady, 83, is the oldest member of the Baltimore Kettlebell Club in Nottingham. He attends Strength for Seniors classes twice a week.

Kettlebells help build strength and endurance. That’s important for seniors like Cassady.

“Oh, it helps,” says Cassady, “because the weights you lift build muscle, and the muscles help build circulation and cause movement and increase bone density.”

Cassady, a retired nurse, has been coming to the club for over a year. She found out about the gym from her physical therapist after a bone density test showed slightly low levels, which could lead to osteoporosis. This makes seniors like Cassady more susceptible to fractures. So she found her own solution – lifting weights with a kettlebell.

“Oh, I have so much more energy. “I feel good,” she said. “I felt a lot better. I felt limber and agile and could do the things I wanted.”

And that’s the goal, says Baltimore Kettlebell Club owner Dan Cenidoza. The 45-minute class begins with a yoga-like warm-up. Then they start swinging kettlebells.

“It takes into account muscle strength, endurance, cardiorespiratory system, flexibility and then, provided you control your diet, also body composition,” he said.

Cenidoza was a bodybuilder when he was introduced to weight training. In 2007, he won the Maryland Strongest Man title and then began training others.

“I just really fell in love with it,” he said. “The idea that you can just get stronger.”

And he shares that love with club members like Cassady. He says he has no plans to stop any time soon.

“Oh no,” he laughs. “We can not do this. We can’t stop.”

The Baltimore Kettlebell Club offers kettlebell, strength training and mobility classes for children ages eight and up. They also offer individual training. The club recently moved to a new two-story gymnasium at 8019 Belair Road in Nottingham.

This is a Cenidoza family matter. All five of Cenidoza’s children train with kettlebells. His 16-year-old daughter Andrea competed in the Charm City Strongwoman competition this month. His wife, Jessica, wrote a book about kettlebell training after practicing it throughout her pregnancies.

“We meet people where they are,” Cenidoza said.