Lauran McHaffie

Regular exercise has been a part of my life since I began swimming competitively when I was nine years old. I continued my swimming career with some success winning the first of many High School State Swimming titles for Carmel High School. During this time, I honed my instruction skills teaching swimming lessons to children. After a short collegiate swimming career, I turned to aerobics classes for my fitness of choice. Upon my graduation, I joined a gym in Carmel, Indiana and ultimately went through their instructor training program in 1987. After getting married and moving to Toronto in 1991, I became more involved in the industry teaching upwards of 10 classes a week and learning new formats like step, and the slide. While in Toronto, I received my first group fitness instructor certification from ACE. I became certified in working with older adults, prenatal in addition to general population. I also worked with a group of overweight clients, but primarily with the Sports Clubs of Canada and #1 Nautilus. Upon returning to the States, I returned to my club in Carmel, Indiana and continued teaching step, low impact and muscle classes while working full-time. A move to Cincinnati brought a unique opportunity to work in a geriatric setting providing safe personal training type services in a nursing home. The Madeira Health Care Fitness Center is open to the public and the residents of the nursing home. As the Fitness Director, I am responsible for the training and staffing of this unique fitness center, catering to older adults and beginners. In addition, we have established yoga classes, weight loss programs, social events and more. Currently, we have nearly 200 appointments a week with three staff people. Having taught group fitness in five Cincinnati area clubs, I currently only teach group fitness at Gold's Gyms in the area, teaching primarily Body Pump and step classes.