Davis gives all at YMCA

Published 8:41 am Monday, July 18, 2011

Atmore Area YMCA fitness director Maria Love-Davis, right, works with Rufus Sharp at the YMCA’s fitness center on Thursday morning.|Photo by Chandler Myers

Fitness at the Atmore Area YMCA goes beyond working out or taking aerobics classes.

Fitness includes knowing how to work out properly as well as what it takes to get into shape.

Learning those things is easier with an employee such as Maria Love-Davis on staff at the Y to teach members about getting shape the right way.

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Davis, the fitness director and aerobics instructor for the Atmore Area YMCA, spends her days interacting with members who come to workout or use the Y’s facilities.

At the Y, Davis performs several different tasks.

All of her jobs surround helping the members who come to the Y, she said.

“I do a little bit of everything,” she said. “I oversee the fitness center, teach aerobics and work as a personal trainer.”

As a fitness director and instructor of aerobics, Davis gets people on the right routines for working out.

Along with working out she makes sure that each member is connecting with not only her, but other members, she said.

“I put people on programs, work with aerobics, help people who are coming in from the doctor and make sure people are socializing here,” she said.

Placing people on the proper programs is something that takes personal interaction with the client.

Several pieces of information go into deciding the right program for each person because everyone is different, she said.

“I find out about their physical health, their age, their weight and their fitness level” she said. “I start them out slow to make sure the program is designed for them. It’s not like one size fits all, so I have to see each person individually to get them in the right program.”

Despite working with people at the Y for almost nine years, Davis has never had trouble adjusting to any member.

Adjusting to the person is something that is easy to do, she said.

“I guess I’ve been doing it so long that I am able to adapt to whomever I am working with,” she said.

With all of the work that Davis does at the YMCA each and every day, she always finds the right attitude.

Gratification and doing her job is something that keeps her going every day, she said.

“I get 100 percent satisfaction out doing this,” she said. “This is my blood and it’s why I get up every day. I’ve been here eight years and it’s just as fresh today as it was eight years ago.”