Seventy-one years young, Sandra Horwitz has only been working out at Beach Cities Health District’s Center for Health & Fitness (CHF) since January 2019, but she’s made solid strides in improving her overall strength and condition— even when faced with a potentially life-threatening condition, Sepsis.

Caused by the body's response to an infection, Sepsis occurs when the body experiences a chemical imbalance, triggering changes that can damage multiple organ systems. The disease quickly sent Sandra to the hospital and began delaying her fitness goals. Her New Year’s pledge to stay active in retirement began to falter.

However, once she was back on her feet again in May, Sandra returned to CHF and began attending the Medical Exercise Training (MET) course in order to regain her strength. She enthusiastically recalls that at the start of the class, she could only do 4-5 repetitions on the stepper, but by the end of the course, she had worked up to a couple minutes of non-stop stepping.

It was also through MET that Sandra met CHF trainer Lisa Greene, who she began working out with one-on-one when the class ended. During their twice a week sessions, Sandra exercises her arms and legs with free weights, a few machines and stretches for her core muscles. Two to three times per week, Sandra additionally puts in a forty-minute cardio workout on her own.

Today, Sandra and her doctor are thrilled with her progress. She’s built up her endurance, increased her step machine time from three to twenty minutes, and can get in and out of a chair just on sheer leg and core strength, which was something she struggled with before. To top that off, her better-balanced hemoglobin numbers are helping keep her Sepsis at bay.

Her next goal – getting her blood pressure down.

We know you can do it, Sandra!