Cedars-Sinai Offers Free Summertime Exercise in the Park

Cedars-Sinai Healthy Habits program is sponsoring its fifth year of free Exercise in the Park. The exercise classes are led by Cedars-Sinai Healthy Habits personnel and are open to the public every morning for four days a week from mid-June to mid-August. The one-hour exercise class combines Zumba, aerobics, strength training and stretching.

More than 50 participants are regulars at the classes in the West Adams neighborhood and community residents look forward to it every year.

“We get ongoing consistent participation from neighborhood locals and what we’ve found is that they continue to exercise after the summer classes have ended,” said Carolyn Buenaflor, associate director of the program. “Parents bring their children and grandchildren and are exercising together. It’s good for the families, for their health, and for the sense of community it brings to the neighborhood.”

As part of a strategic effort to combat childhood obesity, Cedars-Sinai created the Healthy Habits program to help children and families learn about healthy eating and physical activity. In addition to Exercise in the Park, Healthy Habits educators lead programs for elementary school students, parents of preschool children, and families in underserved communities.

The free, one-hour classes are held at 8:30 a.m. every Monday and Wednesday at Westside Neighborhood Park, located at 3085 Clyde Ave., Los Angeles, 90016.

The Tuesday and Thursday classes are held at 8:30 a.m. at the Vineyard Recreation Center, located at 2942 Vineyard Ave., Los Angeles, 90016.

“It’s just great to come (to exercise) especially in the morning when it’s all fresh,” said participant Leticia Gonzalez, “and of course it’s good for our health, for the heart and just in general for everything in our life.”