Do you have fond memories of middle school parties at the roller rink, but likely haven’t laced up your skates since? Bored with your fitness routine? There’s a growing fitness trend that just might be the perfect fit.
Shape your booty
- derbylite.net
- Derby Lite Headquarters,
D’Lite House (The ARC Building)
18 Chicago Ave., Oak Park - Six locations
With the motto of “roller skating for fun and fitness for women old enough to know better,”Derby Lite was created by retired roller derby player Barbara Dolan. Fondly known as “Queen B”in the rink, Dolan says women build strength, endurance, balance, agility and flexibility while also building confidence, making friends and reducing stress.
Derby Lite’s weekly workouts are a high-energy 90 minutes filled with basic skills, skating drills, upper body exercise and stretching. With women ranging from 18 to 65, there are beginner, intermediate and advanced sessions that create results for every participant.
At 53, Sharon Halperin, aka “Novakaine,”has been taking classes at Derby Lite for almost two years. “Derby Lite is empowering and makes you feel strong, like you can do anything. It helped get me out of my old boring exercise routine and learn something new with a great group of women,”she says.
“Plus, when people find out you do it, they are amazed.”
Stacey Stern, aka “Hell Vetica,”started classes last fall and has lost nearly 40 pounds, thanks to Derby Lite, combined with changes to her diet.
“It’s an awesome form of exercise and it doesn’t even feel like I am exercising because it’s so much fun,”says Stern. “I cannot imagine my life without it now. It’s the one thing that had always been missing and I didn’t realize it was missing before.”
According to Dolan, Derby Lite classes strengthen your bones, muscles and heart while releasing endorphins that make it good for your mind and spirit, too. In each class, women burn between 500 and 1,500 calories.
“It definitely will turn women into superheroes if they aren’t already. It changes bodies and changes lives,”Dolan says.
Added bonus: “You will have a new wardrobe of fishnet stockings, booty shorts and knee-high socks,”she says.
