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July 7, 2025 13 mins

What makes Charlene Reeves with Training Partners Inc. a good neighbor?

Every fitness journey tells a story, but Charlene Reeves of Training Partners Inc. is writing an entirely different narrative about aging and strength. With clients averaging 72 years old, her North Asheville personal training studio has spent nearly three decades proving that our later years can be some of our strongest.

"Seniors can't build muscle after 70" is perhaps the most damaging myth Charlene encounters. The reality? Scientific studies confirm adults can continue gaining strength and improving functionality well into their 90s. As Americans face the troubling gap between lifespan (82 years) and health span (just 63-64 years), Training Partners Inc. focuses on closing this gap through accessible, effective fitness approaches. The goal isn't complicated – Charlene advocates for simple, consistent movement rather than intimidating gym routines. Standing on one leg while brushing teeth, walking during TV commercials, or committing to 30-minute neighborhood strolls can transform health outcomes for older adults.

When COVID forced a nine-month closure and claimed the lives of twelve clients, Charlene pivoted within just four days. She personally taught her senior clients – including a class of 80-year-old women – how to use Zoom, creating a virtual community that outlasted the pandemic. Today, clients who've moved away or can no longer drive remain connected to their fitness community online. More recently, Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina, leaving Training Partners without utilities for nearly a month and forever changing Asheville's tree-covered landscape. Yet through these challenges, Charlene witnessed remarkable resilience as neighbors helped neighbors recover and rebuild.

Interested in writing your own strength story, regardless of age? Connect with Training Partners Inc. at trainingpartnersinc.com or call 828-252-0920 to learn how movement can expand your world instead of letting it shrink as you age.

To learn more about Training Partners Inc. go to:

https://trainingpartnersinc.com/

Training Partners Inc.

(828) 252-0920



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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Skip Monning.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
So I hope everybody's doingwell today and is as excited as
I am to meet a very specialguest that we've got in the
studio with us today, becauseand I'm sure you'll be just as
excited, because today I havethe pleasure of introducing your
good neighbor, ms CharleneReeves, who is the
owner-operator of TrainingPartners Inc.

(00:33):
Charlene, welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Thank you, I'm glad to be here.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well, we're thrilled to have you, Like I said,
excited to learn all about youand what you do so, if you don't
mind, why don't you kick us offby telling us about your
business?

Speaker 3 (00:53):
Okay, we're a small personal training studio in
North Asheville and we've beenhere 30 years next April and we
primarily work with the 50 plusage population.
The average age of our clientis probably 72.
So, yeah, so we work with theupper end of the population.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Average of 72.
Very good Well, charlene.
How did you get involved inthis?
Started in this business.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
You know, I played sports all through high school
and in college and I just it'sfunny I always knew that I would
own a gym In my mind, though itwas much bigger and it had, you
know, really fancy stuff in it.
And we're small, we're onlyfive thousand square feet and
the older I've gotten I'm 63 nowso the older I've gotten I've

(01:36):
decided the smaller studio wasreally what I wanted all along.
I just didn't know it and Ilove it.
We've got about five or 600clients and you know, getting to
know all of them and watch themhave their accomplishments and
watch kids get married andgrandkids born, it's pretty
exciting Good stuff.

(01:57):
I enjoy what I do.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Wow, five to 600 clients.
That's incredible.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Yeah, it's pretty sweet.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, and how long did you say you'd been in
business?
30 years next April 30 years,wow, congratulations, that is
nothing to sneeze at 30 years.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
It doesn't seem that long Most of the time.
Some days it seems really long,but most of the time it doesn't
seem like 30 years has beenthat long of a time.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
I get that.
I'm right behind you, sam, Itotally understand that.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
I kind of feel like I get paid to play for a living,
so it's a pretty sweet deal.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Very nice, very nice.
Well, what are some myths ormisconceptions in your industry?

Speaker 3 (02:40):
I think one is that seniors can't grow muscle or
can't get stronger.
You know, when they hit 70, it'sall a downhill climb, a decline
, from there, and that's notnecessarily true.
There's tons of studies thathave said, you know, up until 90
, 95, you can still gain muscle,you can get stronger, you can
be more functional, and so Ithink that's probably one of the

(03:03):
big misconceptions, or that ittakes a lot of time, that you
have to lift heavy weights.
And, granted, you do need tolift some weights that are going
to challenge the system, but itdoesn't take a lot of time.
You know, 30 minutes threetimes a week or four times a
week, or even just going out andwalking your neighborhood every
day for 30 minutes, has big,big health benefits, and we tend

(03:27):
to treat our seniors as theyget older like they're declining
, and that's just notnecessarily the case.
I had grandparents that theirworlds got very small when they
got in their 70s and 80s, and Idon't want my world to be that
way, and we really work hard tomake sure our clients' worlds
aren't that way either.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Very good.
Well, you know you got to move.
You know that's what I tell mywife.
You do.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
And it's not hard.
I mean it's just, it's littlestuff.
I mean you know you can dosimple things like when you're
brushing your teeth, stand onone leg, or you know, just move.
If you're watching TV, get upand walk around during the
commercials or do some airsquats or you know, just little
teeny things have really bighealth benefits, especially the

(04:15):
older that you get.
I was just watching a conferencething this weekend from the
Functional Aging Institute andthey were talking about how
Americans lifespans have kind ofleveled off since COVID but our
health span is decreasing.
So even though a lifespan mightbe 82, the health span is like

(04:39):
63 or 64, which means basicallythe last 15 to 20 years of your
life you're in poor health andthat's as a person who does what
I do, that's just not okay.
I want everybody's health spansto last pretty much as long as
their lifespan does so that theycan be really healthy.
I mean, in retirement you'vegot the money, you can travel,

(05:01):
you can do whatever you wantspend time with your grandkids.
So I think it's reallyimportant to keep working out
and doing stuff that's going tokeep you functional and moving.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Absolutely Well outside of work, charlene, what
do you like to do for fun?

Speaker 3 (05:16):
I like to hike.
I like hiking.
I play basketball, I garden, Iread a lot of books.
Anything that puts me outdoorsI'm totally happy doing.
I have a pool business on theside so that kind of keeps me
busy playing in pools during thesummer.
That's kind of fun.
So, yeah, anything that keepsme outdoors and moving, I'm

(05:40):
doing it.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Well, you live in a beautiful place for that.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yes, it is.
We suffered a lot during Helene, but we're slowly making some
recoveries and we're gettingthere.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Absolutely Speaking of Helene, could you describe a
hardship or a lot, and thatdoesn't have to be about the
hurricane, but can you describea hardship or life challenge
that you've overcome and how itmade you stronger in the end.
But can you describe a?

Speaker 3 (06:06):
hardship or life challenge that you've overcome
and how it made you stronger inthe end.
You know, I think for us, Imean, or for me, covid was
really hard.
We had 12 clients that ended updying when they got COVID.
We were closed for nine monthsand it just totally even though
we went virtual pretty quickly,within four days actually, of us

(06:35):
being closed.
You know, when a personaltraining studio or anybody gets
closed as a small business, youtake a pretty big financial hit
and we were kind of lumped inwith bars, which was just kind
of interesting to me.
But we were closed for sevenmonths and you know so that that
that was a challenge and therefor about a year we weren't sure
that we were going to make itbut we were fortunate to have a
lot of members and clients thatsupported us during that time

(06:57):
and they went virtual and youknow, one of our, our senior
classes it's basically 12 to 13year old, 80, 12 to 13, 80 year
old women and to try and teachthem all how to use the Zoom,
that for the first month.
That pretty much kept my mindbusy and me busy.
You know, I knew I was introuble.

(07:17):
When the first one goesdownload.
What do you mean?
Download?
What's upload?
Okay, well, so I went toeverybody's house.
We all sit on the porch.
I taught them how to use theircomputer and how to get onto
Zoom, and they're still Zooming.
So it's a good thing.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Oh wow, so you've still got folks that have just
continued, yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
Cause, you know, interestingly, some of our older
people have moved away so theythey couldn't talk to their
friends, but when we went toZoom they could.
So now we've got people inTennessee, we've got some in
Florida that are Zooming andthey're all back together and a
lot of them can't drive anymoreso they still get to exercise
with their friends that they'vebeen together with for 20 years

(07:55):
even though they can't drive,because they've stayed on Zoom.
We've kept classes in personand virtual, so they're doing
both.
Wow, very good, that'swonderful.
Yeah, it's pretty fun.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, open new doors.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
Actually it really did, because a couple of our
clients have moved away and wehave them back.
Like I have a client in NewZealand now and I've got some
clients that live on the otherside of town that didn't want to
drive over here anymore, andI've got a client that moved to
actually Tennessee and so Istill train them virtually.
So it's it's kind of nice thatwe have our in-person people and

(08:31):
our local people, but then someof the people who left us
actually came back during COVID.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Very nice, very nice.
Well, and, and speaking ofhardships with Helene, hopefully
your facilities weren't damaged.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
No, actually, you know we were without power and
water for almost a month.
Other than that, we're in a bigshopping center building, so
that was fine and most of ourclients and members some of them
had property damage and we hada lot of trees down.
I would say probably Ashevillelost half of our trees.

(09:10):
We used to have mountains orcanopies and forest everywhere
and we have a lot better views,which I don't know if that's a
good thing or a bad thing,because we did lose a lot of
trees.
But um and down at the RiverArts District, we're slowly
coming back, but you know we'regetting there, but it was a
pretty big hit and I don't thinkanybody truly expected just how

(09:32):
bad it was going to be.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
No, no, absolutely not.
And River Arts District reallygot hammered.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
I've talked to a lot of folks down there, yeah, they
really did and it's just sointeresting how some parts of
town just got hit really hardand then not even a quarter mile
away, they're totally fine.
And then you go another mileand somebody got hit really hard
and then they did.
So, yeah, it's just kind ofinteresting how Mother Nature
took over.
So yeah, it's just kind ofinteresting how Mother Nature

(09:59):
took over.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Well, the good thing coming out of this is it's shown
how resilient the residents ofWestern North Carolina are and
how neighbors are helpingneighbors.
I've seen a lot of that andthat's been heartwarming.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
Yeah, it really has, and I was at the beach when it
happened and I was driving hometwo days later and it was to
this day.
It still just brings tears tomy eyes because there were so
many people coming up 26 thatwere just that I mean, they had
like toilet paper and stufftaped to their cars just coming
to help us and it was it kind ofrestored your faith in humanity
.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Well, charlene, if you couldthink of one thing that you
would like our listeners toremember about Training Partners
Inc.
What would that be?

Speaker 3 (10:48):
I think it wouldn't necessarily just be about the
business, it would be overalland that when you get older,
that you can still be strong andvibrant and healthy and live
the lives you want to live, andthat it's never too late to make
your health span equal yourlifespan.
And you know life.

(11:09):
If we get to get older, thenthat's a privilege, because not
everybody does get to get older.
And just because we do getolder doesn't mean that we have
to be less healthy to get older.
And just because we do getolder doesn't mean that we have
to be less healthy, that we canbe healthy and that we're here
to help you.
And there's lots of trainersnow that are into the older age
population, so there's a lot ofpeople to get help from.

(11:32):
Very good to know Good thing toremember.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
So, if any of our listeners are intrigued and
would be interested inpotentially attending a class,
whether virtual or in person,how can we learn more?

Speaker 3 (11:47):
You can just go to our website
trainingpartnersinccom, or youcan also give us a call at
828-252-0920.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
And can you book on your website?

Speaker 3 (12:01):
No, but just because there's eight personal trainers
and we all handle our ownschedule.
So you'd have to call.
You'd have to call, or you cansend us an email through our
website as well, and then Iusually we all get back to you
within 24 hours.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
Very good, very good, all right.
Well, charlene, I can't thankyou enough for taking time out
of your busy schedule to spendsome time with us and our
listeners and telling us allabout Training Partners Inc and
what you're doing for the seniorcommunity, which I am a member
of.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
I think we're all getting there.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yep, yep and health is so important.
So thank you for what you doand thank you for having me
Absolutely and we wish you andyour business and your clients
all the best moving forward.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
Great.
Thank you, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnptry-citiescom.
That's gnptry-citiescom, orcall 423-719-5873.
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