CENTRE COUNTY — For co-owners of the new digital senior workout business Elevated Function, Brittani Kunkel and Danielle DuVall, age should not stand in the way of leading an active life.
Elevated Function is an online exercise program that has a digital library of classes aimed at middle aged adults and seniors with various health needs and goals. The classes focus not just on physical limitations and building strength for mobility to help strengthen independence, but also on the cognitive impacts of aging and how they impact day to day life.
“We really were inspired to create Elevated Function for our families. … Being able to provide that service to family and friends, when you are not physically able to be there with them,” Kunkel shared while discussing the inspiration behind Elevated Function. “I have family all over the state and in the U.S. that have progressive diseases. So being able to provide that service to them from afar has been really beneficial.”
The duo noted that the impacts of aging do not just affect one individual, which they considered when developing caregiver support as a part of the program.
“For somebody who has a disease, as their world gets smaller, they can’t consistently get out. And the caregiver that is taking care of them, their world gets smaller too and they’re not consistently able to get out,” DuVall said. “And so, our online service has a really nice wide spectrum of classes. And they’re able to have a lifeline as well, to high quality movement that helps you continue to function.”
DuVall studied kinesiology at Penn State with a gerontology minor. During her time at the university, she did an internship at Foxdale Village, developing and leading a senior fitness program as a part of her senior project. The program was so successful that Foxdale hired her full-time after she graduated, and she worked at the senior community for 29 years. DuVall also expanded her knowledge of fitness for function by getting certified in Parkinson’s wellness recovery and worked in the dementia unit, applying exercise principles to those with cognitive decline.
Kunkel similarly studied kinesiology at Penn State and went on to get her master’s in exercise science and health promotion from California University of Pennsylvania, in addition to a certification in Parkinson’s wellness recovery.
Kunkel met DuVall at an internship fair at Penn State and, after completing internship work with Foxdale Village, joined the team for 13 years. Now, the exercise duo has joined forces to make fitness for function accessible to all.
The program is a subscription-based service with three subscription levels. The first level provides access to on-demand classes; however, Elevated Function also offers another level with weekly virtual live classes and a platform for senior facilities to use for residents and patients as a part of the other levels. Classes are designed with everybody in mind, regardless of their current state of mobility.
“We offer exercises that can be done in varying positions. Some classes you can even do the stretches right in bed. If somebody is in pain and having a bad day. … If you don’t feel like you can get up and stand safely, there is a chair-based section,” DuVall explained. “And with these there is a really nice progress through the different positions on the website as you build function — you may start in our chair-based section then move to seats and standing and then seated, standing and kneeling.
“Or, maybe as you progress through the function you have a fall or go through a health struggle and need to back off a little, there’s a nice variety through that.”
Kunkel noted that a big portion of the program is developing function movement patterns that people can use outside of the classroom.
“Walking on an uneven surface, for example, becomes challenging as we get older, because we don’t train that anymore. So being able to train on a squishy surface that’s able to mimic that same kind of feeling through the bottom of the foot is really, really important,” Kunkel said. “Or being able to get down and up, we train function that way. If you do have a fall, we want to train everybody to be able to get up safely and independently — especially if they don’t have anybody living with them.
“So anything that we can bring in the classroom that will help outside in the real world is really, really beneficial for the individuals that are completing it.”
DuVall shared how one client recently started focusing on building hip strength to feel more confident driving and being able to quickly move to the brake pedal.
“Overall, it is about helping people live fuller lives again,” DuVall noted. “Our mission is to help people function at their highest level for as long as possible. And our goal, at least with our parents, is to keep them at home as long as possible — helping them stay in their homes.”
All of the classes with Elevated Function can be found online and accessed via a computer or a smart phone, though Kunkel noted they are happy to help guide anyone interested in the program through getting set up if they do not have someone to help with the technological component of the class. The duo’s main goal remains to make fitness for function accessible for all.
“Our mission will always be to preserve or regain function and help keep people in their homes as long as possible,” DuVall said.
For more information, visit elevatedfunction.com or the business’s Facebook or Instagram pages.
