Strength In Numbers | Video

Michelle San Miguel | 6/29/2012

We all know that exercise improves your health and makes you feel better. The hardest part about working out is usually finding the motivation to do it. Most of us can think of a laundry list of things we`d rather do than go to the gym. But the family you`re about to meet is proof that there is strength in numbers when it comes to fitness.

These three generations of women all love hitting the treadmills nice and early.

"Well, if we don`t come in the morning we just don`t come it seems like. Afternoons just don`t work but the mornings do," said Evelyn Shipley.

At 93-years-old, this great-grandma is a regular at the Women`s Health Center in Bismarck. She`s been working out here for almost three years but being active is nothing new for her.

"My mother was a teacher and would walk to school and carry her stuff. She always enjoyed walking," said Shipley`s daughter, Zona Robb.

Robb learned the importance of exercise from her mom and has remained active most of her life. As she`s gotten older that`s made it easier to deal with her osteoarthritis.

"If I don`t exercise, if I take a vacation or go out of town or something and lose the routine my knees start to tighten up and they really become sore. Walking becomes more painful. As long as I come daily I deal with it really well."

Cathy Dockter is a regular here too, though her busy work schedule and two kids don`t leave much time in the evening for her to workout. That`s why you`ll find her here at 5:30 in the morning.

"I never thought I could do it until you start to do it and then after about six, seven weeks you get addicted and it just becomes part of your routine."

Even Dockter`s two kids come to the gym. Their grandma, Robb, drops them off at the daycare here before she starts her workout.

"Sometimes they`ll say, `Why do we have to go today?` Because Grandma has to stay healthy. I mean they hear it continually so they understand. We`ll have another generation of it," Robb said.

These women point out that working out hasn`t doesn`t just helped their physical health, it`s also help them overcome emotional challenges over the past year.

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