‘YOU HAVE A WHOLE LIFE TO LIVE’

Ema Sasic

Palm Springs Desert Sun | USA TODAY NETWORK

Jean Stewart is the living embodiment of “two things can be true.” Sure, she’s 96 years old. But she’s also been known to plank for two minutes or deadlift more than 150 pounds — leading to a viral internet photo.

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Stewart, donning colorful Nobull sneakers and bright pink workout pants, attended her twice weekly training session at Desert Fitness Collective in Palm Desert. Any given day looks different in the gym for the nonagenarian, with some workouts focused on stabilizing joints in her back and others that take advantage of her “ridiculously strong core,” according to her trainer.

“She does it better than most people by decades,” founder/trainer Cheryl Cohen, who specializes in classes for older adults, said.

What fuels her during these workouts? Sour jelly beans from Trader Joe’s, which she carries around in a plastic cup and eats between reps. Sometimes it appears Stewart would rather eat them and relax on a

bench, but like any motivating trainer, Cohen reminds her to chew, swallow and get ready for another round.

The Palm Desert resident has been active all her life, but everyday tasks became much harder after she turned 80. When she learned of Cohen’s then-CrossFit gym, she decided to try it because she was “tired of being treated like I’m old.” Soon, she found she was “full of juice” after working out.

However, a serious car accident in 2019 left deep cuts in her legs, and a broken hip in 2022 threatened to thwart all her progress. But her determination and stubbornness pushed her to get back to the gym.

“You have a whole life to live,” Stewart said. “[Trainer] Cheryl can’t do everything, you have to do something yourself.”

‘Get to work’

Stewart has abided by her living a “whole life” mantra for, basically, her whole life.

She got plenty of exercise running around and playing as a child, eventually becoming a physical education teacher in the Coachella Valley and Pomona. Stewart later joined the Girl Scouts, where she traveled all throughout the Americas.

After she received her master’s degree, she worked as a guidance counselor in a San Diego school district until her retirement in 1990. Things didn’t slow down for Stewart, though, as she worked for the U.S. Forest Service, played the banjo, woodworked and collected Native American artifacts. She eventually moved to the Coachella Valley in 2007.

As active as she had always been, her body wasn’t keeping up anymore. Getting up and down and carrying bags of potting soil got much harder, and she “got tired of TV.”Hoping to do something physical, it led her to Cohen’s then-CrossFit gym.

“We talked about exercise, and I told her I was interested in it,” Stewart recalled of their meeting. Cohen added that Stewart was her first senior client.

Those first few years together were all about getting stronger. They worked on sitting down, standing up, holding onto things to get up and down from the ground and carrying heavy items, Cohen explained. They started with nine pounds before “it went up and went up and went up,” Cohen said.

Stewart said she felt “better after the physical workout,” and she noticed things were getting easier to do around the house.

But in October 2019, when Stewart was involved in that severe accident in Palm Desert, her car was T-boned. When the airbag deployed, the interior panel of her car cut into her legs. She lost tissue and muscles, and even parts of her bone were exposed. Her daughters, Barbara and Joanne Norlin, said doctors considered amputation or skin grafts, and they weren’t even sure she would survive the first month.

She spent months in the hospital, and wound vacuums were used in the healing process. She still has deep scars on her legs to this day and utilizes walking poles because she doesn’t have much feeling below her knees.

“There were days when I got discouraged,” Stewart said. “At first, I really didn’t care. I thought I was going to die.”

But after some time, she told herself bluntly, “Oh hell, straighten up. You’ve got to do it.”

“I thought, well, this is a terrible way to think of it. It’s just going to be a little harder, Jean, so get to work,” she added.

In March 2022, she was walking her dog when she got tangled in the leash, fell and broke her hip. Again, she was discouraged, but Stewart said she had a lot of support to help her through.

‘Jelly Bean Jean’

After years of physical therapy, Stewart didn’t think she was progressing or being challenged enough. That’s when she decided to call Cohen for help.

Cohen said they worked on “basic functional movements” in the beginning, before they started picking back up on her strong core and adding weights to her regimen. Stewart could notice changes again.

“Every exercise, every time, I really appreciated and enjoyed that, and I felt better. I knew I would have to go a little at a time, and I realized that I’d have to stick with it,” Stewart said. “That was the important thing because in physical therapy, I would go in and see them and we’d just do basic, simple things, moving the feet and the legs ... and it wasn’t a challenge at all.”

“I think they looked at her as an elderly woman and (thought), what could she do?” added her daughter Joanne.

A day at Desert Fitness Collective shows exactly what she can do — to the point that her daughters admit they’re in awe of her. “She puts a lot of people to shame,” Barbara said.

Like most people, Stewart isn’t always so enthused about doing certain exercises. “Let’s get to the fun part,” she tells Cohen after she tires of some initial side stretches, and she sighs loudly when it’s time to do seated squats with a kettlebell. Her favorite is the lat pulldown machine, which targets back muscles. Stewart said she’d “like to go down faster” with the handle bar, but “Cheryl doesn’t let me.”

Her sweet and sassy relationship with Cohen is a cornerstone to her regime, and their bond has only gotten stronger over the 16 years they’ve worked together. Above all else, Cohen said they’re friends and they’ll tease each other one minute and then chat about pets and family the next during their sessions together.

As Cohen adjusted the weight setting on the lat pulldown machine, adding 2.5 pounds more than Stewart has done before, she encouraged her by saying she “won’t even notice”the difference. “How about you?” Stewart cheekily responded, which elicited chuckles out of her trainer.

Cohen gets back at her in her own ways, like when Stewart says an exercise feels too easy. The trainer made her push a weighted sled across the gym floor and omitted to tell her just how much weight she was handling (nearly 100 pounds).

But she doesn’t sweat it as long as she has jelly beans on hand. Cohen explained that she offered Stewart the sour candy during one of their sessions and her face “lit up.” Now it’s become a tradition, so much so that Cohen has to buy more each time she goes to Trader Joe’s to “keep supplies stocked.” She’s even earned the nickname “Jelly Bean Jean.”

Advice for fellow seniors

What does Stewart have to say to those wanting to make changes in their life? “Well, get off it.”

“I feel like I need it. I feel I would fall apart,” Stewart said. It also gives her an opportunity to talk with others in the gym and get out of the house for a few hours. Research in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing has shown that loneliness and isolation are associated with poorer cognitive function among older adults.

Cohen hopes Stewart’s determination “inspires other older people who think they’re too old to do stuff.” They might not do what they once could, but “anything helps,” she said. Even if modifications are made, the benefits are still there. Stewart no longer deadlifts or does push-ups on the ground, but standing push-ups still require a lot of work as she exclaimed “I felt it” on her last rep.

Another thing Stewart wants to stress: Just because someone is elderly doesn’t mean they can’t take care of themselves. She still is treated like she’s old when she’s out, but she’s always eager to show people her true strength. Once when Stewart was getting a cup of coffee at McDonald’s, she tripped on a curb and fell down. Cohen explained that “everyone rushed to help the little old lady, and she did a push-up and stood up and walked away.”

Aside from hitting the gym, Stewart said she has a few other accomplishments to check off, like getting a haircut, eating more honey walnut chicken and finding volunteer opportunities.

Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.