YMCA Ready to Help With Resolutions

While many Valley residents were giving in to the temptation of butter cookies and second helpings over the holidays, Sam Birken of Northridge was burning 21,511 calories in December at the new North Valley Family YMCA at Porter Ranch.

After five heart-bypass surgeries, Birken said, “I was just tired of sitting on my ass for 40 years as a nuclear physicist, and this [YMCA] is closer to home.”

Birken is among about 4,000 who have joined the 34,000-square-foot, high-tech facility. The computerized treadmills, stationary bikes and weight machines--featured during an open house Saturday--tracked charter member Birken’s progress from an unenergetic engineer on cholesterol-reducing medication to fitness zealot with a lower cholesterol count.

Administrators at the Y are planning a March opening of a $2-million wing with basketball courts and a teen workout area. Also in the works is a heated training pool to accommodate overcrowding in the indoor lane pool.

January is prime time for recruiting holiday indulgers who are ready--at least in intention--to kick-box and aerobicize their bodies into shape.

“Everybody comes in and says, ‘It’s a new year; I’m going to start a new life,’ ” said Frances Catching, group exercise coordinator. “They say, ‘I’m going to work on my legs, I’m going to work on my thighs, my blah, blah, blah.’ It’s easy to say that, but it’s harder to keep coming through the year.”

The YMCA directors also lure members with lively programs. In a workout room designated for beginners, the lights go down, the disco ball goes up and the funk flows three times a day as exercisers pump and strain to music from the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s. It works, said Louis Horvath, 73, who contrasted the approach to a silent hike alone.

“I love the way they keep changing the steps and the music,” Horvath said after a 45-minute aerobics class in which he kept in step with a bunch of svelte women a third his age, lunging to “Bump Bump Booty Shake” by the 740 Boyz.

The YMCA, 11336 Corbin Ave., is accepting new members. For more information, call (818) 368-3231.