Until last year, turning a newspaper page was the extent of Shelley Michaud's regular workout.

Now Michaud, who has brain damage and lost one leg in a medical mishap when she was 11, goes to the gym every week.

"I want to get in shape," says the

42-year-old Hamilton woman.

There aren't many opportunities to break a sweat at the Rygiel Supports for Community Living, a local assisted-living facility where Michaud lives.

Sharon Dudhnath, team leader at Rygiel, said Michaud asked to go to a gym because she wanted to work out. But when Dudhnath and her coworkers started researching gyms, they couldn't find a gym to accommodate her disabilities.

Until they discovered The Blossom Club.

The Blossom Club for women was founded as a nonprofit gym on the west Mountain in 2006 to fill a gap in women's fitness in the city.

The wheelchair-accessible gym offers programs to women of all ages and abilities, and has adaptive equipment and a kinesiologist on staff to support people with limited abilities.

Approximately 10 per cent of the gym's clientele have disabilities, and 30 per cent have limited physical ability.

Audrey Hicks, a kinesiology professor at McMaster University, says most people don't realize how important physical activity is for disabled people.

"A lot of people think people in wheelchairs get a lot of exercise wheeling around, but for most of the day they are very inactive," says Hicks, who runs MacWheelers, a fitness program for adults with spinal cord injuries.

Inactivity puts them at risk for a myriad of health conditions, including heart disease and obesity.

But just as important as getting their heart rates going is the emotional effect fitness has on participants. For people in wheelchairs, physical strength is a symbol of independence.

"They rely on their upper body strength to transfer in and out of their wheelchair," says Hicks. "If they become weak, they need to rely on others for help and their independence suffers."

Hicks says most traditional gyms don't purchase equipment that's adaptable, and staff members at many gyms are not trained to work with people who don't have full range of movement.

As a result, many people with disabilities shun traditional fitness clubs because they feel uncomfortable or out of place.

That's why people like Michaud keep coming back to The Blossom Club. "I met a lot of friends here," she says. "Now I feel like I'm part of the community."

lamueller@thespec.com

905-526-3484

The Blossom Club

What: The Blossom Club is a nonprofit gym on Hamilton west Mountain that offers exercise equipment and programs for women of all physical abilities.

Where: 634 Stone Church Rd. W.

Contact: 905-574-8104