Engage Wellness Center athlete breaks U.S. record

The key to aging well is all in one’s attitude and maintaining an active lifestyle.

Nancy McCormick should know.

Unlike many of her peers, the 85-year-old takes no medications, has no chronic illnesses and boasts a heart rate of 60.

Not only is she in great shape, but on Feb. 8, McCormick broke the U.S. record for her age bracket in rowing — she completed the 1,000 meter in 4:37.8. The previous U.S. record was 8 minutes.

About Engage Wellness

UNMC’s Engage Wellness is Omaha’s only medical fitness & whole-person wellness program for adults, that is affiliated with a leading academic health sciences center, specializing in developing programs for people with chronic conditions. Each participant receives a fitness/balance assessment and an individualized fitness program (designed by a degreed exercise science professional).

The center is marking its ninth anniversary in February with a $9 fee to join and $9 for the remainder of February.

This is the second year in a row McCormick won and the first time she broke the record.

“We’re so proud of Nancy,” said Heather Shafer, a wellness specialist with the Home Instead Center for Successful Aging Engage Wellness Center where McCormick works out three days a week.

“She’s an inspiration to all of us!” Shafer said.

A retired nurse, McCormick has always lived an active lifestyle. She grew up playing outdoors, canoeing for hours along the Boundary Waters in Minnesota on family vacations, playing tennis in high school and later golf in college, all for fun.

It wasn’t until her 40s that McCormick made a concerted effort to start running after reading an article about the benefits of aerobic exercise.

She and her late husband spent nearly the next 20 years running in road races.

“We had so much fun,” McCormick said. “We made new friends and ran in both the Boston and London marathons.”

Eventually, though McCormick said she had to give up running when she had to get both knees replaced and went back to playing tennis.

Her interest in rowing incidentally came from a television ad for CrossFit.

“I noticed that in every single ad there was a rowing machine,” McCormick said. “It piqued my interest and the more I read about it the more I thought, this sounds great, there is no pressure on the knees.”

McCormick began rowing at Engage Wellness three years ago.

Her husband, Peter, also gave her a rowing machine for Christmas, so she could row at home, too.

“It’s a marvelous exercise, you use all of your muscle groups,” McCormick said.

For the competition, McCormick trained over a period of 16 weeks with a coach from the Creighton University Women’s rowing team. She said she plans to continue to row at Engage, and at home, in an attempt to hopefully win the world’s record next year.

“I feel really strong,” McCormick said. “There are stereotypes of what aging looks like, but I think we will see that change as we see more people who are very active going into their 90s.”