News & Blog

Broadmead has a new fitness instructor

By Kathleen Truelove

Rebecca Marinova (pronounced "marie-nova"), Broadmead’s new Wellness Coordinator, comes to Broadmead from Copper Ridge. She is a native of Columbia, MD, where she played soccer and lacrosse and ran track at Long Reach High School. She is proud that her soccer team was the first at Long Reach to win the regional state championship. At Towson University, she played club soccer and intramural coed soccer.

Her freshman advisor at Towson was Broadmead resident Susie Truitt, who helped her identify kinesiology and exercise science as the best major for her career goals. While in college, Rebecca worked at the 7 West Bistro in Towson, which she said was also educational. That is where she met her husband, Martin, who, with his identical twin brother, emigrated from Bulgaria to play basketball.

Rebecca did an internship at Fairhaven and upon graduation was offered a job at Copper Ridge, where she developed exercise programs for people with memory loss. When its ownership changed, exercise programs for those patients were discontinued. She returned to restaurant work, but then the pandemic arrived and her restaurant work ended.

During the pandemic, Rebecca had a baby boy. By the time she was ready to return to work, the opportunity at Broadmead arose and felt like a perfect fit. Rebecca says that with the new fitness center open, it’s a great time to work here.

Floor, Core, and More is one of the courses that Rebecca teaches. She describes it as guided core strengthening with a focus on flexibility. It’s not high intensity and is good for pelvic floor strengthening and stability. For people concerned about getting up from the floor at the end of the class, Rebecca says that help is available and is no impediment to participation.

Rebecca also teaches balance classes, which she emphasizes is for everyone. There is a little warmup and some stretching, but this is dynamic, not aerobic, exercise. Special equipment is used to promote strength. Participants stand, but Rebecca can modify this as needed. In addition, she teaches classes on Taylor, Darlington, and Hallowell, using her Copper Ridge experience. For example, people with dementia often have decreased attention spans, so special techniques are required to keep them engaged.