{"id":393163,"date":"2026-09-07T22:07:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T22:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/393163\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T22:07:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T22:07:20","slug":"strong-over-50-program-helps-adults-battle-muscle-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/393163\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Strong Over 50’ program helps adults battle muscle loss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TEM – Adults in Temple Terrace<\/a> are reclaiming their strength and physical independence through a local fitness program designed specifically for people 50 and older.<\/p>\n

Fighting muscle loss <\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

Various studies say that human bodies naturally begin losing muscle mass and strength around the age of 35.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the Cleveland Clinic, that loss gradually increases, with the potential of losing up to 8% of muscle mass each decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Creating Strong Over 50 <\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

Micah Morgan created “Strong Over 50” to fill a missing need he saw in the fitness world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“In order to defeat Father Time, you have to strength train,” Morgan said. “You have to build that muscle mass. You got to keep those tendons strong.”<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Around 50 members attend the one-hour training sessions one to three times per week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Members join the program with unique personal goals, ranging from injury recovery to keeping pace with family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Group fitness goals <\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

For 74-year-old Carol Risher, who has attended classes for over a year, the primary motivation was staying active for her family, mainly her four lively grandchildren.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Angilen Adkins, 71, joined four months ago to focus on her upper-body strength and quickly found inspiration in the group environment.<\/p>\n

“It motivates me and encourages me and gives me that go, that punch to do it,” Adkins said.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

For 51-year-old Amy Drake Imgram, the group provided a turning point following a major surgery.<\/p>\n

“Coming to the gym, finding like-minded people, kind of brought me back into the light to let me know that life isn’t over yet,” Imgram shared.<\/p>\n

Community Support\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Dig deeper:<\/p>\n

Access to the program remains open to many local residents regardless of financial status.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Approximately 80 percent of “Strong Over 50” members attend classes free of charge, supported directly by community sponsorships.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“I hope they get a sense of community, that they can do this work,” Morgan said. “I want them to get that confidence back, and I want them to feel those results after they leave my class.”<\/p>\n

The Source: The information in this story was gathered from Micah Morgan, who spoke about creating the program, as well as participants Carol Risher, Angilen Adkins, and Amy Drake Imgram.<\/p>\n

Hillsborough County<\/a>Fitness and Well-being<\/a>What’s Right with Tampa Bay<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEM – Adults in Temple Terrace are reclaiming their strength and physical independence through a local fitness program…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[103992,47,629,555,115,405,135,137,136,628,3970],"class_list":["post-393163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-fitness-wellbeing","tag-fl","tag-hillsborough","tag-lifestyle","tag-news","tag-series","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-us","tag-whats-right-with-tampa-bay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}