In an exercise studio filled with older participants of varied physical abilities, a student in the back of the balance-building class struggled to catch himself to keep from tipping over.

“Whoa, I almost lost you in the back there,” instructor Donna Way said with a smile, as she led the popular, fun and strenuous Building Better Balance class at Old Town Hot Springs in Steamboat Springs.

Preempting a fall, building muscle strength and keeping joints mobile are the goals of the well-attended classes where the participants aim to stay strong through weekly group practice and motivated with supportive camaraderie.

“A lot of our balance relies on strength, and unfortunately we lose a lot of our muscle mass as we age,” Way told the students.

The classes are not easy and incorporate a lot of one-legged work and challenging positions such as squatting in chair pose while rocking back and forth from heels to toes, working to balance with one foot in front of the other as if on a balance beam while moving hand weights, and lunging forward on one foot and then jumping back quickly as if encountering a snake. The instructors help students work on everything from ankle mobility to abdominal strength to triceps strength to push up after a possible fall.

The 45-minute classes improve strength and power around the ankle, knee, and hip joints and draw participants age 50 to 92, Way said. Some regular senior participants power through the class impressively, while others work on their balance holding onto a wall or hand rail.

“A lot of the things I like to do is just stuff so they can be active outside,” said Way, a certified senior fitness instructor and trainer for 20 years. Way initiated the class in Steamboat after working as a fitness coordinator at a retirement community on the Front Range.

The balance-building classes at the nonprofit fitness center have grown during the past three years from one instructor and five students to two instructors leading three weekly classes that are filled with some 25 students each on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

Instructors Way and Teresa Miller say the classes are a great fit for the aging, active population in Routt County. The classes also benefit the community as a whole to help older adults live independently, stay strong and happy and avoid falls.

“Once someone falls, then they are scared,” Way said. “Then they don’t want to go out anymore, don’t want to go for walks.”

Retired school district employee Georgianne Nelson of Steamboat attends the classes regularly and was balancing impressively on one leg three weeks after heart value replacement surgery. Nelson finds the classes challenging and beneficial to maintain balance and strength.

“It helps,” Nelson said. “I catch myself tipping forward reaching for something, and doing that in class … creates muscle memory to go back to my heels so I don’t land on my face.”

Steamboat resident Anita Trautman, 66, enjoys the friendliness of the classes where participants chat before and after class as well as the positive instructors who feature fun music and dance breaks.

“I just see that if I don’t pay attention and do this for myself, I will lose the ability to be mobile as I get older and have strength to move through the world,” Trautman noted. “Without dedicated attention to balance and strength, it’s just easy to lose what we are able to do at a younger age. To maintain a level of strength and balance feels like it’s a game-changer.”

Instructor Miller, also a personal trainer and former wilderness instructor, said she hopes students gain the ability to remain centered both emotionally and physically.

“What I hope people take home is the body awareness to come back to center, to notice when they’re off to one side, to lower their shoulders, to release the hip that they have lifted, to return to the bend in their knees,” Miller said. “Finding your emotional center, finding your breath and then noticing where they hold the tension.”

Miller said the need for the class in the community is “huge.”

“Our population in Steamboat has a lot of active aging people who want to be in community, and they care about their bodies,” Miller said. “And they’re aware that their balance and their fitness struggles as they get older.”