Footprints to Fitness charts

28th October 2019   ·   0 Comments

By Hannah Joy Shareef
Contributing Writer

From the food to the festivals and the culture, the attitude of laissez les bons temps rouler has been great for the spirit of the city, but not always great for the health of its residents. Local news broadcaster April Dupré said she launched Footprints To Fitness in 2014 to help residents have fun, but also get fit.

“The wellness company is a full on experience. It’s about staying true to the New Orleans culture. My main goal is to create fun and unique fitness and wellness experiences,” said Dupré, who is a traffic anchor for WWL-TV News Channel 4, and who teaches the Fitness Fusion class three days a week.

Dupré has 15 years of experience in health and wellness. She said her concept is simple: she wants to take people out of the gym and have them experience New Orleans in a different way, especially for low-income residents in the community. The Gentilly native said that is why she started her nonprofit organization Footprints Foundation.

The style of fitness is customized to her city. Dupré said her foundation aims to honor the historic heart of New Orleans and bring people together to enjoy everything the city has to offer. The essence of this foundation is to live a balanced life through health and wellness education, but also enjoy everything that is New Orleans, she said.

“Like any other New Orleanian, I love to eat and drink; however, I’ve found a balance between treating myself and staying healthy,” Dupré shared about balancing her life.

“Not only does this fitness company focus on physical health, but people are learning why their body and minds are the way they are. We help with both mental and emotional health through our services,” Dupré said.

To cater to different fitness levels, Footprints To Fitness offers residents a variety of classes such as chair yoga, fitness fusion, zumba, and cardio blast. These weekly ongoing classes are partnered with NORDC, but the signature event is “Happy Hour with a Healthy Twist.” By putting a fresh spin on fitness, Dupré hopes her program would begin to impact some of the worse trends for health outcomes in the state.

Louisiana consistently ranks among the bottom states for most data on levels of physical activity, obesity, smoking and diabetes. Among people ages 10 to 17, the state had the fourth highest obesity rate, according to data by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. African-American families have lower levels of access to programs that support weekly physical activity, according to a 2018 Shape America and the American Council on Exercise report card. Issues like an unsafe urban environment, lack of appropriate spaces for play and no organized affordable physical activity programs are what constitute the low levels of physical activity for African-American children and their families, according to 2017 reports from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Dupré hopes that Footprints To Fitness can provide a space for families of color to improve health outcomes. The program partners with local charities to bring health and wellness to Black and brown communities across the metro area to reduce future health outcomes.

“For the community, we bring affordable programming,” said Jared Frilot, the technical director of Footprints To Fitness. “For the most part, we partner with NORDC so residents can experience free community classes. But because of April’s love for helping others, our following has become diverse and inclusive,” Frilot said.

Dupré said her mission is to show people that a balanced life can bring happiness and fun. She encouraged her fellow New Orleanians to “treat ya’ self” in ways that make them both physically and mentally whole. By learning to treat yourself, Dupré said they can still be able to enjoy the culture of New Orleans with their favorite foods.

“Five pounds of crawfish, a sno-ball, and an order of beignets! It doesn’t get more Nola than dat,” Dupré said.

On Sept. 6, 2019, Footprints to Fitness celebrated its five year anniversary. The program has started a four-week fall series at venues such as Wrong Iron, Renaissance Arts Hotel, and Paradigm Garden to promote interactive health and wellness experiences.

“Stretch and flow,” “Pups and Poses,” and “Goats and Pilates” are all classes that will be offered during the fall series that runs from Oct. 21 through Nov. 17. These classes will allow participants to bring balance, strength and flexibility to the body and mind, Dupré said. The main focus is to build core strength, and releasing stress in the hips, back and shoulders.

“I want to be a part of people’s journeys, helping them during their challenging times,” Dupré said. “Living a great quality life is hard when you don’t know anything else, but once you become educated on what it takes, it becomes a way of life,” she said.

This article originally published in the October 28, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.