At 80, Spin Instructor Still Pedals with Purpose at Henry Ford Genesys Health Club

GRAND BLANC — Most people hope to slow down by 80. Harry Garrison prefers to speed up, along with his students, on the stationary bike.

The longtime spin instructor at Henry Ford Genesys Health Club in Grand Blanc marked his 80th birthday this summer not with rest, but by doing what he’s always done: showing up, sweating alongside his class, and proving that age is just a number.

Garrison, who lives in Flushing with his partner Wanda, still leads three spin classes a week and inspires others with his energy, empathy, and commitment to staying active.

“I’m still doing what I’m capable of doing as an 80-year-old,” Garrison said. “I might not be doing the same thing I was doing at 20. But I’m still doing it.”

That attitude is what has kept Garrison a beloved figure at the Genesys health club for the past 15 years. He’s been spinning for 30 years and teaching for 20, helping everyone from retired beginners to high school athletes find their rhythm.

Raised in Maine, Garrison moved to the Flint area and spent more than three decades at General Motors, working his way up to superintendent of manufacturing before retiring 25 years ago. But true to form, he kept moving, trading factory floors for gym floors.

When he was younger, Garrison was a sprinter, but distance running came later — thanks to Wanda. Their first date, on Feb. 4, 1984, was a 3.5-mile run. “I thought that was the end of it,” he said, laughing.

Instead, it became the beginning of decades of shared races and fitness-focused travel. The couple visits Mackinac Island four times a year for races and regularly heads to Holland for events. The last couple years have featured hiking and cycling tours of New Zealand, Vermont and Nantucket. Next year’s plan: hiking and racing in Scotland.

“I just wanted to try things and see if I could do them,” said Garrison, who’s completed four marathons and walked in races since having both hips replaced about 23 years ago. He also skis, golfs, bikes outdoors, and has taken yoga and Body Pump classes.

He’s been a regular at the HAP CareSource Crim Festival of Races in Flint since 1984 and helped launch the Crim’s training programs in 1995. “It’s to get them exercising, help them eat properly,” he said. “And really, a big part of it was socializing.”

Garrison sees teaching spinning not as work, but a shared experience. “I know you think I’m helping you, but you’re helping me,” he said. “It’s a little bit selfish in a way.”

Steve Wandmacher remembers his first encounter with Garrison nearly 20 years ago during a race in downtown Flint. The Fenton resident had signed his young children up for a 5K. Garrison, who had finished walking the race, then doubled back down the course to motivate the remaining field.

“He came down to my younger daughter, who was scuffling along, she was probably 9 at the time, and we’re coming up to a hill and she started walking it,” Wandmacher said. “Then this man who I’d never met goes, ‘No, you’ve got to pull the rope’ and was very positive and encouraging to a child he didn’t know, with an adult he didn’t know.

“That was my first encounter with him. The boundless enthusiasm, advice, and ‘you can do it’ that he brought everywhere he went.”

Wandmacher now does Crim training in Garrison’s race-walking group, where Harry mentors each individual to does their best and improve through the process. “I can’t even emphasize how positive he is,” Wandmacher said.

Whether for a long race or a spin class, ramping up training is crucial, according to Dennis Kerrigan, Ph.D, a senior clinical exercise physiologist at Henry Ford Health.

“Any type of vigorous exercise increases the risk of injury or other more serious health concerns,” he said. “It is important to weight the risks and benefits with your health care provider and to always ease into activities that require higher intensity than what you are accustomed to.

“By far the individuals I would worry most about would be those who are not currently active, because studies definitely show that unfit, inactive individuals who begin high intensity exercises are at the greatest risk for suffering a cardiac arrest when attempting these type of new high intensity activities.”

In addition to being physically fit enough, the step toward fitness classes also involves feeling comfortable in the setting.  

In the gym, Garrison makes it personal — remembering names, celebrating milestones, and dressing up for themed rides. He wore a tuxedo shirt for January’s Ride Into the New Year and joined fellow instructors in 1980s neon gear for the Ride Into Summer.

Garrison, a father of three, grandfather of five, and great-grandfather of one, recently celebrated his 80th birthday with his family on Mackinac Island. But the best gift might be what he continues to give others: motivation.

“It’s only a number,” Garrison said of age. “Don’t let the number, because it’s getting bigger, discourage you from doing anything. I’m 80 years old. So, you can still get out and do something. To me, it doesn’t make a difference in how old you are.”

MEDIA CONTACT: mediarelations@hfhs.org