Just Move ICT holds special needs workout classes

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Just Move ICT started Fit Family, which is a workout class for those with special needs and their caregivers.

Christian Londono-Cox attends the classes and says he likes that it’s less crowded and quieter than other gyms.

“Basically, just about working out our muscles, trying to get us healthy, strong and fast,” Londono-Cox said.

He and his mom, Sandy Londono, can workout in the same space so they both can be healthy.

“I just am so happy that I get to be at a place where me and my mom can both go,” Londono-Cox said.

“We feel at ease because I know that he’s around people who understand, who are able to keep him focused and encourage him,” Londono said.

Londono also works out with the cancer rehab group at Just Move ICT.

“It’s helped me to show my son a way of fitness, which is where I’m trying to get back to after fighting cancer,” Londono said. “It helps me after everything that I went through. You know, chemo messes your body a lot, and it did for me. So I’m trying to get back to where I need to be, and Christian has a lot of energy, and so this is a way of providing an outlet for him where he can be healthy and get all that excess energy out the right way.”

Now, Londono-Cox does cross country at school, too.

“He’s never been a sports kid, so that’s big for him,” Londono said.

It all started because the co-owner, Ashley Nichole Jacobs, also has a daughter with autism.

“I could only go out and run or go out and work out if I had a sitter, and that was hard, and I had a gym membership,” Jacobs said. “So I would find a sitter for my house, sometimes pay them so I could get my workout when I had a kid zone there, but I was told that she was too much.”

She says movement is medicine, and everyone should have access to it.

“They can still see their child working with me and see that they’re having fun like they’re in the gym class at school, and then they get their own workout,” Jacobs said. “They’re mentally ready to take on the caregiver position again.”

She has seen caregivers avoid the gym completely because they weren’t meeting family’s needs.

“If they can’t take care of themselves, how can they take care of another being? So when I started to see a need that these moms are not only physically struggling, they’re mentally struggling,” Jacobs said. “Then we found out that if we could just both do it and take care of them, they feel safe.”

Just Move ICT also has cancer rehab classes and chair fitness for those with Alzheimer’s, Dementia or joint issues.

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