Marion man gets Baby Boomers moving

Jul 9, 2016

The Baby Boomer generation is middle aged now. For most people that often means slowing down, but for Marion local Terry Lee, it’s what motivated him to get moving.

Lee created the group BoomerangFit shortly after turning 50. It’s a group, mostly an online community, that motivates his generation to get off the couch and get active.

“You hear about all the bad stuff that happens to you when you turn fifty,” he said. “The goal is to make a community that gets people off the couch.”

Around the same time, Lee’s mother passed away from Alzheimer's disease, and his aunt was put into an assisted living home. He realized that if he wanted to combat the negative changes that can happen to a person’s body as it gets older, he needed to get back to exercising.

“The first thing I did was started doing what they call Spartan races,” he said. “They’re essentially obstacle courses around the country.”

The first one he did was in November 2014 with his brother at Fenway Park. From there it snowballed. After completing Spartan races in Arizona and Las Vegas, he decided to take it up a notch.

“We decided to climb a mountain, which we thought was a little more exciting than a Spartan race,” he said.

The BoomerangFit group also works to raise money for the Wellesley Hills-based CureAlzheimers organization.

Every year, Lee picks a goal and an event for BoomerangFit to work toward. This year, the event is climbing the 10,781 foot Mt. Baker, located about two and a half hours from Seattle. The goal is to raise $10,781 for CureAlzheimers, a dollar for every foot climbed.

Lee had the idea to climb Mt. Baker because he’s scared of heights, and he thinks overcoming that encapsulates what BoomerangFit is all about – getting out of your comfort zone and doing something good for you.

“Part of the reason I decided to do it is because I have a fear of heights. So I figured what better challenge right?” he said. “Part of BoomerangFit is about doing things and getting out of your comfort zone, which is what we’re trying to kind of get people to do. When you get older your world shrinks. You go out less, you see fewer friends, you start to do things you’re comfortable doing.”

So far, BoomerangFit has raised about half of its goal, and Lee said he plans to continue raising money through the end of the year.

To donate, go to curealz.org/heroes/team-boomerangfit, and to learn more about BoomerangFit go to BoomerangFit.com.