Stronger Together: Father and Daughter Celebrate One Year of Weightlifting at the YMCA
08-01-2025
Meet Chris & Amy, the father-daughter duo who are celebrating one-year of weightlifting together at the YMCA.
“I’ve been working out at the Flamborough Y for several years and last December 28th my then 15-year-old daughter asked if she could come lift weights with me.”
Chris has been a member of the Flamborough Family YMCA for about eight years. He says when he first made the decision to get back into exercising, he decided to take part in YThrive, a fitness coaching program that’s included with all YMCA memberships.
“The staff were great at helping me figure out how to get started without hurting myself."
Amy, now 16 years old, says she always had an interest in working out and taking her health and fitness more seriously. Her first experience with the YMCA was years prior when she was a little kid swimming in the pool with her friends. Now as a teenager, when she saw the opportunity to start working out with her dad, she couldn’t pass it up.
“It’s nice to have a lot more reasons to get to spend time with him,” she says.
What Chris thought would be a spontaneous, one-time workout together, turned into a year’s worth of exercise and bonding with his daughter at the YMCA. They’ve been exercising together two to three times a week since December 28, 2023.
“She makes me do farmer's carries and I make her do shoulders. I've seen her confidence growing and it gives us time together which is precious at this stage of life,” says Chris.
Amy says working out consistently has helped her become more resilient. “It helps with my anxiety, and I can sleep better at night.”
Chris says the Y is a welcoming space and he feels comfortable working out there, but he also says that it’s so much more than a gym. “Sharing this experience with my daughter is a different kind of special.”
Chris cherishes the days spent at the Y with his teenage daughter, recognizing that kind of time together is hard to come by.
December 28th marked their one-year anniversary of working out together at the YMCA.
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