A lunch with friends in Napa Valley led one Reno businesswoman to a career of helping others achieve better quality of life.

Barbara Ausherman, the owner of Access Strength Centers in Reno and Napa Valley, assists people of all ages to develop strength with the use of isometric weight bearing equipment. In her spare time she works as the Northern Nevada Wing Leader for Angel Flight West, a group of pilots who volunteer their time and aircraft to fly nonemergency ambulatory patients to treatment.

While both endeavors appear widely diverse, to Ausherman they are second nature. “I’ve been flying planes since the age of four,” she explained, having been taught by her father. And even though flying has given her countless hours of pleasure, it was that Napa Valley lunch with two senior friends that changed her life and health.

Living at Incline Village at the time, Ausherman would pilot her aircraft to have lunch with her friends who are in their late 60s. Both women had unhealthy diets, smoked, drank and had several surgeries. On that particular day, one of the women talked about the bioDensity program and displayed a muscle in her arm. Curious, Ausherman visited the Napa Valley business and later joined.

“After awhile I felt like I had a butt lift,” she said. An avid skier, hiker and mountain biker, in November she discovered her skiing had improved. “When I got on my mountain bike in May six months later it was like getting an extra gear. I was blown away.” Ausherman has been building muscle with bioDensity for the past five years. “I’ve increased my overall body strength by 189 percent. I am really strong,” she said. “I had full flown Osteoporosis at 45-yearsold. I’m now normal in my femur and hips and I’m Osteopenia in my spine.”

BioDensity technology works to improve body strength and mobility, often times impaired by injury, surgery, or aging. The program works the body’s core muscles. For aging baby boomers who have found themselves sedentary, the bioDensity program is simple and a quick way to gain muscle mass without spending hours in a gym.

“BioDensity technology uses four precise, safe exercises to stimulate all the major muscle groups. The result is a rapid and dramatic increase in strength. The exercises are isometric, and the loading is self applied.”

For people who have busy days with little time to workout, the program can be worked into one’s schedule taking five minutes once a week. The equipment allows the user to apply maximum load intensity in a fully contracted position for a prescribed five to ten second count for each of the four exercises. There is no external loading of weights; the user applies their own strength to work the muscles.

BioDensity can be used by people of all ages. In fact, Ausherman says 30 seniors were being bused to the Napa Valley business weekly from an area retirement community to get a workout. When the previous owners launched bioDensity worldwide in January 2009, Ausherman assumed ownership of the Napa facility. She opened the Reno business in January this year, and plans to open another in Walnut Creek, CA.

Additionally, she sells the machines and is working with Del Webb retirement communities in Las Vegas and Arizona. “They all want them in their fitness facilities.”

For 86-year-old Amy Borge, her quality of life improved after 18-months. “My bone density has increased 2.8 percent in the spine. My posture has greatly improved. I have more stamina, and am able to perform routine activities easier.” Borge’s strength improved 196 percent.

As people go through the program, their progress is charted assuring they continue to make progress, rather than plateau.

In her spare time, Ausherman pilots a Cherokee six which is housed at the Stead Airport. As the Wing Leader of Angel Flight West, she works with the group of pilots to assure that patients reach their destination, often crossing several states. “I fly a lot of children to Oakland where there is a children’s hospital, and to Palo Alto to the Stanford Hospital. Children may need Chemotherapy or a bone marrow transplant,” she said. “To sit in a car one way for five hours is torture for them.”

Working with Angel Flight for 5 years, at age 58 Ausherman says she has no plans to stop. “I love to fly,” adding, “To be able to fly people, especially the kids who have been through so much, is a wonderful thing to be able to do.”
Access Strength Centers is located at 7675 South Virginia, Suite C, Reno, NV (775) 853-1700. To learn more about bioDensity strength training, visit www.bioDensity.com.