Playing hip-hop or Doris Day, older exercise instructors can speak their peers' language

SEATTLE (AP) — Bengie Santos was a dancer and choreographer for 30 years before reaching an age when most artists hang up their dancing shoes and take a seat in the audience. But she wasn’t ready to sit back and enjoy the show. So Santos began her third act as an exercise instructor.

Now 72 and in her 14th year teaching at the YMCA of Greater Seattle, Santos has an almost cult-like following of older adults — many in their 80s and 90s — who come to stretch, dance and lift weights multiple times a week.

From Doris Day singalongs to hip-hop routines and country line dances, the classes get people kicking, popping and spinning.

Some of Santos' students say younger instructors — however great — don’t quite “get them” in the same way.

And Y organizers and other experts say many older instructors can be role models, speaking their peers' language in a way that makes exercise more fun.

Sharon Ruff, 81, was attracted to Santos’ classes by the eclectic mix of music, and loves the instructor’s energy and enthusiasm. Before she retired from her job as a teacher, she had never exercised regularly. “I didn’t really like it, because it wasn’t fun,” she says.

Her friend Ann Kashiwa, 91, often stays for two hour-long classes in a row. She started taking Santos’ classes during the pandemic, and has stuck with them through treatment for pancreatic cancer.

“She is not only a fantastic teacher, but she gets people together,” says Kashiwa, whose Y friendships have helped her through tough times.

Santos says inspiration flows both ways. Her students inspire her to keep going, she says, and “I’m hoping I inspire them to keep going.”

Exercise and being with people are crucial for healthy aging, so finding incentives to do that is important.

“Everybody has to figure out what their barriers are” and come up with strategies to make physical activity rewarding, says Daniel E. Lieberman, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard and author of several books, including “Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do is Healthy and Rewarding.”

Finding someone to get you moving, whether an instructor or a friend, can help overcome that natural resistance.

“People who stay active as they get older are important role models for everyone,” Lieberman says.

Harry King, an 83-year-old personal trainer in Greenville, South Carolina, agrees that motivation to take that first step is tough for many people, and becomes even harder as their mobility weakens.

King had always been active – kayaking, hiking and playing basketball – but when he retired from his job as an insurance executive and business coach, he felt a pull toward a comfortable chair in front of the TV. But that got boring fast, so when he saw a Help Wanted sign at Planet Fitness, he applied and worked his way up to become a trainer.

Most of his clients are 50 or older.

“I’ve heard people say I set a good example and I try to,” he says. “At my age, if I can exercise, why can’t other people too?”

The YMCA in Seattle is mindful of the value of having an older instructor leading a senior class.

“We don’t put an age limit on our applicants,” says program executive Kerry Ashby, who started there as a younger instructor for the Active Older Adults program. The Y does recruit from within the older adult classes, and a lot of instructors are former participants.

“We know it’s more than just fitness for the majority of our active older adults,” Ashby says. “It’s also the mental and emotional aspect.”

Tom Kleinecke, 67, has been a member of the Y for 18 years and has sampled many different classes. Younger instructors, he says, tend to teach their classes, while Santos leads and inspires.

Kleinecke says his fitness and endurance have improved noticeably since he started taking three of Santos’ classes a week. Although he’s fit, he says, it’s challenging to keep up with her.

One of the classes includes a faster-paced dance class not designed for older students. At first, parts were tough to follow, he said, but before long, he knew all the steps, from mambo to moonwalk.

“If you’re worried about being out of sync and uncoordinated, don’t worry about it because nobody is paying attention to you,” Kleinecke says. They’re all watching the instructor.

Now, he and his wife go out dancing on the weekends.

Santos says she considers the ages and backgrounds of her students when choosing the exercise class soundtrack.

“I always tell other instructors it isn’t your class, it’s their class,” she says.

She also teaches smaller classes in three senior living facilities. Those students range from 80 to 102.

“The caregivers wheel them out. I play their music. It triggers their memory,” from Judy Garland to Louie Armstrong, Santos says. “When they see me they think they’re going to party.”

Some even waltz in their chairs.

Lili Bonilla raises light weights during an exercise class for older adults led by instructor Bengie Santos, 72, at the Dale Turner Family YMCA, April 30, 2026, in Shoreline, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Eileen Weintraub uses light weights during a class for older adults led by Bengie Santos at the Dale Turner Family YMCA, April 30, 2026, in Shoreline, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A participant grabs an exercise ball during a class for older adults led by instructor Bengie Santos at the Dale Turner Family YMCA, April 30, 2026, in Shoreline, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Participants do arm exercises during an exercise class for older adults led by instructor Bengie Santos, 72, at the Dale Turner Family YMCA, April 30, 2026, in Shoreline, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Participants do arm exercises in a class for older adults led by instructor Bengie Santos, 72, at the Dale Turner Family YMCA, April 30, 2026, in Shoreline, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

From left, Ann Kashiwa, Alma Alvarez-Smith and Pilar Madayag follow instructor Bengie Santos, 72, as she leads an exercise class for older adults at the Dale Turner Family YMCA, April 30, 2026, in Shoreline, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Instructor Bengie Santos, 72, leads a class for older adults, including Lili Bonilla, in a yellow tracksuit, at the Dale Turner Family YMCA, April 30, 2026, in Shoreline, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Instructor Bengie Santos, 72, leads a class for older adults at the Dale Turner Family YMCA, April 30, 2026, in Shoreline, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Instructor Bengie Santos, 72, foreground center, leads a class for older adults at the Dale Turner Family YMCA, April 30, 2026, in Shoreline, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Ann Kashiwa, 91, right, uses an exercise band while taking a class for older adults led by instructor Bengie Santos at the Dale Turner Family YMCA, April 30, 2026, in Shoreline, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A participant uses an exercise band during a class for older adults led by instructor Bengie Santos at the Dale Turner Family YMCA, April 30, 2026, in Shoreline, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Instructor Bengie Santos, 72, leads a class for older adults at the Dale Turner Family YMCA, April 30, 2026, in Shoreline, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Instructor Bengie Santos, 72, leads a class for older adults, including Pilar Madayag, left, at the Dale Turner Family YMCA, April 30, 2026, in Shoreline, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A participant uses light weights during a class for older adults led by instructor Bengie Santos at the Dale Turner Family YMCA, April 30, 2026, in Shoreline, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Instructor Bengie Santos, 72, leads a class for older adults at the Dale Turner Family YMCA, April 30, 2026, in Shoreline, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Instructor Bengie Santos, 72, collects small exercise balls in between portions of her exercise class for older adults at the Dale Turner Family YMCA, April 30, 2026, in Shoreline, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Instructor Bengie Santos, 72, at front, leads an exercise class for older adults at the Dale Turner Family YMCA, April 30, 2026, in Shoreline, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk, the world's richest man and now first-ever trillionaire, controls a lot of different businesses.

Electric vehicles. Brain implants. Underground tunnels. A social media platform once called Twitter. And a rocket maker that blasted off its trading from Wall Street this week.

Over time, more and more of these ventures have found themselves under the same roof. Musk merged SpaceX — which went public on Friday — with his artificial intelligence company xAI just earlier this year. But he still holds the CEO role at several corporations today, in addition to other various executive titles or ownership stakes.

Here's a look at Musk's vast business empire.

Musk is CEO of SpaceX, which he founded in 2002. The company has grown far beyond rockets. It owns satellite communications service Starlink, a big source of cash for the company that generated $4.4 billion in operating income last year. SpaceX also houses social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, which Musk bought for $44 billion in 2022 and parked it under xAI, the maker of the Grok chatbot.

Both xAI and X are money losers (the AI business lost $6.4 billion in operations last year). Nonetheless, SpaceX — which lost $2.6 billion overall from operations last year — was able to whip up enough market hype to debut with the biggest initial public offering in history on Friday, closing at just below $161 per share, or a total market value of $2.1 trillion.

Some think that price tag significantly overvalues the company. SpaceX has promised it will become a leader in AI and one day help make human life multiplanetary — with lofty, and at times sci-fi sounding, goals that range from putting data centers in space to colonizing Mars. But the bulk of that hinges on unproven technology and massive capital needs.

Musk is also CEO of Tesla, a role he has held at the electric car maker since 2008.

Tesla has struggled with rising competition in the EV space. Last year, the company lost its crown as the world’s largest EV maker to China’s BYD. Sales were also bruised during boycotts over Musk’s politics. Those numbers have since rebounded some, but Musk has repeatedly shrugged off troubles — emphasizing that Tesla’s future lies less in car sales than getting people to take rides in them as self-driving taxis.

Beyond the road, Tesla has been upping production of robots for homes and businesses. And it's also been in the solar energy business for about a decade with it purchase of SolarCity, which was founded by Musk and two of his cousins. Tesla went public in 2010, and went on to join the trillion dollar club on the S&P 500. Its market cap currently stands around $1.5 trillion.

Musk has also the CEO title at Neuralink, a brain-computer interface company he co-founded in 2016.

Neuralink is one of many groups working to connect the human nervous system to machines. It's launched clinical trials for people who have spinal cord injuries, ALS and other conditions. The company (and sometimes Musk himself ) has announced a handful of brain implants over recent years. In January, Neuralink said it had 21 trial participants worldwide.

Musk also founded The Boring Company, a decade-old tunnel digging and underground transportation business.

The Boring Company is behind projects like the “Vegas Loop” — a network of underground, Tesla-hailing tunnels that first opened around around the Las Vegas Convention Center in 2021. It's promised to deliver a network of high speed transit — with plans to also make tunnels in Dubai and Nashville. Still, pushback has piled up along the way. The company has been accused of breaking multiple safety and environmental requirements in Las Vegas, where its full route is still unfinished, and other criticism from some local officials in Nashville.

Musk made his initial fortune by creating two companies, Zip2 and PayPal ( once X.com ). Those then-startups were sold to new owners decades ago — but netted him about $200 million at sale, which Musk used to later start SpaceX and invest in Tesla.

FILE - Elon Musk, co-founder and chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., speaks during an unveiling event for the Boring Co. Hawthorne test tunnel in Hawthorne, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018. (Robyn Beck/Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Tesla vehicles line a parking lot at the company's Fremont, Calif., factory on Aug. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)

FILE - A SpaceX logo is displayed on a building, May 26, 2020, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

FILE - Elon Musk attends the finals for the NCAA wrestling championship, March 22, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)