With elliptical machines, treadmills and exercise bicycles commanding a prominent roadside position behind large windows, passersby might easily mistake Groton’s senior center for the latest upscale gym or fitness facility, if not for the identifying sign out front.

What a difference from the days when the phrase senior center conjured images of a largely sedentary group of folks eating lunches, knitting or playing cards together. Not that those activities don’t remain necessary to a vital center focused on serving all members of its public, but these days senior programming is as apt to include Zumba, hiking, weight training, yoga and Tai Chi as it is knitting.

In Waterford over the past decade, the number of fitness programs for seniors has quadrupled. In Groton 20 years ago, the senior center offered a couple of fitness classes. Today, the town offers specific classes focused on heart health, cardio, joint health, stretching and balance, and strength training. These are in addition to Zumba and yoga.

This certainly is a not only a wise trend, but a wonderful one.

Living a longer, healthier life requires physical activity and making it easier for seniors to exercise with their peers in places where they are comfortable is a wonderful way to encourage lifelong physical fitness. And like that cornfield-turned-baseball diamond in Iowa, the wide variety of senior fitness centers and exercise classes offered in the region provide support for the saying “If you build it (or offer it), they will come.”

In Groton, some 300 seniors regularly use the more than 20 fitness machines at the center. In Waterford, a group of 10 or more seniors is outside the community center’s fitness room each morning, waiting for the facility to open at 8 a.m. In East Lyme, senior classes in yoga, Tai Chi, Zumba and even tap dance fill up quickly. Other seniors in that town also participate in a weight lifting program offered at the high school.

Healthy outdoor physical activities are now a regular part of senior programming. These encompass walking, hiking and kayaking.

Senior programs throughout the region now offer, and should continue to offer, activities that socially and intellectually engage seniors who no longer can be physically active. At the same time, continuing to expand exercise and fitness classes, along with providing fitness centers dedicated to exclusive use by seniors, will keep older residents moving and enjoying longer, healthier lives.