The Fitness Center revamps its group fitness program

By GLORIA KAMOLE

Physical activity is often seen as a chore, but this year the Fitness Center is offering a wider variety of group fitness classes than they have in the past, in an attempt to encourage students and their friends to take a study break and workout.

Cycling, core blast and popup boot camp are just a few of the new classes that have been positively received by students.

Classes are scheduled during multiple time slots to be more convenient for students with busy schedules and limited time to spend at the gym.

One of the improvements made to the group classes is the fact that they are now offered multiple times a week.

For example, the cycling class is offered seven times a week and the classes are offered in three different options which include 30 and 45 minute long sessions as well as hour long sessions on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week.

The cycling classes are led by University of Mary Washington undergraduates and graduate students while some of the other classes, such as yoga and Dance Trance are led by certified professionals.

The Core Blast class is a 15-minute class that focuses on working the abdominal muscles in order to strengthen the core. Students looking to maximize their workout in less time partake in this class.

Michael Middleton, senior psychology major, instructs the class and has worked at the Fitness Center since his junior year, acting as a student supervisor in addition to leading weekly classes. “The core has always been my favorite thing to workout,” Middleton said.

When he was given the opportunity to teach a class, he chose to teach something that he enjoys in order to inspire those in his classes.

According to the fitness center page, Core Blast is described as “the most bang for your buck.” The exercises performed in the class include planks, leg lifts and bicycle crunches.

Shibani Gautam, senior political science major, said that the new fitness classes “…are super fun and I love how they [the fitness center] incorporated students this year. I feel that the cycling classes brought something new to Mary Washington.”

According to Miranda Lovett, junior classics major, the popup boot camp is the most challenging fitness class I have ever taken at school.

Lovett enjoyed how intense it was, but felt the results of her intense workout for days afterwards.

Lovett also practiced yoga regularly and was pleased with the newest fitness class, power yoga. “I got to do yoga and get a workout in at the same time,” she said.

In addition to all of these new classes, the Fitness Center still offers a few of the old classes such as TGIF Yoga. Many students found TGIF Yoga very relaxing, especially since it’s at the end of the week and it focuses on just relaxing their bodies and minds.

Group classes are very popular on campus, especially now after the recent changes to the schedule.