Kaitlin Bradshaw, Staff Writer-
The SCSU Fitness Center is halfway through the six-week program of the fitness challenge.
“The six-week program is designed to keep people motivated with working out, sticking to a fitness program or start one up,” said Jessica Scibek, the assistant director of the fitness center.
This is the second spring semester that the challenge has been held and already there has been an increase in the amount of people who joined, said Scibek.
“Last year we had 105 people participate in the challenge and now we have like 130, 132 people,” she said.
The fitness challenge is a free challenge; the only thing paid for is the $60 membership fee to the SCSU Fitness Center. Students, faculty and staff were all welcomed and encouraged to join the challenge where they could set a fitness goal and regularly track their progress on a calendar, said Scibek.
“It’s based off a point system. One minute of working out equals one point. The goal is to reach 1,500 points which then the person is the winner then second is 1,000 points and third is 800,” she said.
Amanda Meador, an anthropology major and fitness center staff member, said she is excited for the challenge this year.
“I liked it a lot; it appealed to my competitive side. I exceeded my limit by 600 points and I’m the reason for adding more this year,” she said.
Meador won last year’s fitness challenge and credits teaching classes at the fitness center to her advantage.
“I worked out here [SCSU fitness center], I counted the classes I taught which are cardio kickboxing, beach body boot camp and ABS,” said Meador. “I just did my normal routine, I didn’t do any of the bonus activities, but I think I will this year – makes it a lot more fun.”
The prize for winning the challenge and for the first 100 people meeting the goals set is a t-shirt, but the benefits of working out are much more rewarding, said Scibek.
“People who exercise get better sleep, better mood, better body image, gain strength; they overall feel better,” she said.
The fitness challenge is an individual challenge for some and a competition for others. Students in Dr. Debra Risisky’s public health program planning class are trying to beat the teacher.
“I teach a class where students learn to put together events like the fitness challenge so I thought it was fitting to have them participate,” she said.
Risisky collaborated with Scibek for the students to join the challenge.
“It’s fun for them”, Risisky said. “I work out normally so to have the students try and beat me is a fun motivator for the students to get extra credit in class.”
Risisky said that it is a fun way to promote exercise and a nice case study for the students and that she will definitely continue this in the future.
“It’s good for the students to see that we practice what we preach in class on being healthy,” said Risisky.