Dylan Haviland – General Assignment Reporter
The lights dimmed slowly in the yoga class, students laid out their mats and sat cross legged. Music came from the stereo, creating a calm environment. The instructor asked the students to close their eyes and relax as the room became quiet, her voice and the music were the only noise echoing throughout the room.
The fitness center is offering free exercise classes, including yoga, which students can enter until April 29. The three new classes offered until the end of the month are, Zumba with Imoni, Pure strength with Sophie and Sunrise cycling with Alyssa.
Free to students, faculty and staff, the classes require a nonmember to arrive 10 minutes early to complete a waiver and sign in with the staff.
“We have a few classes that we weren’t getting a ton of participants for but they are really excellent classes and we don’t want to cancel them because the people who are coming to them are really enjoying them,” said Jessica Scibek, assistant director. “But we really want to have the instructors and the whole class environment feel better.”
The first free class for the week is Zumba on Mondays at 7:15- 8:15 p.m.
“Zumba is dance based fitness, you do not need to have experience dancing,” said Scibek. “There’s not a lot of technical moves it’s kind of just follow the leader so the instructor will show you a couple of moves and you just follow along. Great music, high energy and again with a class like that the more people the better. It feels more like a party than a workout.”
Scibek described the Zumba class as a high energy session with great music that is enhanced with a large amount of participants.
On Tuesday, pure strength training is opportunity for students to practice weight training and improve their strength. The classes will run from 5 to 5:45 p.m., with the tagline “boost your metabolism and your mood!”
Wednesday is the cycling class starting at 9 to 9:45 a.m. An early morning workout with fixed cycles coached by a member of the staff.
“The cycling is a low impact activity because you never have to get on your feet you are on your bike and the yoga helps balance that out; working on your strength, your core stability as well as your flexibility and mindfulness,” said Scibek.
The three classes in addition to the yoga class offer a well-rounded workout for students both new and experienced to the gym.
“It’s great for cross training so you get to relax the mind and body with the yoga, we also get the strength from the other classes as well,” said Jennie Albert, senior and human performance and an employee at the fitness center.
“Cross training is just doing aerobics training and strength training and also mind and body so they offer all these different classes where you are able to work these.”
The four classes focus on different muscle groups with the addition of the aerobics.
“I think one important thing is trying to stay fit and have fun with the classes like with Zumba,” said Corey Evans, sophomore and political science. “I haven’t done it much myself but I know a lot of people recommend it and I think putting that out there as an option will definitely get people inspired.”
[…] Fitness Center offers free classes – The fitness center is offering free exercise classes … “I think one important thing is trying to stay fit and have fun with the classes like with Zumba,” said Corey Evans, sophomore and political science. “I haven’t … […]