There are plenty of activities at the Sport and Fitness Center on Haverhill for students to participate in and to help get their blood flowing while dealing with classes and heavy workloads this semester. The school year can be stressful, and the Sport and Fitness Center can be a great place to unwind.
The Sport and Fitness Center offers programs for all kinds of students, no matter their physical or schedule limitations.
There are group programs available during the week throughout the semester, including functional movement, cardio-boxing, and bootcamp.
The functional movement class uses stretching and bodyweight exercises to help create strength and mobility throughout the whole body, helping to prevent injury and improve general wellbeing.
Cardio-boxing is an intense 30-minute interval workout, implementing boxing techniques with three-minute rounds of workouts with one-minute rest periods in between. Utilizing a circuit training program, bootcamp offers a quick, high intensity, full body workout that tones muscle and burns calories.
Each of these group programs have already begun their classes for the semester on Sept. 15, but there is no registration necessary, and new students are welcome anytime.
Classes are offered at different points during the week in order to try to accommodate student schedules, with functional movement being held on Thursdays at 11 a.m. in room D133, cardio-boxing on Tuesdays at 12 p.m. in room D133, and bootcamp on Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. in room D133.
The Sport and Fitness Center also offers a student personal training program where students can meet one on one with a student personal trainer. The trainers are usually movement science majors, although sometimes they include recent graduates as well.
The program consists of meeting with a student personal trainer for one hour a week for 10 weeks. With their trainers, students will create and work to meet specific personal fitness goals. These programs are generally for beginners, but all skill levels are accepted. All programs are supervised by Rob Parker, MS CSCS NSCA PT.
Parker says that they are always looking for new participants at the Fitness Center, and welcome anyone to come in and use the equipment with a valid school ID.
In order to draw some of these new members in, the program offers small incentives for achieving various workout goals through the 10 weeks. Students can win prizes such as headphones, a backpack or a Northern Essex sweatshirt. Parker hopes that these small incentives at the beginning will entice exercisers to stick with the program, and the fitness improvements will then speak for themselves.
Students who are interested in the student personal training program are encouraged to contact Rob Parker at (978) 556-3823 or stop by the Sport and Fitness Center in room D133 on the Haverhill campus.
One professor at the college has found an interesting way to get students involved with the Sports and Fitness Center. Professor Liliana Brand is a math professor who offers bonus points to students in her classes if they go and utilize the Sport and Fitness Center. This includes group programs, the student personal training programs, or just using the gym and the facilities at leisure. Twenty five visits to the gym in the semester will earn a student the bonus points from Brand.
One student in one of Professor Brand’s calculus II classes, Chienell Coleman, is certainly enthused by the prospect of getting bonus points simply for getting exercise.
Coleman said, “Not only is she strengthening our minds in class, she is encouraging us to strengthen our bodies as well.”
Rob Parker is also a fan of Brand’s plan to get students to use the Sport and Fitness Center.
When asked about the bonus points opportunity, Parker said, “S=she really values the health benefits, and also getting students involved on campus, which is great for us.”
Regular open gym hours for the fall semester are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Mon. through Thurs., and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday.
Students who may be interested in being active on campus but don’t want to use the actual gym can participate in intramural sports. Sports such as soccer, flag football, volleyball and others are played throughout the week on the field in the courtyard outside of the Sport and Fitness Center and Spurk Building. Just last Friday, a group of 16 students of all backgrounds and genders organized themselves, picked teams, and had an hour-long soccer match on the field.
Students interested in playing or signing up for intramural sports should visit the recreation/intramurals bulletin board in the main lobby of the Sport and Fitness Center on Haverhill campus. All students are encouraged to participate.
