By BJ LEWIS

bvl001@latech.edu

 

Fitness trainers at the Maxie Lambright Intramural Sports Center are starting a new program this fall to get students in the door and on their way to being fitter, healthier people.

“The big thing we’re trying to do is fitness assessments that you can get with a trainer,” Chad Spruell, fitness and wellness coordinator, said. “The aerobic programs [are what] we have been doing but we’re trying to offer a little bit more.”

A “little bit more” is the individualized fitness workout regimens that any student or faculty member can conform to their needs, Spruell said.

The fitness program starts with three sessions, with the first session’s purpose being to gain health knowledge about the person, he said.

“They can come in, get with a fitness trainer and talk about their assessment,” Spruell said. “We go over body fat percentage, circumference measurements, get their resting heart rate, and they fill out a health history form,” Spruell said.

After gathering this information, the trainers can then come up with a fitness program specifically for each person, he said.

“[For] the second and third sessions, we teach proper warm up, stretches and give a cardio prescription,” Spruell said.

He said the trainers will teach how long the person should do cardio and what heart rate the trainee should be at when they are doing cardio.

Every six weeks the trainers will do a reassessment to see what progress the person has made in his or her workout program, Spruell said.

 “I think the program would be a pretty good help to people who aren’t quite sure what they are doing,” Curtis Hilton, a junior business management major, said. Hilton said he has been working out for six years and has his own plan. He said the intramural program would help those who are less experienced with their fitness plans.

“If it would help them with the fundamentals, it would be a big benefit,” Hilton said.

Working at the intramural center front desk, Nikki Carter, a senior marketing major, said she sees scores of people who come in with different fitness results in mind.

“Some people want to lose weight, some want to be more fit,” Carter said.

Carter said that with different goals, people need to do different workouts.

“The [person] can [then] be on the right path instead of just being at the intramural center, working out and not doing what they can to meet the goal,” Carter said.

Spruell said he wants to reach people who are not familiar or intimidated with coming into a fitness area.

Future fitness plans include moving all the weightlifting equipment from the room near the entrance to where all the treadmills and other exercise equipment are now located, Spruell said.

In addition, he said those in charge of the fitness program plan to turn the womens’ weight room into a spin class.

“That’s down the road a little bit,” he said. “But that’s what we’re looking at.”

Spruell also said he is looking to make changes on campus as well, specifically to the cafeteria menus. He said they would like to get calories displayed on cafeteria menus.

“To let people know how many calories they are getting in their [bodies],” Spruell said. “[We want] to try to get people to make healthier choices, especially in college.”

The main part is getting people to come in the door and feel welcome and not intimidated, he said.

“We want them to feel comfortable coming in, talking to us, getting an assessment and getting them started,” Spruell said.

“The benefits are endless.”