From walking and water polo to biking and looking at body composition, students and staff can increase their fitness with the new Fit and Efficient Fridays.
Part of the Year of Sustainability, Fit and Efficient Fridays offer an opportunity for any campus member can come down to the Dow and recieve free guided workouts. A healthy lifestyle is essential to personal sustainability, according to Tom Johnson, professor of physical education, who guides the Fit and Efficient Fridays with colleague Sharon Frandsen and physical education students.
“A healthy lifestyle lets people live longer and sustain themselves,” Johnson said.
The program was created to be in conjunction with next year’s theme, the Year of Wellness. Next year the plan is to expand the depth of the program and increase participation. According to Weaver, the goal is to do weeklong segments all of next year.
“[Fit and Efficient Friday’s] is sort of an introduction to the Year of Wellness, but most importantly right now it is an extension of the Year of Sustainability for this year,” said Kaitlin Sharp, Brighton sophomore, one of the student members of the program.
Currently, Fit and Efficient Friday events include activities such as water aerobics, cardiovascular fitness, and biking around campus and the community. Part of the goal of the program, other than increasing general wellness, is to show campus what Albion has to offer including renting bikes and bike paths as well as how to use exercise machines.
“(We want) to encourage the campus community to be more active and health conscious,” said Amanda Weaver, Marshall sophomore, member of the Fit and Efficient Fridays team. “We want to give people the resources and knowledge they need to continue physical activity on their own.”
Monthly themes include general fitness, fitness/testing and health and wellness. Each week covers an aspect of the respective theme, with today’s activity being water aerobics as a part of September’s general wellness theme.
According to Johnson, one struggle so far has been attendance.
“Because it’s (Fit and Efficient Fridays) new, it’s struggling with people knowing the opportunity exists,” Johnson said.
According to Sharp, they plan on increasing attendance by posting more advertisements campus-wide. The event is held weekly Fridays 12 – 3 p.m in the Dow.
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