Students Create Fitness Opportunities for Other Students

When transitioning from high school to college, many students see changes in their fitness routine. Trey Ferguson and Nick Lawson are two USF students who have set up a circuit training activity so other students can maintain workout habits that may have previously come from participating in high school sports.

Ferguson says the inspiration came last year when they first volunteered with Feeding South Dakota, another volunteer opportunity outside of USF, and wanted to continue volunteering their time on campus somehow. That’s when they had the idea to create a circuit training class for other students.

Lawson says, “Well our first day we were going to go through a sample of everything, like some things they can do like what physical fitness does for the body and why it’s good for you, and just kind of go through some different exercises that they could do.”

“We were just going to go upstairs and maybe do just bike or go on the elliptical. Just have them do some workouts there and from there make it progressive,” Lawson says.

Matthew Pohren, Assistant Athletics Director for External Affairs, and also a big advocator for the importance of physical fitness, says that students who are not involved in collegiate athletics struggle to maintain proper fitness.

“The funny thing is that if you even take the athletes out, I bet you at least half, if not more, of the students here at USF probably did a sport in high school or they chose to pursue a sport in college, or not,” Pohren says.

Pohren says he believes one of the main reasons students struggle with their personal fitness is because they do not have a coach or someone else to help motivate them.

“What I see in class or what I hear a lot in class is that they need someone else to help make them accountable or someone else to help motivate them,” Pohren says.

Space limitation in facilities can be a problem for expanding fitness opportunities, but that also opens the doors for creativity.

Pohren says, “Finding ways to create new things but also ways to be creative, and you know doing things outside as the weather starts to improve, within the gymnasium when the court is free vs just in the fitness center or just in the weight room, are probably ways to also expand that too.”

Each week the USF Cougar Activity board sends emails about when some of these activities take place. These activities include:

Zumba on Mondays at 6:00 pm on the Stewart Center Aerial Track.                                                         Weight Lifting on Mondays at 7:00 pm in the Stewart Center Weight Room.
Jaz It Up on Wednesdays at 6:30 pm on the Stewart Center Aerial Track.                                                 Circuit Training is on Thursdays at 8:00 pm in the Stewart Center Fitness Room/Aerial Track.

These opportunities are always present for students to take advantage of to remain physically fit. If you don’t feel comfortable working out alone, take advantage of the group fitness events. The Stewart Center has very flexible hours for students to be able to work out almost anytime of the day. Don’t miss out on the opportunities to build good physical habits that you can carry on with you through the rest of your life.

Written by Elizabeth Sanchez