UT’s Rec center offers students a new fitness class this semester

Weightlifting, pushups and sit-ups are all included in the new fitness class, Rocket Fit.

Rocket Fit was introduced to students and faculty members at the beginning of the semester as a rendition of Crossfit.

“Crossfit is a high intensity interval training, it helps you burn more calories in a less amount of time,” Ryan Schropp, the trainer of Rocket Fit, said.

The main goal of Rocket Fit is to keep your heart rate up, Schropp said.

Schropp said the reason behind creating the class was to “bring students new and different exercises.”

The Rec Center has offered classes like classical bike training for many years, so Rocket Fit was created to change up the classes held at the Rec.

For students who are are budgeting their time, Rocket Fit classes only last 45 minutes and are held on Fridays at 4:15 p.m.

Over the last few weeks, a wide variety of participants have attended the class, ranging in both age and gender.

Ellie Vogelsang, a first-year secondary education major, learned about the class through a flier she saw at the Rec Center, early this semester, and has been attending the classes ever since.

“My friend comes with me every Friday, she pushes me to want to come,” Vogelsang said. “If one of us doesn’t want to go, we’re like no, we have to.”

Vogelsang said there are both short and long term benefits from being involved in Rocket Fit.

“Short term is that I feel good, especially when it is the weekend,” Vogelsang said. “Friday is the beginning of the weekend, and when I attend, I feel great all weekend. Long term it’s good because you get in better shape, and you feel good about yourself.”

Rocket Fit is not just for students, but also for any member of the Rec Center, including faculty.

Rick Clark, a success coach in the College of Adult and Lifelong Learning (CALL), not only attends the class weekly, but encourages the students enrolled in the CALL to also attend.

“Because we work with the adult population, we know we have a task at hand to make sure our students are not just commuting to class and then running back home,” Clark said. “We want to give them a great experience and get them involved.”

Clark and his fellow success coaches have created a new way of keeping CALL students engaged. Rocket Fit is one of the many activities the three coaches have set up for their students.

Not only have these changes affected the students, but also the success coaches.

“It’s changed because the students were so afraid to open up, but the success coach idea has always been just ‘open arms,’” Clark said. “Now that students know who we are, because we’ve made regular contact with them, they don’t mind calling us. The coaches within Adult and Lifelong Learning are very into trying to meet student needs, we’re not creating programs just to create programs.”

Rocket Fit classes are held in the Fitness Studio at the Rec Center. The cost is free with a valid Rec membership, or a valid Rocket ID. Fitness class schedules are available in the main office of the Rec Center and can be found online at http://tinyurl.com/rocketfit.