by Logan Meriwether, Student Reporter
Being fit is a great habit to start early in life, but having a fitness schedule no matter what age you are is important to a healthy lifestyle.
Northwestern has not only started new fitness classes at the J.R. Holder Wellness center, but they have a new teacher as well. Bailie Gooch is a student at Northwestern and is a fitness fanatic. Gooch said her and the rest of the staff in the Wellness Center wanted to start new classes to get more students, faculty and members of the community involved in fitness.
Gooch said they are starting two new classes a Body Burn class on Mondays. This is a hit class, which is high intensity interval training. Gooch said this class is great for getting your heart rate going, burning fat and gaining muscle just by using light workout weights or even just your body weight.
The Wednesday class, which is a Body Balance class. In this class Gooch is helping people with their balance, core strength and muscle stability. This great for people who have very tight muscles and poor flexibility. Gooch said it is also great to build muscle tone and definition.
Both of the classes are at noon, Gooch said this is great for a lunchtime workout. The classes both last 45 mins. Gooch said they have had a wide range of ages in the classes ranging from students all the way up to older individuals in the community.
“ I just want to motivate and encourage other people to live a healthy and happy lifestyle.” Gooch said.
Olivia Yandel, Assistant Director at the J.R Holder Wellness Center and fitness instructor said she is very excited for the new classes and has seen a good number of individuals in the classes. Yandel teaches a rhythm cycling class at the Wellness Center. This is cycling where you go off of the beat of the music that Yandel plays in class. Yandel said she enjoys and wants to teach it because when she was a dancer the beat of the music came naturally came to her making dance easy and enjoyable for her.
“Building great fitness habits now as a college student is important for when you are older,” Yandel said. “If you start now it will help you later in life.”
Yandel’s classes are on Tuesday and Thursday at noon and at 5:15 both days. The classes last around 45 minutes, Yandel said. They start with a quick warm up, then starting cycling to the music and finishing with a cool down session to slow everyone’s heart rate back down. Yandel said she encourages people to join her rhythm cycling class. No matter if you are up off your seat cycling, or if you are sitting down the whole time while cycling. People are still going to get a great workout.
Richard Burdick, Director of the J.R Holder Wellness Center said Gooch is the only student they have teaching a fitness class at the Wellness Center. He said he is impressed with how well she has taught the class and has gotten people involved. Burdick said they have revised and refreshed a lot of the fitness classes. They have been trying to get in more students, faculty and members of the community to come in and be fit.
Burdick said they have had a good amount of people in all of the classes even during the pandemic. He said they started virtual workout classes during the pandemic, and they are seeing more of those people coming back in and working out in person. Burdick said we do not have limits on how many people are in the classes. They have been able to keep everyone socially distanced and require that everyone wipe down the equipment before and after every use.