Tarayn McMillan
Staff Writer
More than 100 participants in the CU Get Fit Challenge have passed the half way mark and are seeing their fitness goals come to fruition.
The CU Get Fit Challenge 2016 is designed to help create and sustain a healthier CU community with the motto “For the health of it!”.
The CU Get Fit Challenge is an 8-week program led by the Department of Sports and Exercise Science that began Monday, Jan. 18 and is set to end Friday, March 11.
There is a variety of fitness classes offered at the Aggie Rec Center to help the participants reach their goals. A clean eating grocery list along with a sample weight training and cardiovascular program was available to each participant.
Challenge participants will complete a post body composition analysis on the last day of the challenge Friday, March 11. Winners will be announced via email on March 12 and will receive a gift card to the store of their choice.
Lab technician Jessica Limbocker encouraged participants to get a mid-challenge evaluation to see their progress and refocus on their goals.
“We know a lot of people won’t show up because they only want the pre and post [challenge] weigh-ins,” she said. “We offer the mid-way assessment to get people excited about it again.”
She said studies show that on average most new year’s resolutions fail around the 5th week of the new year.
“This midway assessment will hopefully get participants reenergized and focused on their goals so that they don’t fall give up,” Limbocker said.
All 105 participants were added to a group on Blackboard where they were given additional information and tools to help them along the way. Participants post on a discussion board to talk about their progress and get assistance. There is also a Facebook page where there are daily tips, motivational quotes and recipes to help the challengers.
This is the second CU Get Fit Challenge. The first one took place last year but was only available for faculty. This year’s challenge is a little different.
Last year, participants kept track of workout time and only counted workouts performed at the Aggie Rec Center. This year, they wanted to give participants the freedom to workout where they wanted and at their own convenience.
The only measure used to track progress is a body composition assessment, which is your lean tissue and fat tissue, not your weight.
Weight can fluctuate quite a bit, but it takes a little extra work to shed body fat and gain lean tissue. By using loss of body fat and gain of lean muscle tissues, it promotes healthy diet and workout regiments. This means anyone can participate.
Someone could do a crash diet and loose 10 pounds in a week but increase their fat percentage, or someone could not lose any weight for an extended period of time while on a healthy diet and workout schedule, but replace their fat with muscle thus changing their percentage.
Andra Hunt, director of the CU Get Fit Challenge, said a commitment to fitness is the key to success.
“By the end of 8 weeks, if you are being consistent and sticking with the suggestions we initially made, there should be a difference from pre to post [weigh-ins],” she said.
With the challenge ending on March 11, participants are gearing up for their last two weeks of intense workouts and healthy eating in hopes to grab 1st, 2nd or 3rd place.
Though only three competitors receive a prize, the Department of Sports and Exercise Science hopes competitors walk away with more self-confidence and knowledge about healthy life styles.