As the weather gets colder, getting exercise outside can become difficult. For students who want to continue working out during in the winter weather, Binghamton University’s Recreation Center offers Specialty Wellness Classes, with no gym membership needed.
The East Gym is opening eight- to 13-week classes beginning this and next week. Options include Hydropower, Pink Gloves Boxing level one, two and three, a P90X class, Vinyasa Yoga and Obstacle Course Training. According to Cindy Cowden, associate director of Campus Recreation, the Specialty Wellness Classes were added to BU’s fitness program 15 years ago to give students a break from their workload and a boosted workout.
“Our goal is to provide something for everyone,” Cowden wrote in an email. “It is important for us to offer students, faculty/staff and community members a variety of different exercise options, as everyone has different preferences and goals.”
The program’s newest addition this spring, Obstacle Course Training, has participants climbing over walls and crawling through tunnels. It is offered five days a week for eight weeks, and led by certified trainers. The end goal is for students to be able and ready to compete in a local mud run on April 17 on Dunham Hill Road.
Hydropower is a twist on traditional aqua aerobics, with added drills and tools such as water weights and flotation devices. The water-based cross training focuses on cardio, muscular and flexibility development, and is open to swimmers of all levels.
Pink Gloves Boxing is a three-level exercise program for women, which consists of a mix of regular boxing techniques and some components of martial arts and strength building exercises. Alexa Francisco, the Pink Gloves Boxing instructor and a senior majoring in industrial and systems engineering, said the course teaches people to work together and get to know each other.
“I really like getting to know my students and being able to give them the attention they need to improve their skills,” Francisco wrote in an email. “A support system is definitely apparent; whenever someone was having a bad day, they would still come to class and leave with a smile on their face because they were surrounded by people with positive attitudes and great energy.”
Francisco also teaches a more intense P90X cardio course that works all muscles with squats, core-strengthening abdomen exercises and some yoga, with very little breaks between each set. Rock music is played in the background to motivate participants to power through the workout.
Featuring a smoother curriculum, Vinyasa Yoga focuses on poses that flow together and become a form of dance. It is a core-strengthening class, designed to adapt to all body types. Sara Caputi, a sophomore majoring in integrative neuroscience, said she enjoys Vinyasa Yoga because it’s graceful while constantly active.
“I personally think it’s one of the best forms of exercise,” Caputi said. “At the end of each workout I’m always out of breath and feel I have nothing left to give since all of my energy had been expended.”
A gym membership is not required to enroll in these courses, but each has a fee ranging from $60 to $110.