University Times

Faculty and staff have new fitness options on the upper campus this term.

Renee Rogers, director of the health and fitness program, and John Jakicic, chair of the School of Education’s Department of Health and Physical Activity, show off some of the Trees Hall fitness center’s new equipment.

Two exercise rooms (one of which is set up for stationary cycling classes) and a fitness center cardio room have been created on the first floor of Trees Hall. In addition to permitting an expanded schedule of health and fitness program classes, the new facilities double as a place where graduate students in the School of Education’s Department of Health and Physical Activity can hone and exercise their teaching skills.

The new center will open Sept. 4. An open house is set for today, Aug. 30, noon-1:30 p.m., for those who would like a tour of the new facilities.

The 5,000-square-foot space will be reserved for faculty and staff during peak hours in the early morning, midday and evening.

Initial hours will be 6:30-8:30 a.m., 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and 4-6:30 p.m., although department chair John Jakicic, director of the Physical Activity and Weight Management Research Center and the Nutrition and Obesity Research Center, said those times could be adjusted based on need.

In between, the exercise rooms will be used to train students in teaching, Jakicic said.

PhD student Renee Rogers, director of the health and fitness program, said the program’s schedule of classes at Bellefield Hall will remain essentially the same. The new space in Trees Hall, however, will enable the program to add more cardio and strength training classes and to offer Zumba classes for the first time on the upper campus.

Rogers said the array of classes will include more conditioning classes and boot camp-style exercise along with other group fitness offerings.

The fall class schedule and details on the facilities are posted at www.physicalactivity.pitt.edu/healthandfitness.aspx.

Classes begin Sept. 4 and end Dec. 14. Cost is $50 for University ID holders, $65 for non-University participants.

In addition to fees for the exercise classes, there will be a nominal per-semester fitness center membership fee to use the cardio room, Jakicic said, noting that the pricing aims to encourage use while covering the cost of equipment and maintenance.

University ID holders who are registered for a health and fitness class will pay $20 per term to add the fitness center membership; non-ID holders pay $40.

For those who are not registered for fitness classes, fitness center memberships will cost $50 per term for University ID holders and $75 for non-ID holders.

This term, the fitness center is open Sept. 4-Dec. 21.

Locker and shower facilities are available at Trees and use of the gym on the lower level remains free, Jakicic said.

The fitness center is equipped with resistance training machines, treadmills, ellipticals and adaptive motion trainers, or AMTs, which Rogers said are a cross between a step machine and an elliptical. The room also has four recumbent bicycles, two of which enable users to race against themselves or others in the gym.

The new facilities at Trees Hall include a cycling room set up with user-friendly Keiser stationary bikes.

Jakicic noted that the treadmills all include individual video screens with cable TV and the capacity for users to bring their own audio or video to accompany their workouts.

Rogers said the stationary indoor cycling room is set up with user-friendly Keiser stationary bikes. She expects the classes to fill quickly. Currently, such classes are offered (and filled to capacity) for members at the University Club but are unavailable elsewhere on campus, she said.

Not only will faculty and staff get a good quality program, students will get an opportunity to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom, Jakicic said, noting that the facilities would be staffed by master’s level exercise science and exercise physiology students.

“That allows us to have people available to help to get you in good shape,” he said, adding that the staff could offer individual attention for those seeking help or advice on their workouts.

Most instructors will be students who have experience in the classes they are teaching, he said, adding that the program may supplement with outside instructors if needed.

“You’re not just getting students who are teaching classes, you’re getting instructors with experience who happen to be students,” Jakicic said.

He envisions eventually expanding the offerings to include weight management programming and one day perhaps to have an additional lower-campus exercise facility similar to the new Trees space.

—Kimberly K. Barlow