Student Fitness is more than meets the eye

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While obesity rates are constantly increasing throughout the United States, Hillsdale students appear to be staying relatively fit and active. However, the appearance of fitness may often be deceiving.  A lack of obesity does not mean a healthy body.

“Some students may look the part,” said Bill Lundberg, manager of Hayden park. “But how is that healthy heart? How is their fitness, actually?”

While a total of 44.2 percent of students surveyed in a Collegian poll wor out 5-7 days a week at moderate to high intensity, 12.7 percent do not work out at all during the week.

A reason for the apparent fitness of Hillsdale students is the amount of food they typically eat every day. 45.3 percent of the student body claimed to eat less food while at school than at home.

Lundberg is dedicated to giving students more and more opportunities to stay active and get outside. From cross-country skiing in the winter, to the running club, and running and biking activities at Hayden Park, the park is expanding the activities it offers as an active extension of the campus.

“It’s not necessarily that people have to be so regimented that they’re going every day, but we just want to keep these great facilities open so that people have the opportunity to use them,” Lundberg said. “I’ve been really enthused with the things that have been going on recently.”

At the Hayden Park Clubhouse, bikes sit in the living room to be checked out by students, and Woodson, Lundberg’s big, fluffy golden retriever, eagerly awaits the next group of students to come and take him for a walk.

“I actually got the idea from Yale,” Lundberg said. “They will check dogs out to students, so if you’re a dog person, you can get your ‘dog fix.’ I figured I could take Woodson, and people could come take him for a walk or run.”

Besides these fun, outdoor opportunities, Lundberg said that the sports studies department is very excited about the changes going on in the core. Beginning with the incoming class in the fall, all students, athletes or non-athletes, will have to take one two-credit “Wellness Dynamics” course instead of the previous two one-credit physical exercise classes.

Sophomore Emma Langston is in the student Health and Wellness Club. The club is in close coordination with the college’s Health and Wellness program, directed by Brock Lutz, the director of Health Services. Langston leads the Wednesday-night Zumba activities for women, along with junior Shannon Baldwin.

“Students do not really have a fitness mentality. That’s why the club was initiated,” Langston said. “We saw a need to help the campus become more aware of what it means to live a healthy lifestyle — to eat well, to exercise, to take care of your body. I think that that’s why the sports complex additions are so exciting. It will draw more students down to the sports complex and to exercise and to have fun. They’ll have great new facilities and be able to connect with people. “

Langston also commented on the fact that fitness is a part of a true liberal arts education.

“Students just get so sucked into their studies that they forget that we are all physical, mental, spiritual, intellectual, and social beings,” she commented. “It is, in fact, a part of our education.”

The concept of a true liberal arts education that includes physical wellness is what those in the college’s Health and Wellness and at Hayden Park are trying to put forth.

“Right now we really want to grow Hayden Park. I mean, it is a work in progress. We didn’t get to sit in the living room before.” Lundberg laughed. “What students need to be aware of is they just need to let me know, and this is all available to them. It’s still a well-kept secret for some of our students, but we’re really growing the program.”

Lundberg said that Hayden Park is open to all students, even if they just want a place to study or relax off-campus.

“Living on campus, sometimes students just need a break from the college campus and to have a home-like environment,” he said.

Lundberg simply asks that people contact him whenever they’re coming out to run or walk the miles of trails, or to bike. He said that he’s not necessarily there from dawn to dusk, but whenever people want to come out, it’s usually very open. It’s really just about providing opportunities for a more active student body.

“I think that one general misconception that people have is that people think that ‘because I’m not overweight, I must be healthy’,” Langston said. “But that’s not true! You have to actively be working on your physical well-being.”