Sophomore Tatum Linde saw the need for a women’s gym community at Hillsdale and founded Ladies in Fitness Training, or LIFT, a women’s only weightlifting club.

“The purpose of LIFT is to bring females together and create the time and the space for girls to create community while also learning techniques for lifting and working out,” Linde said.

At the first few meetings, members will learn proper technique and participate in circuit strength training, according to Linde. 

“We’ll make sure that people feel confident with the equipment, and they can adjust it to fit them,” Linde said. “Then people can feel like they aren’t just following us and that they have the ability to vary it.”

Through teaching technique and exercise variations, LIFT aims to help women gain the confidence to create a routine and work out on their own, Linde said. 

“Going to the gym when you don’t know what’s going on can be scary and intimidating,” sophomore and Yoga Club instructor Kody Richards said. “If you can go and be in an environment where you know you won’t be judged and you know other people are going because they also want to learn how to properly use equipment in the gym, it creates a more open and welcoming environment.”

LIFT meets in Founder’s Gym, a new fitness location on the lower level of the Stanton Foundation Center for American Classical Education, formerly Mauck Elementary School. Although the club meeting runs from 6 – 7 p.m., LIFT has Founder’s Gym reserved until 8 p.m. The extra hour is used for community building and a female-only open gym time, according to Linde.

“Having a specific time and a place to go and having other people to hold you accountable will motivate people to actually make fitness a priority,” sophomore and club member Abby Gilreath said. “When you have other women that are meeting together at that time, it’s more like a team mindset.”

Along with creating Founder’s Gym, the college added updated gym spaces to each dorm to make exercising more accessible for students, according to Richards.

“The whole fitness initiative from the administration is because students are stressed out and don’t exercise,” Richards said. “Staying physically fit is one of the best ways to decrease stress.”

According to Linde, exercising provides a break in her busy schedule and helps relieve stress.

“It’s almost like an escape where you get to engage with your body, and it’s a little bit of a grounding experience,” Linde said. “Personally, it helps me refocus and reset.”

Along with providing a break from Hillsdale’s rigorous academics, a consistent exercise routine helps students live out classroom lessons, according to Richards.

“We talk a lot about the well ordered soul. It’s really difficult to live a well ordered life if you aren’t active and take care of your body,” Richards said. “Your body is what your soul is sitting in and if you’re not exercising the home of your soul, you’re not being a very good steward of it.”

Richards encourages students to spend their time intentionally in order to see the benefits of exercise.

“Students need to learn that you have as much time as you make, and if you make time to work out, you’re going to feel so much better and you are going to perform so much better in school,” Richards said. “That’s a skill that we can take with us for the rest of our lives.”