New year brings new wave of Wellness Center attendance

Elizabeth Stromquist, Reporter

The new year, and any resolutions that accompany it has an impact on the Wellness Center’s attendance, sales of fitness passes and investments in personal trainers.

“What I’ve seen over this first week back is that we haven’t really had lows,” said Justin Colf, the fitness coordinator at the Wellness Center. “Usually, throughout the school year, there are periods of time where it’s not very busy. During this first week back, there haven’t been many times where it hasn’t been very busy.”

From 4-6 p.m. on Jan. 7 alone more than 300 students swiped their ID at the Wellness Center.

“We sell more fitness passes in the springtime than the fall because the weather is still nice outside during the fall and some students don’t realize the offers we have until later in the semester,” Shari Landmark, the Wellness Center director of recreation and fitness said.

Colf said the most popular fitness classes are high-intensity yoga, strength-based classes and Zumba. Zumba is the most attended class, with about 30 in each class.

Landmark said the Wellness Center often sees a drop in attendance around spring break, but not a significant one.

“The members are pretty darn consistent,” Landmark said regarding attendance at group fitness classes or personal training sessions.

The Wellness Center offers personal training either one-on-one with a trainer or in groups as large as 12 people. Training lasts for six weeks.

The staff at the Wellness Center anticipated the high attendance at the beginning of the second semester. For this reason, they had construction completed over winter break.

Colf said the staff is excited about new exercise equipment arriving in the coming weeks. The Wellness Center offers an orientation class for those unsure about how to use the equipment.

Students are able to sign up for personal training through the Wellness Center’s website under the personal training tab and $75 semester-long fitness passes are available at the welcome desk.