Students 'drive' to their health
By Cara Quackenbush
"Get Fit on Route 66" is the newest attempt by the Wellness Center to educate and excite Santa Clara students about exercise and health.
Starting in Chicago on an online map, participants "drive" along Route 66 toward Santa Monica. Each exercise minute the student completes is converted into one mile for a 30-day total of 2,448 miles.
Since registration began Friday, more than 100 students have signed up. Students pay a $12 fee to register, and registration closes Oct. 5.
Health Educator Laurie Lang said that the government recommends a daily 30-minute dose of aerobic exercise combined with some strength or weight training at least three times per week.
In general, she thinks that Santa Clara students are healthy and make good use of the Malley facility, which she finds encouraging. But she chose this particular program mainly because it looked like fun.
In addition to the game-like approach, it provides recipes, fitness tips, and a place where participants can type in questions and have them answered via e-mail.
There are also weekly prize drawings for t-shirts, massage gift certificates, food gift certificates, and a grand prize drawing worth $500 at the end of the program.
"The social aspect of wellness can be lost in the rush to get good grades," Lang said, adding that by the third day her car was already half way through Illinois.
Lang worries every time students tells her that they pulled "all-nighters," and when she sees several students getting sick during exam week. According to Lang, these are signs that the body is not balanced.
Lang particularly likes this fitness program because she thinks it supports the Wellness Center's overall approach to health and fitness, in which weight loss is not the central goal.
"We're trying to get students to be moderate in their approach to nutrition, fitness and school," she said.
Senior Erin Donnelly decided to try out the new fitness program in part because she considers herself a competitive person.
"It excited me because it's a game. It makes me want to work out," Donnelly said.
Donnelly also likes the fact that all kinds of exercise count toward your miles, not just aerobic exercise. Dancing is her passion, but she prefers yoga or Pilates, both strengthening and stretching techniques, over most aerobic exercises.
"I'm pretty good about working out, but I don't like getting on a treadmill," she said. "You log in minutes no matter what it is, and people don't understand that you don't need to get on a treadmill or lift weights to feel good."
Like Lang, Donnelly praised the program for its focus on inner health, not on obtaining an ideal outer appearance.
"I think it's really important to be healthy and not worry about what other people are thinking," Donnelly said.
"You need to find a workout routine that feels good. There are so many people with eating and stress-related problems and what people don't understand is that this is a part of your education too," she added.
In addition to "Get Fit on Route 66," the Wellness center also offers other programs to help students lead healthier lives such as 10 hours per month of free professional nutrition counseling.
Lang said that this type of counseling can cost up to $75 per session if a student was to seek it somewhere else.