Are you tired of waiting in line for a half hour or more to get on that elliptical machine at the gym? Would you rather not have to wake up at the crack of dawn or wait until late at night to work out without being surrounded by the crowds of students?
If you answered yes to either of these questions, then maybe an alternative workout is for you. There are a variety of ways to get fit that are not only beneficial to your body, but provide other useful perks as well.
Poly Escapes
On campus, Poly Escapes combines endurance, cardiovascular and upper-body strength training with a love of all things outdoors in order to provide students with an alternative workout. Activities such as rock climbing at either the rock wall in the University Union, or a trip to Cabrillo or Bishop’s Peak build “both mental and physical strength for the core and upper body,” said Austin Gardner, industrial engineering senior and Poly Escapes front line representative.
Gardner went ice climbing during his first trip with the organization and thinks that the trip provided both cardiovascular and upper body training.
“You have to hike out in the snow to get to the climbing spot which is where you get more of the cardio, and then you are pulling yourself up the wall,” he said.
Physical Education Class for Units
If you are in need of a few extra units, one option is to enroll in a kinesiology course such as a team sport or an aquatics class to get fit on a bi-weekly basis.
“The classes are all based on one sport like basketball, wrestling, or football,” kinesiology senior Dany Barragan said. “You learn the fundamentals from the beginning. There are skills testing that involve learning something in order to teach it back to someone. It’s mostly cardio, but it’s a good workout.”
Each of the kinesiology classes are one to two unit courses and are open to all majors, however some spaces are reserved for kinesiology majors.
Self-Defense Class
Another useful workout opportunity is to take a self-defense class at the Recreation Center. This quarter, martial arts classes such as Shorin-ryu karate or Muay Thai kickboxing offer basic self-defense techniques and defensive skills that might come in handy in the future.
“Right now we are learning how to attack first, because if you don’t know how to attack and only know how to defend, you will usually get over-taken quite easily,” said mechanical engineering sophomore Matthew West of the Muay Thai class. “We’ve learned techniques using our knees, the round kick, and a jab and cross punch and those are just the basic tasks.”
Walking a Shelter Dog
For animal lovers and those who would like to be active in the community, try volunteering to walk a dog at Woods Humane Society. The organization is always looking for new off-site volunteeers.
According to Courtney Hann, customer service representative for Woods Humane Society, becoming an off-site volunteer takes some training, but being able to play with a shelter dog for a day is worth it in the end.
“First there is an introductory tour of the facility, then there are two mandatory dog trainings where we train the dogs so that they are well behaved for potential adopters and then the volunteer has one session of off-site training,” Hann said.
After the off-site training, the volunteer is ready to take specific dogs out on trips. These dogs are hand selected by the staff because they are the ones who most need the activity. Some activities that are popular among off-site volunteers are hiking Bishop’s Peak or running with the dog down on the beach.