Fitness center is underused

Letter to the Editor

Fitness+center+is+underused

Scout Hodgins, Guest Writer

One of the most shocking realizations that I have had during my time at GHC is how little the fitness center on the Floyd campus gets used. College is a time in a person’s life when they should be focused on self-improvement, but the Floyd fitness center is sparsely populated almost every time that I have been there.

There are plenty of reasons why many of us don’t dedicate our time to the Floyd campus fitness center. Some people may not be able to find enough time in the day, or have the physical ability to work out. Others tend to be anxious about being judged or harassed by other gym-goers. I sympathize with some of these feelings, as I have experienced them myself.

I think that there is a greater underlying issue here, an elephant in the room so to speak. Mental and emotional health are hot topics among multiple social media platforms, but it is rare that physical health is even mentioned. What we need to understand is that physical health is paramount to mental and emotional wellbeing The two are not mutually exclusive.

An article from Lynette Craft, Ph.d and Frank Perna Ed.d, Ph.d presents a study in which depressed adults who trained for twelve weeks showed greater improvements in depression, anxiety, and their overall self-concept than those in a control group that did not exercise throughout the twelve week period.

The fact of the matter is that we, as humans, are built to move. Not only are we built to move, but our bodies are extremely adaptable to physical stress. As we learn to overcome physical challenges and obstacles, we become better at rising to the occasion when faced with mental, moral, or emotional challenges

I would love to see the Floyd fitness center being used more often. It saddens me to see an entire gym filled with quality exercise equipment that does not get put to use in the way that it should be. When I’m not completely alone, I often find myself accompanied by one to two other consistent gym goers.

I like to utilize services that I pay for, and the mandatory athletic fee was a motivating factor for me to start exercising.

I understand how hard it can be to get started in the gym, because I’ve been there. Not knowing where to start and fearing judgement from other people can make your first visit to the fitness center an intimidating one. I remember using the gym extremely early in the morning so that nobody could see how weak I was. At the time, I didn’t realize how non-judgemental most people are in the gym.