Cups of noodles, beer and stress — all stereotypical contributors to the freshman 15. Tufts Student Resources (TSR) Fitness provides students with group exercise classes and a way to keep that freshman 15 in check. This year, as TSR expands its fitness division, it is hoping to give back to the Tufts community and to motivate students to live healthfully, eat nutritiously and stay active.
TSR, a student-run business organization, is comprised of seven different divisions and employs over 80 students annually. The organization's new promotional events are getting students up to Hill Hall for high-intensity workouts, and the classes that take place there aim to motivate participants to come back.
TSR's goal is to give students access to valuable resources — like group exercise classes — that the university does not already provide.
"TSR offers services we feel like people really want on this campus and just aren't getting from the university," junior Adam Russman, president of TSR, said. "Fitness is a service we feel like Tufts kids really want and really enjoy having, just because our gym isn't that great and it's also a very different atmosphere than going to the gym. It's a social workout."
TSR Fitness is a division of the organization that provides students with the option of taking as many as seven different group workout regimens, including Power Yoga, Caliente, Boot Camp, TurboKick, Cardio and Toning, Pilates, Sports Circuit and Yoga 101. All classes are in Hill Hall, and students have the option of buying a semester-long pass, a five-class pass or paying $5 for every drop-in.
TSR Fitness Manager and Caliente instructor Andrea Schpok, a junior, hopes that TSR will continue growing and gaining popularity. "It's definitely a passion of mine to spread health awareness and promotion," Schpok said. "I guess what I'm looking at right now is using TSR fitness as a way to really encourage students to have good fitness habits in college. The habits that we have in terms of exercise now will dramatically predict how we will take care of ourselves later on in life."
Since becoming manager this fall, Schpok has worked to expand the program in numerous ways. TSR Fitness now offers 11 classes weekly, four more than last year. It also offers a new 12 p.m. time slot. Power Yoga and Pilates are taught during the new noon time slot and according to Schpok, it has been a successful addition to the TSR fitness schedule, as in the middle of the day students can do a less cardio-intensive workout in which they are less likely to sweat and can therefore go straight to their next class.
TSR has also offered various promotional deals throughout the year to entice students to attend classes. For example, if students bought a five-class pass on Saint Patrick's Day, they received a second five-class pass for free.
Freshman May Igawa, who attends Caliente every Monday and Thursday, tries to take advantage of the different promotional events. "They've been selling the TSR fitness shirts and sometimes they have days where if you wear the shirt you don't have to pay for the class," Igawa said. "They're always sending out their promotions to their e-list."
The TSR Fitness e-list is the program's main promotional avenue. E-mails informing the TSR e-list members of the different promotions are sent out weekly. However, according to Schpok, many of the students who end up taking TSR fitness classes heard about them by word of mouth.
"First semester, I went to classes mostly alone, but this semester I told my friends to come, and they actually started coming, and now we have a weekly tradition to go to Caliente on Thursday and go eat healthfully at Carmichael after," Igawa said.
Schpok, in addition to promoting exercise, is also working on encouraging healthful eating. Before spring break on March 13, TSR Fitness held an event at which students learned how to cook a healthy meal from scratch.
"I guess my goal with having the lunch and promoting nutrition through TSR is, one, that healthy food can taste good. And secondly, we are putting an emphasis on teaching people how to make food in an economical way. I think it's important that college students see that you don't have to blow your budget to eat in a healthy way," Schpok said.
Schpok hopes that TSR Fitness can incorporate more nutrition-based events in the future. The different promotional events and the increase in class variety, times and options are all intended to encourage students to workout more and incorporate exercise into their daily life.
This year, Schpok has planned two week-long events following spring break. The first, TSR Fitness Challenge Week, will take place from March 29-April 3. Students who attend two classes during that time will automatically be entered into a raffle to win various prizes and money from Taipei Tokyo, The Square Nail Studio, Dave's Fresh Pasta, Massage Therapy Works, Nicholas Call Salon, The RezQuad Café, Ulla's Flowers and Gifts, Danish Pastry House and Veggie Planet.
"The goal of this week is to motivate students to get back into a healthy fitness routine. A lot of people have been overwhelmed with work in the past few weeks and some may not have spent much time exercising over spring break. We hope that TSR Fitness Challenge Week will help students figure out how to integrate workout time into their week," Schpok said.
The second week-long event, Fit for Good Week, will take place from April 5-10. Each of the five days will be dedicated to a different charity on campus. When students attend a class, the money they pay to attend will be donated to the day's designated charity.
Cash collected on Monday will be donated to Computers for Careers, Tuesday to Tufts Kiva Initiative, Wednesday to Relay for Life, Thursday to Agahozo-Shalom Village in Rwanda and Friday to Child's Right to Thrive. A charity for Saturday has not yet been determined.
"Fit for Good Week is exactly in the sprit of what TSR is really here to do," Russman said. "We're here to support whatever students find important and to help students succeed. Everyone at Tufts is concerned about some cause and we're trying to give back in any way we can. If it's successful, we'll start doing it every semester. It's a great idea, and I loved hearing it come from Andi [Schpok]."
Students are welcome to give additional donations during Fit for Good Week and are encouraged to come to classes to show enthusiasm and support for Tufts' charities and the Tufts community.
