Fitness and wellness are a big part of the extracurricular lifestyle of some students. The Activity Center is the premiere place on campus for exercise. Classes like Barre Fitness and Piloxing are some of the newest workout crazes.
The new classes are being offered at ULM because they are popular and they produce great results. There are places in the community now opening studios with these exercises, so ULM students are among the first to experience them in this area.
“Every semester we want to offer the students what they want and what is popular,” says Shannon Manning, wellness coordinator for ULM. Manning says that the exercise instructors are encouraged to continue their education in the group exercise department so they stay up to date with what is new in the exercise world.
“I’m excited that the Activity Center is offering new classes. I like to participate in Zumba, and these classes sound upbeat and challenging, so I would like to try them out. The results they yield sounds especially appealing,” says Victoria Daniels, sophomore kinesiology major.
Barre Fitness is an exercise regimen of ballet, Pilates, with strength and flexibility training using a ballet barre. Barre classes consist of toning, stretching and pulsing, which results in a tone and lengthened body type.
Lotte Berk was the inspiration behind Barre Fitness. She was a European ballet dancer who first developed her method in the 1950’s. Berk’s spine was severely injured in a car accident, and in order to strengthen her spine and core, she worked with her orthopedist to create a sequence of exercises. Berk made a complete recovery, and began teaching her exercises to others.
Piloxing blends the power, speed and agility of boxing with the flexibility of Pilates and the fun of dance. Accoring to Piloxing.com the core principle of Piloxing is that “feminine is powerful and it aims for women to attain a sleek, sexy and powerful self-image.”
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article stated that the Activity Center offers a class that is neither taught at nor affiliated with ULM.
