April 25, 2024

Join UMW’s Community Step Challenge May 1-31

May 2, 2020 by

Mary Wash Moves

UMW Community Walking Challenge
Brought to you by Campus Recreation and UMW Human Resources

Let’s show off how much Mary Wash Moves! Grab your walking shoes and get ready to rack up the steps with your UMW family.

How It Works:

  • Dates: May 1-31, 2020 | July 1-31, 2020
  • Teams: There are eight teams and up to 50 people per team. You may sign up for your team by writing your name on the team color tab you choose on the official tracking document.
  • How to win: Log your total steps walked each day in the official tracking document. The team color with the highest step average between all team mates by the end of the challenge wins!
  • How to track your steps: Use a FitBit, Apple Watch, iPhone, or another step tracking device!
  • Prize: Bragging rights and the sweet feeling of victory!

If you have further questions, please email campusrec@umw.edu.

Filed Under: What's New @ UMW Tagged With: ,

Relaxation and Fitness Resources While at Home

March 31, 2020 by

Campus Recreation is here to help you stay active, connected, and happy while social distancing.

Movement, whether it be in the comfort of our homes or elsewhere, can improve mood, boost creativity and focus, lower stress levels, improve muscle and bone strength, improve blood pressure, and decrease the risk of chronic health conditions. In order to take the best care of yourself during this period of social distancing, it is encouraged to continue or establish a daily routine that includes movement, relaxation, socialization, and fresh air.

Ways To Stay Active At Home

Campus Rec On-Demand Virtual Fitness Classes

We have compiled UMW fitness instructors’ favorite YouTube workout videos into playlists that you can access any time. Simply visit the UMW Campus Rec YouTube page “playlists” section when you are ready for a sweat session. These videos are especially helpful when unsure where to start or what to do to exercise at home.

SHiNE Dance Fitness Online

Tiffany, our wonderful SHiNE Dance Fitness instructor, has gotten the hook-up for her UMW SHiNE participants to take free virtual SHiNE Dance Fitness classes for two months! If you have checked into a SHiNE Dance Fitness class at UMW in the 2019-2020 academic year, you should have received an email from Brittanie Naff on March 16th with details on how to get this deal.

Instagram Live Fitness Classes

Tune in to live workout classes presented by our UMW fitness instructors on the @UMWCampusRec Instagram throughout each week. The schedule changes from week-to-week and each workout will only last about 15 minutes. No, you can not be seen while working out. Our instructors will be on screen guiding you through workouts and there is a chat feature where you can interact with others via text, or send *hearts* to your instructor, on your water breaks only, of course. See our Instagram feed for the most recent schedule!

Les Mills On-Demand Fitness Videos

Our friends at Les Mills have given UMW Eagles free access to their workout classes, like BODYPUMP, BODYCOMBAT, GRIT, SH’BAM, and more! Just visit this link to start experiencing these great workouts while this offer lasts. No sign-up required!

At-Home Workout Plans Designed by UMW Fitness Instructors

Don’t want to follow a video but still want some workout structure? Our fitness instructors have created at-home workout plans for you to do whenever you would like. Just visit the “Workouts” highlight on the @UMWCampusRec Instagram to see what great workouts they have created for you.

Matrix Learning Center bodyweight exercises

Sometimes we are reading a workout plan and see the names of fitness moves only to think, “What the heck is a ‘bear crawl’?!” Thankfully our cardio equipment partner, Matrix Fitness, is here to help. Matrix has given UMW Eagles access to a library of videos demonstrating a variety of the most popular bodyweight exercises. Check them out here! No sign-up required.

Ways To Relax

Mindfulness Conference Calls with Bill Brooks

Mindfulness is great for relieving stress and improving mental health. On our free weekly meditation calls, you won’t be asked to speak, but simply to listen and relax as Bill guides everyone on the line through some mindfulness practices to start your weekend off on the right foot. Give it a try! What have you got to lose?

    • 30 minutes of LIVE guided meditation with Bill Brooks, UMW Yoga & Mindfulness Instructor
    • Fridays from 12:15-12:45 pm beginning March 27, 2020
    • It’s easy to participate. Just dial 425.436.6352 and enter the access code 155679

Ways To Stay Social At Home

Use chatting platforms like UMW’s Office 365 Microsoft Teams, Facetime, Skype, or Zoom to instant message and video call friends regularly! Drink a morning cup of coffee “together,” set up a virtual lunch chat, make a point to check in regularly with a person or group of people at the same time each day, or any other ideas you may have. Social distancing doesn’t have to mean social disengagement.

Ways To Get Fresh Air

  • Open the window to your work space for the sounds of nature, the warmth of the sun, and for a *literal* breath of fresh air.
  • Do some work on a stoop, deck, patio, or porch.
  • Go for a walk in the morning, between projects, or at the end of the day to soak up the vitamin D and get your blood flowing.
Filed Under: What's New @ UMW Tagged With:

Mindfulness Course & Jump Start Program Begins Soon

January 17, 2020 by

Introduction to Mindfulness & Meditation Course

Learn the practice of mindfulness in a 7-week, non-credit course led by Bill Brooks, a certified meditation teacher through the Meditation Teacher Training Institute. This experience is $15 and participants who attend six or more sessions will receive that money back in the form of a UMW bookstore gift card. Our lives are often overly stimulated. What would happen if we gave ourselves a few minutes each day to stop, and be fully silent and still – to meditate? Research has shown that the practice of mindful meditation can lead to a calm and focused mind. Such a practice helps to reduce stress, enhances self-awareness, and offers a greater sense of inner peace and connectedness with life. This 7-week introductory course is being offered to UMW faculty, staff, and students. It will answer the basic question: What are we doing when we meditate? You will learn about meditation through instruction, discussion and guided practice. Specific training will be provided on obstacles to meditation and how to work with them. Upon completion of this course, you will have the tools and experience needed to continue an independent practice of mindfulness meditation.

Spring 2020: Mondays *New day of the week, different from previous semesters!
6pm-7:30pm
February 10 – March 30 (Excluding Spring Break on March 2)
Leidecker Center, Trinkle B-39
Cost: $15 (but get that money back if you attend 6+ sessions!)
Sign up on our registration site under “Courses”.

 

Jump Start Program

For Your Information: A new collaborative program between Campus Recreation, the Talley Center for Counseling Services, the Student Health Center, and the President’s Council on Wellness is beginning January 27. This is a student-focused program. Learn more about the Jump Start Program in case you know a student who may benefit from this program:

This 5-week program is designed to provide students a slow, guided introduction to fitness facilities and programs at UMW. Students will have the opportunity to be introduced to exercise in a less intimidating way by a peer who works for Campus Rec, socialize with others, and get assimilated in a new environment with other UMW students who have similar levels of exercise-familiarity. The group is limited at 12 people, so please register when you are ready to commit.

Students from the Talley Center and Health Center can be referred to the Jump Start Program by their clinician. Otherwise, the program is available for any UMW student to join for $15 per 5-week session. Students can sign up at campusrec.umw.edu under “Courses” or at the Fitness Center front desk.

Once a week, for five weeks, students will meet with their Jump Start Program leaders (two Campus Recreation fitness instructors, Brenna and Sasha) who will spend 60 minutes doing an activity, learning a lesson and having a discussion surrounding the topic of the week. Each lesson will include a worksheet with fitness education.

Filed Under: What's New @ UMW Tagged With: ,