Joseph DeAngelis
Published: February 18 2004
Did your New Year’s Resolution include something about getting in shape? If so, you’re not alone. Many fitness centers see enrollment increases during the first two months of the year. But did you know that as a PJC student or employee, you have access to a fitness center – at no cost to you? The Lifestyle Improvement Fitness Education (L.I.F.E.) Centers on the Pensacola and Milton campuses offer a variety of fitness options to students, employees and the general public.
“I don’t think a lot of people know about us on the campus over here,” said LaRita Carter, who manages the Pensacola campus L.I.F.E. Center.
“A lot of students have the mentality of going to the weight room, and they really don’t know that we’re over here and we have more to offer than just the standard weights.”
Both centers feature cardiovascular machines, treadmills, cycles, rowing machines and a full line of Nautilus machines to target various muscle groups.
The Pensacola center also boasts a free weight room. There are lockers and showers available for use, and all of the staff at the centers have earned or are close to completing a four-year degree in a health or sports science-related field.
The staff in Milton is available to answer questions, and the staff on the Pensacola campus will even help students develop an exercise prescription.
“Because our lab techs are here, we set up programs for students if they’re not sure about what they need to do, as far as the fitness program that they need to be on, to lose weight, or build up or tone, or whatever they need to do,” Carter says.
Courses offered at the centers range from the always-popular Aerobics and Pilates to Adult Gymnastics and a body-sculpting course titled “From Fluff to Buff.”
While there are similarities between the L.I.F.E. Centers, the Milton campus center does have a few added benefits. The center was constructed in 1994 and features an indoor, one-tenth-mile walking track with a rubberized surface. Outdoor racquetball and tennis courts and a lighted quarter-mile outdoor track and an indoor gymnasium are also available.
In order for students to use the all of the facilities, they must first complete a college credit course called Concepts of Life Fitness.
“It’s a three-credit-college course, it’s 16 weeks in length, and it will cover relevant fitness topics, cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, body composition, nutrition, sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse, stress management. It’s a complete wellness course,” says Milton L.I.F.E. Center director Butch Branch.
Once the course is finished, students may continue to use the L.I.F.E. Centers free of charge as long as they are enrolled in at least three credit hours of PJC courses.
“We are a lifestyle improvement fitness education center, not just a gym where people come in and pay their membership to work out,” Branch says. “That’s what also separates us, why students have to take this course first.”
There are also a number of courses that employees and the community can take through continuing education to use the centers, such as the seven-week-long Life Fitness Assessment course. Both L.I.F.E. Centers offer paid memberships to the community and former PJC students for just $60 per semester.
As one of the few fitness centers in northern Santa Rosa County, the Milton campus center has become very popular with the community as well.
Branch says since he came to the Milton campus in 1998, paid enrollment at the fitness center has increased by 80 percent and more than 110 students used the Milton campus facilities during the fall semester. Carter says there is also a large community presence at the Pensacola campus L.I.F.E. Center.
So if you’re still serious about that New Year’s Resolution, Carter offers this advice: “Start off slow, come in and check us out,” she said. “Let us help you, let us start you off on a fitness program that will fit your needs and let us help you progress in that.”