Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Meet Brad Christensen: Health and Wellness Fanatic!


Hey everybody! My name is Brad Christensen and I am one of your fantastic Peer Mentors this fall! I am a 2011 Hixson from Polk County majoring in Animal Science/Pre-Vet. Aside from studying to be a vet, you will all soon know me as the Peer Mentor that loves fitness and working out. The good thing about Iowa State is there are plenty of awesome resources on campus to help you get your physical activity amped up!

Living on campus, the two main places for working out are Lied Recreation Athletic Center and State Gymnasium.

My personal place of choice for exercise is Lied Recreation Athletic Center, or Lied Rec for short. Lied Rec is located on the east side of campus, so everyone living in Maple-Willow-Larch and Oak-Elm and Birch-Welch-Roberts will most likely choose Lied. The weight room was recently upgraded last year (to my enjoyment) and I highly recommend checking it out. Oh, and just because you might not want to lift weights does not mean Lied doesn’t have something to offer you….in addition to two indoor tracks it has basketball, volleyball, and badminton courts as well as racquetball, table tennis, and a rock climbing wall.

Don’t want to work out on your own? No sweat (pun intended), grab a friend and sign up for one of the 40 different group fitness classes, (I recommend Buns & Guns).

Now if you happen to live on the west side of campus, your fitness place of choice will likely be State Gymnasium. A short summary of State Gym would be to take Lied Rec and add a pool, hot tub, smoothie cafĂ© and skywalk. And don’t worry about thinking you can’t fit exercise into your busy schedules. Lied Rec and State Gym are open until midnight on most weeknights. Plus, it is less crowded then. Interested? I thought so.

On a side note, for anyone looking for an on-campus job or anyone that has work-study, the two fitness centers are great places to work.

Besides the fitness centers, there are plenty of other places to get your physical activity in. Get some friends together and throw the Frisbee on central campus or play soccer on the Maple-Willow-Larch fields.

Health and wellness is more than just working out at the gym though. Healthy eating is hugely important. I am a major fan of eating at Season’s and I know there are plenty of healthy options. I also know that there are plenty of options that are not as healthy. Pizza and French fries are great in moderation kids...

The other thing to remember is get enough sleep. Seriously. For everyone with an 8 a.m. class, you will thank me.

In short, exercising, eating right, getting plenty of sleep are essential to being a successful Iowa State freshman, which I know all 100 of you will be.

If anyone has any questions or would like more specifics on anything related with health & wellness, or the facilities on campus, definitely email me at bradc24@iastate.edu. I would be more than happy to help.

I’ll see you all in August. Go Cyclones!!

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