The Lied Recreation Center is energized with people. Racquetballs pop off walls down the hall as music slips out from the rock climbing room. Hollering voices intersperse with the collision of basketballs against the floor and backboards on the endless expanse of basketball courts to the left.

The artificial turf in the center has two games of football — one American, another international — caged in the netting hanging from the ceiling three flights up.

The second floor is relatively quiet; the wrestling mats lay dormant until the next team practice. The clanging of metal supporting the weight of metal can be heard on the third floor, along with the sound of conversation as people stretch nearby.

Stationary bikes and stair-stepping machines electronically grind, and footsteps softly progress around the elevated track.

Greg Welk, assistant professor of health and human performance, said there are many opportunities for students to get some degree of physical activity. A simple walk to class can give a student some degree of exercise that they wouldn’t be afforded sitting behind a desk all day. He said walking around campus is the greatest asset for the college student.

“I always see students crowding into the CyRide buses,” Welk said. “They probably spend ten or fifteen minutes waiting to get on a crowded bus, when just trekking across campus provides a lot of physical activity and the time to relax.”

The winter months are the toughest time for students to get out and exercise because of the limited opportunities, Welk said. The weather usually isn’t conducive to outdoor activities, confining students to indoor exercises. However, students have the benefit of a much more relaxed schedule than adults do, he said.

“[Students] can exercise around their schedule, an hour here, an hour there, whereas working adults, they’re working from 8 to 5 and they have to get up real early in the morning or work out in the evening,” Welk said.

“The key is to establish a pattern of living that you can maintain over time.”

Available resources

Welk said the exercise resources available to students at Iowa State are incredible. People pay for many of these same resources in the real world, he said.

Garry Greenlee, associate director of recreation services, said there are five different areas that Recreation Services offer as exercise options for students.

* Intramurals — Intramural sports programs allow students to participate in about 45 different organized sports and recreational activities with other students at Iowa State. The events can range from flag football and hockey, to foosball and euchre.

* Sports clubs — In addition, more than 40 sports clubs are offered at Iowa State.

Greenlee said club teams compete against club teams from other colleges and universities, usually on a regional and sometimes national level.

“[The clubs] are more specialized where you are a group of students, you like [a specific] activity, and you probably practice on a regular basis, once or twice a week,” Greenlee said.

* Outdoor recreation center — Recreation Services also has an outdoor center that Greenlee said is for the people who want “to be involved with the outdoor experience.”

The outdoor center rents camping, watercraft and winter equipment, as well as athletic gear for outdoor sports. Outdoor center employees coordinate caving, canoeing and hiking trips, as well as workshops.

Greenlee said the hope is that students will learn in the workshops, attend one of the trips using what they learned, and then rent the equipment on a regular basis.

* Fitness programs — A fitness program offers more than 50 aerobics classes a week that are usually taught at Lied Recreation Center.

Personal trainers can be hired to help students individualize a fitness program. The personal trainer will show students how to properly operate weight equipment. A trainer can also set a student up with the proper weights, hammer out a nutrition program that is right for him or her and test his or her fitness levels. Six sessions with a personal trainer cost $84. Two students can hire a personal trainer together for $126 for six sessions.

Greenlee said Recreation Services also has a Rec Milers Program. A conversion chart helps runners to do different activities and get credit for miles.

Greenlee said students receive prizes for attaining goals in the program.

* Student Wellness Center — The Student Wellness Center can also help students meet their exercising goals.

Lauri Dusselier, program coordinator at the Student Wellness Center, said an exercise specialist on staff will meet with students individually and give them a fitness assessment.

Dusselier said between 200 and 300 students met with the exercise specialist last year. She said the service is free to ISU students.

An hour of exercise a day is ideal, Dusselier said, but any exercise is better than none.

“Just do what you like to do,” she said.

“If you like walking, take a walk. If you like playing basketball, play basketball. Even if it’s only for ten minutes, it gives you some physical activity.”