Iowa State’s Exercise Clinic celebrates their 40^th anniversary this fall to honor the success of the program and participants.

The director of the clinic, Kinesiology professor Warren Franke, contributes the personal attention from trainers and the environment to the long-standing success of the clinic and the participants.

“Participants always have people who are around to motivate them to be successful… People come in, they get a lot of TLC and it’s an environment that’s not very threatening. You are who you are and that’s okay.”

Rod Simpson, administrative specialist and member of the clinic since 2008, said one of the reasons for his 50-pound weight loss is because of the open and welcoming environment.

“It didn’t matter if you were five pounds overweight or 200 pounds overweight. They made you feel good. Nobody judged anybody else —we’re all there doing the same thing.”

However, the exercise clinic hasn’t always been this successful.

After it opened in 1974, Franke played a major part in rebuilding the program with the help of the department when he took it over in 1991. At that time, the clinic was composed of some mats and old-school stationary bicycles in an empty gym. One major challenge that presented itself from the beginning was the presence of Lied Recreation Athletic Center across the street.

“Trying to convince people to come exercise in a facility that really was essentially an empty gymnasium when the Rec Center, which was one of the best facilities of its kind in the country, was 100 feet away was a big challenge,” Franke said. 

Throughout the years, Franke was able to build the clinic to what it is today with the help of the kinesiology department. The clinic is now a 120 member facility with a full gym of equipment and one thing in mind — to help people be healthier and enjoy a higher quality of life.  

“A big part of [the success of the clinic now] is Dr. Franke and his selflessness to provide a service for the community and also [a service to the] seniors within the kinesiology department,” said Davis Englund, second year Masters student in kinesiology and exercise leader for the clinic.

Through running the clinic, Franke emphasizes his outreach and teaching missions. The outreach mission is accomplished through reaching out to the community and encouraging them to be proactive with their health through exercising.

With the teaching mission, undergraduate and graduate students complete internships at the clinic with hopes to get jobs later working in the fitness industry. Each intern is assigned to personally train three to five participants, which has no fee, and a graduate student supervises each class. The end result is that the priority of the students is to help the participants be successful.

“Anyone working [at this clinic] that has anything to do with [it] has a background in this [area] and wants to pursue some sort of future that revolves around it. So, you’re going to be around responsible, educated people,” Englund said.

Also, through structured class schedules, participants are more accountable to themselves with set, hour-long classes held in 0194 Forker. 

With this semester off to a good start, Franke has plans to increase his participation and spread the word about the exercise clinic.

“I’d like to have an enrollment of 150 participants. My goal is to get the word out so that people who work on campus or the Ames community are aware of their fitness choices. So if someone is interested in exercising, they know the clinic is a viable alternative.”  

Franke also encourages new comers to the clinic.

“Give me a call. What I do is invite people who are sitting on the fence to come visit us. And that way they can make an informed decision,” Franke said. “Most the time when people come, they join because it’s an environment that’s welcoming instead of off-putting.” 

Exercise clinic class times are at 6 a.m, 7 a.m, 8 a.m, 9 a.m, and noon on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. There are also classes at 5:30 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.