Western Oregon University students and community members now have an option to take at-home fitness classes through the Peter Courtney Health and Wellness Center.
Campus Recreation Assistant Director Zachary Hammerle used a little innovation to be able to provide FOD or Fitness on Demand workouts. Live classes on Instagram will begin two weeks into spring term.
“Our instructors will teach the live classes from their homes,” he said. “The FOD classes can be taken now as long as you have Wi-Fi.”
Full-time WOU students are automatically members of the Courtney Center. There is a free trial period for all WOU community members to try the classes. Normally, online or dual-enrolled students, and WOU employees purchase a daily pass or term membership to take classes. It costs $108 per term for fall, winter and spring, and $105 for to summer term.
“To register for the classes, all a student or a community member has to do is email “Add Me” to hammerlez@wou.edu, and I will verify their information. They will receive a confirmation email with instructions on how to enroll for the fitness programs,” Hammerle said.
Hammerle said he was inspired by his friends in Italy to start the Instagram and FOD classes at WOU.
“I noticed that they love to do home workouts any time they can, and they can meet in groups on a social media platform,” he said. “I figured we could use our subscription to FOD coupled with live classes on Instagram to create a feeling of community at WOU. The fitness classes are the only outlet some people have to exercise and socialize.”
Hammerle said there are more than 700 different FOD options, including yoga, cardio and kickboxing. He encourages people to give a FOD or Instagram class a try.
“These workouts offer students and community members both mental and physical breaks, and they provide an ongoing feel of community, especially if you take a live class,” Hammerle said. “We are offering these classes because we care beyond recognition for the health and wellness of our students and community members at WOU. During this time of extremely limited social time, anything we can do to provide that for our students is what we are prepared to do.”
