working out | Stories from the Hill

One of the best things available to students at McDaniel? Gill. Gill is our lovely gym on campus (we probably have the Ravens to thank for that when they trained here), beautifully new and up-to-date. Best of all: it’s free!!

Now that I’m a senior, I’ve been realizing that this whole having a gym twenty feet out my door that is free will not last in life…time to actually take advantage of it! Our gym is divided into a few main parts: Old Gill, which is essentially a large gymnasium that is a basketball court, used for indoor soccer matches (groups of friends) and anything else we feel like. It can be reserved for something in particular, such as Ultimate Frisbee practice, or you can just walk it and hope it’s free. Then there is New Gill, the nice shiny wood-floored gymnasium where all the actually basketball games, volleyball games and such take place with the bleachers- you can also reserve certain courts in New Gill to play at.

And last, but certainly not least, is the actual I’m-going-to-go-workout gym. Enter through the glass doors and get your student ID card swiped and it’s all yours. The ground floor is the weight room area with all the machines you could possibly want to lift weights with and you typical dumbbells, barbells and free weights in the following room. Up the modern glass stair case and you come to the cardio floor full of treadmills, bikes, ellipticals and these intense stair-stepping things (I genuinely have no idea what they’re called but it’s kind of like running bleachers and being able to control the height of the steps and their resistance). There are also several TVs that you can change the channel on to watch a show or a game while working out which is really nice, as well as lockers to put your stuff in. On the second floor is also a nice area for stretching, as well as mats to do floor exercises like crunches on, exercise and medicine balls and more free weights. All in all, pretty much everything you could ask for in a gym!

This being my last semester, I have really been taking advantage of the gym for once, and can now appreciate it a lot more for being able to do whatever sort of combined workout you want- cardio plus abs and lifting, why not? The gym is also a great space to meet up with friends to work out together and spur each other on, just watch out for the busy waves of people that tend to come between 3pm and 4:30pm!

Enjoy your workout! If you’re looking for some swimming to exercise though, don’t be confused… the pool is quite naturally not in the gym but under the dinning hall.

Now that we’re getting into the second week of school, I’ve already noticed a significant drop in numbers at the gym. Resolutions fade, the wind is blowing, and bed is warm. I get it.

In order to combat my natural urge to hibernate starting around Thanksgiving and ending when I can wear short sleeves, I put myself in a position where I absolutely can’t skip working out. For me, this position is the track team. I go because I love my teammates, want to stay in shape for cross country, and know that I will be held accountable if I don’t show up.

There are some people who have the dedication and drive to roll out of bed each morning, do a self-designed work out, and get great results. I admire those people deeply, but I am not one of them. If you’re like me, the key to maintaining fitness lies in finding what you love to do and finding a community of people who share that love.

Besides organized sports teams, you can find this community through intramurals and classes at the gym. Intramurals are offered year round, and I know from running by heated debates on the intramural soccer field that they take it pretty seriously. Additionally, there are all sorts of night classes offered through the gym that can help you add some regularity to your workout schedule. While some staples include Zumba and Body Combat, this semester a kickboxing night class and yoga class will be offered. Such activities require a fee, but it is much less than what you would pay at a typical gym.

Also, let’s not forget gym classes! We are required to participate in four gyms throughout our time at McDaniel, but I have friends that sign up for four per semester. What better way to hold yourself accountable for working out than to work out for a grade, right?

None of us want to watch a muffin top sag over our jeans as the semester unfolds. If you’re in an exercise lull, consider the various ways to get involved with an existing community of people like yourself. When you know that you’re going to see friends and improve your fitness, you have every reason to get out of bed and make that trek to practice, to the gym, or to the field.

Stories from the Hill

Tag Archives: working out

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