Getting Fit On Campus

The Fitness and Wellness Centers at Miami Dade College are offering students the opportunity to get fit during 2013.

Equipped with state-of-the-art equipment the facilities located at North, Kendall and Wolfson campuses, offer discounted memberships to MDC students, employees, retirees, and non-credit students.

Free classes include, yoga, meditation, circuit training and cycling.

Gym memberships for students are $10 a month, $30 a term, or $60 for the full year. Prices for employees are $20 a month, $60 a term, or $120 a year. Prices for other members are $30 a month, $90 a term, or $180 a year.

Students can only use the gym at their home campus; faculty and staff can use it at any campus.

“I have been going to the gym at Dade for like a year and I think its the best choice for students,” said Kendall Campus student Alejandro Ojeda.  “It’s cheaper than other gyms, only $10 a month and there is no down payment.”

The Fitness Centers’ equipment includes but is not limited to weight training areas with flat benches, life fitness cable machines, multipurpose smith rack machines, free weight platforms, fully-equipped dumbbell racks, and an assortment of fitness dumbbells and medicine balls.

For cardio, the areas features life fitness treadmills, upright bikes, elliptical machines, recumbent bikes, step machines, summit trainers and rowing machines. Cardio machines and treadmills are equipped with 17-inch monitors with access to the Internet, and students can listen to lecture notes, plug their music devices or watch a Netflix movie.

“We have equipment here that even the big name gyms don’t have,” said Jonathan Castillo, 19, a pre nursing major at  Wolfson Campus, who uses the gym regularly.

The fitness centers strive to help students achieve their fitness goals by providing them with a free “mini-physical” along with their membership. The physical tests blood pressure, body fat content, heart rate and other statistics to help evaluate individual fitness needs.

“It’s not you join the gym and you’re on your own,” said Magdalena “Cookie” Rosell, the Wellness and Fitness Director at Kendall Campus. “We want to help people if they want to get lean, lose weight, get muscle.”

Along with the physical, the Fitness Centers also provides instructions on exercise techniques and gives free consultations on nutrition.

Gym membership come with access to lockers for personal bags. Members can present their MDC ID at the front desk, and they will be given a token or a key for a locker to store personal items during a workout.

“I was at the gym at North for three semesters and it was great,” said Elisa Duran, a 17 year old film major from North Campus. “I honestly had no complaints. The equipment they have is actually pretty good. Plus they also have different cardio and strengthening classes and contests that push you from the regular routine.”

But for some students, the lure of working out at school to help them manage hectic schedules is the best reward.

“I’ve been to LA Fitness, but this gym is closer to where I live,” Castillo said. “The main benefit is that it fits into my schedule.”

For more information, contact one of the Fitness Center locations:

KENDALL

Kendall Fitness Center
Room G-139
Monday-Thursday: 7-8
Friday: 7-7
Saturday: 9-1
Kendall (305) 237-2838
http://www.mdc.edu/kendall/biology/Fitnesscenter.asp

WOLFSON

Wolfson Fitness Center
Room 8601
Monday – Friday: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Wolfson 305-237-7748
https://www.mdc.edu/wolfsonfitness/facility.aspx

NORTH

North Fitness Center
Bldg. 500
Monday – Friday: 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
North 305-237-1129
http://www.mdc.edu/main/northfitness/default.aspx