SAC offers free fitness assessments
The Student Activity Center is offering free fitness assessments in the Fitness Assessment Center Monday through Thursday for students, staff and SAC faculty members.
“It gives people a starting point to determine their fitness level and then they can base a workout program off of their results,” said Wisconsin graduate student Emily Yachinich, a fitness and wellness graduate assistant for University Recreation.
Non-SAC members also are eligible for free fitness assessments, she said, provided they have a daily pass to use the facility.
A full assessment measures a person’s blood pressure, body fat (using the skinfold method), muscular strength and endurance, cardiovascular endurance, flexibility and hand-grip strength.
Cardiovascular endurance is measured with a three-minute step test, Yachinich said, and push-ups and sit-ups are used to measure muscular strength and endurance.
The SAC also offers simple body fat assessments, a test Yachinich said takes approximately 10 minutes, compared to around 30 minutes for a full assessment.
“We can do a pre-workout assessment and a post-workout assessment if they want to come back and see what kind of progress they’ve made because we keep their records on file,” Yachinich said.
There needs to be at least a six to eight week time frame between the pre-workout assessment and post-workout assessment in order for changes to be noticed, she said.
Yachinich said approximately 200 students get free fitness assessments each semester.
Norway senior Nick Hamlin serves as a workout coordinator for the SAC and is one of four people who administers assessments.
Hamlin said he has been giving assessments since last fall and sees seven to 10 clients in a given week.
A lot of men come in for body fat assessments, he said, and recently he has seen a lot of students getting assessments for classes.
“It can be very rewarding when you work with somebody and see improvement in their physical fitness,” Hamlin said.
Free fitness assessments are offered 1 to 3 p.m. Mondays, 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays, 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays and 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursdays.
