Compelled by New Year’s resolutions and the beginning of a new semester, students swarm the RAC during the first weeks of classes to fulfill new fitness goals and aspirations.

The traditional wintertime spike is expected to return for 2016. To prepare for the New Year’s rush, the Campus Recreation & Intramural (CRI) staff came up with a new marketing campaign: RAC-Solutions.

“The RAC is super full come the first couple of weeks of the spring semester with everyone making New Year’s resolutions… so I thought I would do a little tie-in with [RAC-Solutions],” G.W. Hitchcock , CRI assistant director for marketing and communications, said.

With the RAC-solutions campaign, the RAC staff will help students maintain their New Year’s fitness goals.

“We’ll have a board when people come in with some index cards where they can write what their resolution is, and then, one of our students will help them find the RAC-solution to that resolution,” Hitchcock said. “If they are willing to provide us with their contact information, [we] will contact them throughout the semester and give them some motivation, make sure they’re still on point.”

According to Shaq Stafford, a senior business management major and facilities supervisor at the RAC, the RAC employees have to work hard to accommodate increased crowds in the spring.

“[We make] sure that things are still going safely, because when there’s so many people, there are so many things that could go on,” Stafford said. “We do have an increased number of people who are scheduled on shifts… the shifts are broken up a little bit more, that way nobody is here too long.”

Emmy Richards, the CRI group fitness program director, said that group fitness participation at the RAC increases during the spring semester, and that the busiest hours at the RAC are in the early mornings and the late afternoon.

“If you want to work out, and you have time in your schedule, the best times to work out are between 8 am and 3 pm. That’s when it’s the quietest,” Richards said.

Contributing to the theme of RAC-solutions and springtime fitness goals, one popular class, Spring Break Bootcamp, which was designed to prepare RAC-goers for spring break, will return for 2016.

“Our biggest class during the spring semester is Spring Break Bootcamp. Traditionally, it’s been two days a week, but this year, we are doing it Monday through Thursday,” Richards said. “[The] class is just a total body strength and cardio class designed to really challenge your fitness routine.”

Many of the newcomers at the RAC hope to reach new fitness goals and maintain New Year’s Resolutions, having specific goals and plans can help achieve them.

“Try to make [specific] goals that are actually attainable… Because when you have a plan, that’s manageable. It’s specific; you’re more apt to go do that,” Richards said. “Find something you love… if you come in every day, and you’re excited about it, and it makes you feel good or you see results from it, then you’re going want to come back and do it again.”

Photo courtesy of Madison Reynolds.