DMC encourages steps towards fitness

Del Mar College has started its 100 Mile and Steps Fitness challenges to encourage students and faculty to get out and take part in a healthy and active lifestyle.
The challenges require participants to accomplish fitness milestones that they will then record into an official log sheet.
Kristy Urbick, intramural director and a kinesiology instructor at Del Mar, said the 100 Mile Challenge has been going on at DMC for over 25 years, but last year she decided to add in a Steps Fitness Challenge, too.
“Last year I added the Fitness Challenge to allow more students to participate. They track their steps each day and the goal is to get 10,000 steps a day, five days a week,” Urbick said.
The 100 Mile Challenge itself is geared more toward students and staff who run, bike or swim, and the miles that they accumulate during these activities can then be recorded into their log sheets. Participants can use a Fitbit, Garmin, or any other fitness tracker to save their daily steps throughout the semester, and Urbick recommends that they get 10,000 steps a day to reach a level of physical activity that’s considered ideal for peak health benefits.
DMC faculty members themselves continue to take part in the challenge and they promote the event to their students too. Mathematics Professor Eric Moller and political science professor Jim Weber consistently sign up for and do the challenge every semester.
“I’ve been doing the 100 Mile Challenge for over 20 years since it first started, and along with consuming a healthy diet it helped me lose 40 pounds. Aside from the physical benefits of exercise studies have shown that it enhances your ability to learn and helps with stress and tension,” Weber said.
Moller said he started participating in the challenge about six semesters ago.
“There’s several reasons I do the challenge. One of them is to to set a goal for exercising and helping myself stay motivated. It’s been a good experience for me because I can track my miles each week and before the challenge I really slacked off.”
Urbick said she is really pushing the challenge this semester.
“It’s a good way for students to stay motivated and active,” Urbick said. “It keeps them accountable for working out and getting their steps in.”
Participants who complete the challenge successfully will receive a T-shirt. To complete the challenge, one has to fill their log sheet in with the 10,000 steps that they’ve tracked, turn it into the intramurals office in the gym every two weeks and do that for at least three logs. The log sheets can be picked up in the gym.
For spring, challenges will run through April 15. For more information on this event and other intramural events, contact Urbick at 361-698-1336 or kurbick2@delmar.edu.

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