Get ready to get your sweat on with Her Campus App State! Her Campus App State is teaming up with some of the wonderful fitness instructors of UREC’s Group Fitness to put on a Fitness class for our readers. Mollie Clark, Group Fitness Programmer, is here to tell you about her experience with UREC, Group Fitness, and to get you excited to work out with HCAppState!
Name: Mollie Clark
Age: 22
Hometown: Concord, NC
Major: Marketing and Hospitality and Tourism Management
Class: Senior
What is you current job with UREC and what kind of responsibilities
go with that job?
Currently I am a group fitness instructor and the Cardio Group Fitness Programmer. As a group fitness instructor, I plan and lead effective group fitness exercises and promote, to the participants, healthy lifestyles. My position as the Cardio Group Fitness Programmer allows me to do so many things. My primary role is to assist the Assistant Director of Fitness in the management and operations of the student fitness staff. I maintain the fitness class statistics, schedule class times, evaluate and mentor instructors, train new cardio instructors, and plan campus-wide fitness events.
When did you first get involved with UREC and group fitness?
As a freshman, I came to college with a certification in YogaFit, but I also took the Group Fitness Training Course. After teaching for a little over a year, I applied to be the Cardio Programmer.
What are all the classes you teach/have taught?
Oh, wow, this is going to be quite a list…. Currently, I only teach BodyRock and Spin classes. (This semester I’ve cut down from teaching 7 classes to 4…I’m getting old!) In the past, I’ve taught Yoga, Total Body Sculpt, Spin, Ab Attack, Thighs Butt and Gut, Step and Sculpt, Step, Zumba, Cardio Dance, Power Cardio, Water Aerobics, Pilates, and Spinyasa. You name it, I’ve probably taught it.
Which class is your favorite to teach and why?
After everything that I have taught in the past, I’ve really found my niche in the two types of classes I currently teach. I love to teach spin because I can pair different workouts to music–I’ll spend hours making the perfect playlist…it’s an art. As weird as it sounds, I love the way Spin classes make you sweat. I will get off of my bike at the end and there is a pool underneath it that, I swear, a goldfish could live in. That’s how I know I’ve made the class work. My newest class, BodyRock, is probably my most favorite because it works. This class is a high intensity interval training class and, from what I’ve read, it burns fat 9 times faster. This class is absolutely exhausting. Sometimes, I look at the participants’ faces, and they look visibly angry and I know they are cussing me silly, but at the end everyone tells me that they loved it.
Do you have a favorite class to take?
I love all classes that are very high in intensity, but at the same time, I love a good Yoga class. I need someone telling me to relax and clear my mind.
What is the funniest thing that has happened during one of your classes?
Oh, gosh. Well, I am a complete klutz/goof by nature, so I am constantly tripping and falling over equipment and my own feet. A few years ago in a Step class, I’m pretty sure I was a freshman; I tripped over the step and completely ate it. Also, in a Spin class, I had a shirt that tied around the neck, and I looked down at one point and it was completely off. I had no idea.
What is your favorite thing to wear while working out?
I am a spandex freak. I sweat a lot when I teach, because teachers burn an average of 150 extra calories, and I hate loose fabric clinging to me. For almost every class, I wear a sports top and some spandex shorts. I truly believe, if you think you look better when you’re working out, you will work harder.
What are your plans after graduation?
I really have no idea right now, but I have until December of 2012 to figure it out. I’m majoring in both Marketing and Hospitality and Tourism Management, so nothing to do with fitness. However, I know that I will probably teach classes on the side. I love teaching, it has been one of the most rewarding things that I have ever done and I can’t imagine my life without it.
Any tips for our health conscious/ fitness obsessed readers about staying in shape?
Exercising is not the enemy, and I don’t think you should force yourself to do it when you’re not in the mood. If it were cold and raining outside, I’d probably lie in my bed and eat cereal too. With that said, if you do force yourself to go to the gym, you’ll probably feel better afterwards. Find a type of exercise that you like to do–I truly believe you should be enjoying yourself. Once you do, it will become part of your routine. You will need it. Most importantly, don’t be so hard on yourself. Stop focusing on what you hate about your body and focus on your best features. We’ve got to stop beating ourselves up about the smallest belly budge or the slightest arm flab. We are women, we are curvy, and we are sexy, so own it!