As the holiday season nears, weight gain is weighing heavy on people’s minds. But you can do a lot to battle the bulge, and you can do it in an hour or less on your lunch break—without leaving campus.
The average person walks at a rate of 3 mph, or about a mile in 20 minutes. Imagine what you can do on your lunch break, whether it’s 30 minutes or an hour long.
The Tennessee Recreational Center for Students (T-RECS) offers a host of indoor exercise opportunities for employees on campus. One of the most popular is the 1/7th mile indoor track. UT employees—and their spouses/domestic partners—can purchase memberships at the facility for only $12 a month, a steal compared to other facilities in town. Those with larger families get a deal too: a family of 4 or 5 can purchase memberships for less than $10.50 each per month and a family of 6 or more can use the facility for only $9 each per month. For more information, visit http://recsports.utk.edu/Memberships/Faculty/.
T-RECS also boasts four basketball courts, more than 80 pieces of cardiovascular equipment—including 17 treadmills and 18 elliptical machines—and more than 100 strength training stations. But if you want a quick and easy, no-frills exercise option, look no further than Thompson-Boling Arena (TBA).
TBA has been a favorite lunch-break getaway of employees for quite some time. TBA’s concourse level, which loops around the arena, is slightly larger than the T-RECS track. Approximately five laps around the middle of the concourse equal a mile, according to Jan Hogan, an administrative specialist and 20-year veteran of TBA lunch walks.
Other on-campus, indoor exercise options include the Art + Architecture Building, which has three floors each with a 1/7th mile loop; McClung Tower with 15 flights of stairs; Andy Holt Tower with 10 flights of stairs; and Apartment Residence Hall with 15 flights of stairs.
For those willing to brave the elements, there is the Hill with 95 steps from Phillip Fulmer Way to the top.
Another option for outdoor exercise is the paved trail that wraps around UT Gardens and runs alongside Neyland Drive, part of the City of Knoxville greenways system. Major branches run along the edge of the Agricultural Campus and near the backside of the Hill. More information, including exact mileage, is available at http://www.ci.knoxville.tn.us/greenways/.
Another campus resource is Tennessee On the Move (TOM), which helps people take small steps towards sustaining healthy behavior. The program provides comprehensive resources and realistic tips and tools for daily success. For information on TOM, call 974-0996 or e-mail aomt@utk.edu.