By Allen Valdez | @AllenJV1099
With the switch to virtual instruction this semester, Associated Students Inc. has worked with BRIC personal trainers to release various video workouts available for CPP students to stream online.
Exercises included in these videos range from pool workouts, yoga and Zumba to mixed martial arts and other workouts such as taekwondo, upper body drills and workouts with foam rolling equipment.
The videos also range in length with most of them taking less than two minutes to finish while longer videos focus more on the Zumba, meditation and Pilates classes.
America Amaro, a fourth-year dietetics student and certified personal trainer by the National Council on Strength & Fitness, said, “You know that these videos are coming from people who are certified so it’s trustworthy content instead of just going on YouTube and looking stuff up.”
Amaro is one of a few paid personal trainers who worked for ASI at the BRIC before the facility’s closure due to COVID-19 and has since transitioned into making paid workout videos from home. Amaro also revealed that she, and other trainers, are currently working on new videos for ASI like the ones already released, but on a smaller scale.
“We have been filming shorter videos … but they’re more just cues on movements and not a whole class,” Amaro said.
Allen Espejo, an ASI personal trainer certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, adapted to the changes trainers now operate under in a virtual format.
“The ASI team is doing the best we can to provide students the same opportunities, or even more, than they would have had if the university were still open,” Espejo said. “All the instructors in the videos are knowledgeable and great at their craft.”
Of course, the success of these videos is dependent on students’ use of them while also providing alternative ways of working out apart from what they already do now.
Ryan Guidry, a fourth-year computer science student, spoke on the possibility of adding the ASI videos to his current workout routine. “I personally have done some yoga exercises and the (ASI) videos have given me new ideas as to how I can be more active as of right now,” said Guidry.
Hansen Dang, a third-year kinesiology student, was also keen on the idea of trying out some of the workouts from the videos. “I do see myself doing these types of workouts, especially the taekwondo segments because they may be in use sometime in the future possibly,” said Dang.
For others, including fifth-year manufacturing engineering student Blake Stewart, the videos serve as a way of helping them stay active, even in a pandemic.
“I think it’s a cool way to reach students who are stuck at home,” Stewart said. “I think the videos are helpful to people who aren’t as active right now because of the pandemic as they would like to be, and these videos can help them stay active while staying safe at home. I could see myself taking advantage of a few of the videos and implement them into my daily routine.”
For more information regarding the new ASI workout videos, head to the following website: https://streaming.cpp.edu/category/ASI/160747722