Keene State College runs a fitness center called BodyWorks. BodyWorks’ mission, according to the Keene State website, is “to help motivate everyone in the campus community to achieve and maintain a lifestyle of wellness—defined as a high level of physical, emotional and intellectual health.”
One degree associated with BodyWorks is the exercise science program.
“We have a wide variety of where we can go in the field,” said first-year exercise science major Emma Kelley. “I am going for physical therapy or athletic training. Basically, we work in the gym a lot and focus on health, exercise, kinesiology and anatomy.”
Kelley explained that everyone in the exercise science major spends a large portion of their time in the gym.
“For our classes, we work a lot with BodyWorks,” said Kelley. “We’re in the gym almost daily for most of our classes. We are learning the early steps into the major. As of right now, I am not entirely sure how it relates to BodyWorks, but I am looking forward to learning more about it.”
Junior exercise science major Olivia McGrath has a better understanding of the body as she continues in her degree.
“Now that I am in the upper-level classes, it is more hands-on,” said McGrath. “We have a good understanding of the body and what each muscle does and we apply that knowledge to the weight room.”
McGrath, like Kelley, is ready to dive deeper into BodyWorks.
“Eventually, we will have an internship with BodyWorks and we’ll be getting clients of our own,” said McGrath. “They will set a goal and through a period of time we’ll gradually build toward that goal and ultimately achieve it.”
First-year exercise science major Lexi Boisvert explained how she is planning on using her degree once she graduates.
“There are two sections you can follow: allied health or the strength and conditioning side, which is more weight-based,” said Boisvert. “Personally, I am on the physical education side, so [I’ll be doing] more coaching, getting athletes prepared for games and working out in general. We go through different programs that teach us how to write various workouts for many clients.”
When asked how BodyWorks relates to the exercise science major, Boisvert said it helps a lot.
“We have a ton of different clients who use the BodyWorks program,” said Boisvert. “At BodyWorks, we need to know the clients from their skill level; if they have worked out before or their goals for working out.”
McGrath told a personal success story she heard from a client of BodyWorks.
“The client reached a mental place where she felt comfortable going to the gym,” said McGrath. “She realized you don’t have to be curling 75-pound weights to feel good. Just getting her to feel good about herself was a major success, in my eyes.”
Boisvert has heard many success stories from the upperclassmen as well.
“We’ve had a lot of juniors and seniors come up to us and say how happy it makes them to help the clients out,” said Boisvert. “They say the results that they see in their clients give them a tremendous amount of fulfillment.”
Jeremy Landers can be contacted
at jlanders@kscequinox.com
