Students who are looking for opportunities to work out have resources. CWU creates ways for students to enjoy working out and have fun, no matter if you are an athlete or just a student.

Personal Training

Personal Training Instructor Shantyle Black said personal training offers different types of groups and training sessions, such as individual training, partner training, small group training and new large group functional 50.

Black said personal training has no fixed workout format because the personal trainers value the client’s ideas the most.

“Each client or group comes up with their own goals, and then the trainers build off of their goals,” Black said.

Black said being consistent in going to the gym can be difficult for a lot of clients or just anyone in general getting started working out. She is there to not only offer help, but also push clients in the right direction from time to time.

“As a trainer, I’m responsible to hold the accountability on the clients to work towards their goals,” Black said.

One of the barriers stopping people from improving their ability is their mentality, according to Black. She said she was able to see the mental improvements over time in clients she worked with. 

“I feel like my job is to encourage my clients safely to push their limits on what they think they can do,” Black said.

Black is passionate about being a personal trainer and said she wants to be a physical education teacher when she graduates college. She also loves helping people feel comfortable in the gym. 

“The whole stereotype of trainers is aggressive and super serious and I don’t like to be that way,” Black said. “I like to be fun and encouraging.”

Strength and Conditioning

The CWU Strength and Conditioning coaches help athletes with their personal health goals. The coaches aim to improve athletic development techniques, coaching methods and facilities to offer an athletic development experience, according to wildcatsports.com.

Director of Strength and Conditioning Erik Hoium said there are four main types of exercises in strength and conditioning: press, pull, power movement and structural.

“We like to utilize variation as much as possible, and by varying the ways we do that, we’ve been pretty successful,” Hoium said.

Press and pull exercises utilize either pushing or pulling weight, power movement exercises are olympic-type lifts and structural exercises include full body, strength based movements.

Mobility hour is one of the programs designed to help athletes in strength and conditioning, and it’s completely voluntary. According to Hoium, Strength and Conditioning coach Doug James has completely changed the program.

“Mobility hour is kind of Doug’s baby. It’s his thing. He has developed a very good program from his internship times,” Hoium said. “He is a very intelligent individual.”

Hoium said James and another Strength and Conditioning coach, Reed Guerin, are making the physical adjustments on a personal level for athletes to get the exercise they need. Hoium also mentioned injury prevention is the first priority.

“We want athletes to be bigger, faster and stronger, but no one’s happy if they’re big, fast, strong and sitting on the bench because they’re injured,” Hoium said.

Hoium said James and Guerin are both outstanding resources for athletes to work with. Guerin said seeing athletes improve their ability and thank him for pushing their limits is what drives him to be a better strength and conditioning coach.

“I’m here for them, and I’m going to push them to be the best version of themselves,” Guerin said.