Fitness Opportunities

Feeling Chilly? Come warm up with us in the Fitness Center as we have even MORE classes to offer you!

Starting now, on Thursdays at noon, you can join us for "Tread and Shred. " This class involves alternating between walking or running and strength training. It's a lot of fun and variety.

If you love nature and the outdoors, consider joining a group outdoor hike on Fridays leaving from the Fitness Center lobby at noon. You can make this walk slow, quick or as long or short as you want it to be!! A different route will be given each week but you can modify it as you like.

STUDENTS: You wanted more cycling classes and your fellow students have stepped up in a big way. You can now attend a cycling class on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday at 4:15. Sandi will continue to teach on Wednesday and a big thank you to Skylar and Miriam for teaching on Thursday and to Eden for teaching on Friday!!! These classes aren't listed on the Calendar for November so please spread the word. We will add them to the calendar for December and January.

Don't forget about our Free Library/Book Exchange located in the Fitness Center, the fresh coffee served every morning and all the benefits of getting a great workout! See you soon,

Fitness Center Staff

It’s A Great Day to Be an Eagle

It’s A Great Day to Be an Eagle

By: Andrew Dorrel

Everyone has a story to tell about their fitness journey. I was encouraged to share mine only because I believe that one of life’s greatest satisfactions is to share experiences and encouragement in order to positively impact lives.  I am passionate about helping others achieve success and hopefully you are enriched in some way by the following remarks.

Exercising and working outdoors have been part of my life from a very young age. I grew up on a farm, have always been involved in sports, love being outdoors, and relish hard work – it is invigorating. My fitness goals have changed throughout my life but the most significant revelation to my improved health is a better understanding of how to manage a healthy diet.

My first deliberate efforts at monitoring my fitness began when I played college football. During this time I ate as much as could, spent hours lifting weights, and did some cardio workouts, but the simple reality was I wanted to be big and strong. After my college football career ended I continued to lift weights and periodically would exercise but continued to eat more than I needed.  Over the years I gained weight and lacked the self-discipline to admit that my college playing weight was not in my best interest. I enjoyed the adrenaline high lifting weights provided and liked feeling strong. However, I used the excuse that since I worked out I could still eat as much as I wanted with little thought toward nutritional value or caloric intake.

It was not until my wife, Jenny, who was also a college athlete, challenged me to consider how I could become healthier. Through her encouragement, along with the birth of our second son, and the fact that I was turning forty motivated me to improve my health in order to be the husband and father I aspired to be.    

Initially in my quest to become healthier I began to research multi-vitamins because I thought at my age that is what I needed to do. Fortunately my ignorance and research introduced me to a line of nutritional products that motivated me to think about what and how much I ate. I soon realized that a few minor changes to my diet and better management of portion sizes was critical to achieving better health. Additionally I started running; this was a feat in itself as a former offensive lineman I never envisioned myself as a runner.

As my diet improved and my energy level increased I became even more motivated to run. Once I started to experience modest results I was further encouraged by others who noticed that I had lost a few pounds. After only a couple of months I randomly stepped on the scales and was amazed. In fact, I stepped off and then back on as I thought the scales were broken. For the first time since high school I weighed less than 200 pounds, a milestone I never thought I would achieve again.

Fortunately I have been able to maintain this weight for over a year while enjoying the benefits of increased energy, more satisfying sleep, and the drive to exercise regularly. Most importantly, I am grateful to the support and encouragement from so many as I do not think I could have achieved these results without the help of others.

SELF-PROPEL

Here’s to a good year for each of us at Culver!

 

Our wellness/fitness theme this year is SELF-PROPEL.  The fitness center, pool, gyms, courts, weight room, campus grounds and dining hall are wonderful amenities that each of can enjoy and benefit from using.  Living a self- propelled lifestyle by working out and walking/biking as much as we can to and from campus will bring rich rewards to our lives.

 

We will once again provide a “movement program” for you entitled Self-Propel.  Within the program are many cardiovascular options to choose from.  Here is what you need to know if you sign up:

1.       Choose a destination or number of miles you want to move from September 1-May 1.  Many attach a city in the US with their miles so they feel a kinship with their miles (I am choosing Eugene, Oregon 1940 miles because I love this city).  You do not have to be a runner, walker or biker to join. We have conversion charts if you play racquet or ball sports and other activities.

2.       Email me and Johnnes Tulungen your goal, and we will create a graph, charting your progress all year.

3.       Sign up with a friend or ask others in your department to join you.

4.       Email your miles to Johnnes each weekend and we will chart your accomplishments.

5.       Working out is reward enough, but as an incentive, if you meet your goal at the end of the year, you will receive one of the following “good job to you awards”-  $25.00 restaurant gift certificate and 1 hour massage or 18-hole golf certificate at Mystic Hills.

Attached is the September class schedule and descriptions.

 

Welcome Back,

Dana Neer

 

Weight Loss

Matt Behling

Last summer I got the idea of doing P90X from my brother.  My goals were to improve my health, gain some muscle and reduce my body fat percentage.  I had the mindset when beginning the program that I would do all of the workouts, and I would strictly watch my diet according to the P90X nutrition guide.  After three months, I noticed serious improvements in my cholesterol levels and blood pressure.  I had lost some weight and had improved my body fat percentage.  I was feeling much healthier and better about myself.

Once school started up in the fall, I got caught up eating whatever I wanted and letting up on my workouts.  The workouts became less consistent and I noticed the gains I had made were slowly slipping away.  During the wrestling season I turned most of my attention toward our athletes and much less attention on my health.  At the end of the season this spring, Matt Boland came to me and asked me if I would be on a team with him for the Culver Fitness Center weight loss competition.  Right away I agreed to the challenge.  I am always up for a challenge and I felt this would be a great way for me to get motivated to get back into shape. 

I came to the realization that in order to lose the weight I would have to solely focus on my diet and commit to working out daily.  The first thing I did was to modify my breakfast.  I passed up the donuts and went with a grapefruit, two hard-boiled eggs and some oatmeal each day. Then I began eating from the salad bar for lunch.  In between meals I would eat non-salted almonds and other sources of protein.  In the evening I let my wife prepare our meals.  My wife Jill has always been a very health conscious person and has truly helped me develop good eating habits.   I dropped nearly 10 pounds right away for our first weigh in during the competition.  After the initial 10 pounds, I felt like I hit a plateau.  My food choices were good, but they weren’t perfect.  If I felt I had worked out hard enough, I would eat a calzone or treat myself to numerous pieces of pizza.  While in Dr. John Yeager’s class Thinking Smart, Living Well, I learned that this mindset represented moral licensing which was counter-productive to my ultimate goal.  We discussed the struggles of the mind in regards to short term gratification versus long term gratification.  At this point I made the decision to fight the short term urges and use food to fuel my body.  I was not going to give into the short term dopamine fix the brain responds to when we crave sweets and such.  I stayed focused on my long term goals and simply made the decision to resist the cravings. 

By mixing cardio workouts with circuit training and adding bits and pieces of the P90X program I was able to drop another 16 pounds.  In total I lost 26 pounds.  I have much better eating habits.  I feel stronger, leaner and healthier than I have in a long time.  There are so many benefits to committing to a healthy lifestyle.  All you have to do is make the choice and commit to it.

2013 Indianapolis Half Marathon

Thirteen members of the Culver Academies family will be competing in the 2013 Indianapolis Half Marathon on May 4 – the largest half marathon in the world, featuring 35,000 participants. They will be joining the Culver Club of Indianapolis for a post-race celebration to cap off their day together. Congratulations to these participants for their dedication to training over the cold winter, wishing them the best on race day.
Members participating: Anne Kelly, Beth Lawrence, Marsha Coven, Ed Kelly, Kurt Comiskey , Matt Comiskey , Tim Montgomery and Dana Neer. Not pictured are: Katie Loomis, Maddie Williams, TJ Montgomery, and Kirsten Pressler (current student, class of '15).
A special thank you to campus security officer Roger Miller who will provide protection with the Indiana National Guard.

Max Move 2013 Pictures

Thank you to all for participating in this year Culver Max Move.Below are some pictures from this year "Move the Max" around Lake Maxinkuckee. 

Enjoy!

One step at at time!

JuLee A. Anderson

Last year, when Culver brought back their triathlon event, I wasn’t too sure if I was going to attempt it or not. I decided to start my training by taking baby steps. First step, I decided to get back into cycling class. I already had a mountain bike that I was riding to work, so cycling class was going to be a piece of cake, right? Second step, I was going to just continue with the running I was already doing. No problem there! Third step was to swim. Now growing up, I used to swim constantly during the summer, and even though it has been about 20 years since I actually swam any distance, it couldn’t be that difficult, could it? Isn’t it like riding a bike? Or, so I thought….. J


When July came around, a cousin of mine tried to talk me into doing the Magee 3 triathlon in Plymouth on Lawrence Lake. I finally decided the morning of the race to just do it! I packed up my mountain bike and all my running gear and away I went. It was a small gathering and I actually knew a lot of people. They were all giving me pointers on what to expect and told me to just have fun. I came into this race with the attitude: “someone has to be last so it might as well be me!” Once I got my bike all situated on the rack, I looked around and, to my surprise, no other person had a mountain bike but me. The rest had those sleek, skinny bikes. That should have been my first clue that I was in trouble! Undaunted, I headed down the hill to the swim event. At the start, we had only to swim 200 out to the pontoon, around and 200 back to shore. Into the water I plunged amid a chaotic mess of legs, arms and muck everywhere. I finally made it to the pontoon where all I wanted to do was to get on it and stop! Apparently, swimming isn’t just like riding a bike…apparently you need to train for it!

Finally I dragged myself from the water only to face the brutal hill climb back to my bike where I, again, wanted to stop, but I couldn’t do that.  I already had committed to doing this and I was going to see it to the finish.  I made it up the hill, and to my surprise, as I looked back, I could see that I wasn’t the last one!  I got to my bike with legs trembling and arms exhausted and started peddling.  Next thing I know, the two who were behind me from swimming have now passed me on their skinny bikes.  Ten miles later, now completely exhausted, I have only 3.1 miles to run!  LOL!  Everyone who had already finished is cheering me on.  Despite cramping up and keeping exhaustion from draining every last bit of energy, I push on…Then it happens…. I am running down the last portion of the course, and the end is in sight.   The minute I crossed the FINISH line I screamed, “I DID IT!!!!!!”  I finished my first ever triathlon.  I was exhausted, beaten, sore and emotional, but, more than all that, I was proud.  I totally enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment! I finished it in 1 hour and 40 minutes.  When the Culver Triathlon came round, I had trained better for the swim J and I knew what to expect from myself.    I finished the Culver triathlon in 1 hour and 31 minutes, 9 minutes better than Magee 3.      

So….just remember….the first step is always the hardest….take it one step at a time…baby steps … next thing you know, you will be at the finish line! Oh, and by the way, this year, I bought a new racing bike, and I plan on doing 4 triathlons this summer.  Just do it!