Posted: 28/07/21
College staff put through fitness paces by sport students
Staff at West Nottinghamshire College were put through their fitness paces by sport and exercise science students at an energetic ‘boot camp’.
Sport and exercise science students at the college put staff through an energetic ‘boot camp’.
Learners on the Level 3 National Foundation Diploma in Sport and Exercise Science first year programme, who are hoping to go into careers such as gym instructors and personal trainers, designed a programme of cardiovascular and strength activities to deliver to staff at the college’s Derby Road campus, Mansfield.
A group of eight staff signed-up for the first boot camp session, which was delivered in the sports hall, where individuals were put through a 60-minute programme designed by the students as part of their assignment module.
Students Owen Yates, Lucy Ward, Anna Shevlin (all 17) and Patryk Banak (19) delivered the session, which included exercises such as the plank, Russian twists, crunches and squats to test the group’s core muscles, while skipping, agility ladders, shuttle runs and burpees got their cardiovascular systems working hard.
Lucy, who is looking to study psychology at university next year, said: “We tried a few different boot camp exercises before settling on the ones we delivered at the staff session. We spent a few hours coming up with different ideas to keep participants motivated and engaged whilst performing exercises that may not necessarily be the most enjoyable but are certainly beneficial.
“Teaching a varied-ability group helped us to adapt and change exercises to suit the individuals. Because we were delivering to a large group, having more leaders enabled us to really focus on each participant and made sure that we engaged with them.”
Head of health, education and service industries, Sarah Morley, said: “To say we were impressed by the group’s excellent work on planning and delivering the boot camp is an understatement. I joined in the exercises with our staff and can honestly say that we were well and truly put through our paces!
“Two of the students will be returning to college next year and they are looking at putting a business plan together, as well as using feedback from this first group, to set up regular fitness sessions so that staff can enlist on weekly boot camps which will include indoor and outdoor tailored training.”
