Campus Recreation
2011-2012 Assessment: Campus Recreation Health & Fitness Outreach
Program
Submitted by Sonja Tysk MS, Fitness Program Manager
ABSTRACT
For the 2011-2012 academic year, Campus Recreation’s (CR) fitness program decided to
work towards expanding the personal training program. The approach to increasing the
program was to offer free health and fitness presentations to any interested faculty and
staff within a department on the UM Mountain Campus. This outreach program would
increase the scope of the CR personal trainer job duties, increase exposure to the campus
community of the personal training services offered through CR, provide a beneficial free
service to any interested faculty/staff, and address three out of fourteen CR priorities for
FY13. Before investing time and resources into creating these presentations, CR
surveyed all UM Mountain Campus faculty and staff to determine the level of interest,
preferred times to offer the presentations, as well as preferred topics. The survey results
showed a high level of interest from those faculty and staff who responded to the survey.
Therefore, the CR personal trainers decided this outreach program would be a worthwhile
endeavor. Funding sources for this program are currently being explored, and the
personal trainers are beginning to develop three different presentations to advertise and
offer to UM Mountain Campus Departments for fall 2012.
BACKGROUND
In fall 2011, all full-time Campus Recreation staff collaborated in writing the
department’s strategic plan for 2012-2020 and established fourteen (14) departmental
priorities for FY13. This annual assessment report is one example of a program idea the
department is developing as a function of some of the FY13 priorities.
This past year, the fitness programs area of CR made a concentrated effort to increase the
scope of its personal training program. In the past, the job responsibilities of the personal
trainers have been to offer one-on-one personal training services to paying clients, as well
as provide fitness consultations for any interested CR patrons. However, the fitness staff
believes that by only working with CR members within the walls of the Fitness and
Recreation Center (FRC), they are “preaching to the choir.” As a way of expanding the
personal training program and extending the personal trainers’ knowledge and services
beyond the FRC, the fitness staff came up with the idea of going around campus and visit
individual departments conducting free health and fitness presentations. These
presentations would be available to any interested UM faculty or staff. The aim of this
approach is two-fold: 1) given that the faculty/staff wellness program changed its format
last year, it seemed that a free health and fitness service that all faculty and staff could
access would be of great benefit to many UM employees, and 2) by offering a free health
and fitness outreach program to the greater campus community, it would provide
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exposure of not only the CR personal trainers, but the entire CR department. This
increased campus wide exposure contributes to the overall marketing of CR, with the
goal of increasing faculty/staff memberships to the FRC.
During spring semester of 2012, CR approached Terri Phillips, Vice President of Human
Resources (HR), to ask if HR would be interested in partially funding this program. The
vice president stated that HR could contribute some funds to help support this program.
In addition to this contribution, Cynthia Boies, Training/Development Officer from HR,
asked the CR fitness manager if the health and fitness presentations could be part of the
Community Transformation Grant she was applying for through the Center for Disease
Control and Prevention. The fitness manager and the HR development officer
collaborated to include the health and fitness outreach program in the grant.
This health and fitness outreach program addresses three FY13 priorities:
1) Increase sales of Campus Recreation memberships to faculty, staff, and
nontraditional students (including those at the College of Technology).
2) Explore external funding options (for example, grants, scholarships, or
donations).
3) Fitness Programs: Offer health and fitness workshops to university faculty
and staff.
Before the trainers created these presentations, CR conducted a survey to determine the
interest level of faculty and staff in such a program, as well as the most desirable
presentation times, and which health and fitness topics would be of most interest.
PROCEDURE
To assess interest level and other specifics regarding the health and fitness presentations,
an on-line survey was administered to all faculty and staff of the UM Mountain Campus
via the office of Human Resources. The questions were developed by the CR personal
training staff and Survey Monkey was used to create and publish the survey. The survey
was intentionally brief, only three questions, to encourage people to respond. The
questions were developed to provide basic but essential information for the development
of this new program.
The survey was introduced by the following brief statement: “The personal trainers at
Campus Recreation, in conjunction with UM Human Resource Services, would like to
come to your department or office to present to you a free educational lecture on a health
& fitness related topic. Please answer this quick 3 question survey to help us determine
interest and possible presentation topics”. The three survey questions were:
1.
Would you be interested in attending a free, 45 minute health & fitness lecture
presented by a Campus Recreation personal trainer?
Possible answers: Yes / No
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2.
What times would you prefer?
Possible answers: 11:00am, 11:30 am, noon, 12:30pm, 1:00pm, 4:00pm,
4:30pm, 5:00pm, 5:30pm
3.
What topics would you like to have covered?
Possible answers: Heart health, Ergonomics, Nutrition basics, Stress
Reduction, Vitamin D Deficiency, Other topics (please specify)
The survey was administered on April 20, 2012 and was active for three weeks. The
survey was e-mailed to all faculty/staff at The UM Mountain Campus, 2230 people.
Question #1 had 436 responses for a response rate of 19.55 %. Question #2 had 309
responses for a response rate of 13.86%. Question #3 had 310 responses for a response
rate of 13.90 %.
FINDINGS
Based on the survey results, 82% of those faculty and staff who responded to the survey
expressed interest in having a Campus Recreation personal trainer come to their
department to offer a free presentation on health and fitness related topics.
In order to set these presentations up for the best possible chance of success, the staff
wanted to know what time of day the majority of faculty and staff would prefer to attend.
Based on the survey results, the most popular time was noon, which had 48% of the
responses. The second most popular time, with 43% of the responses, was 11:00am.
These time preferences are not a surprise. Noon is the most likely time for faculty and
staff to take a lunch break. Therefore, this would be the most convenient time for them to
attend a presentation without disrupting their work day or having to come to campus
early or stay late after work hours.
The third survey question addressed topic preferences. The personal trainers listed five
topic ideas and a respondent could select as many choices as they wanted. There was
also an open-ended option for respondents to suggest a topic. The five topics the trainers
listed were heart health, ergonomics, nutrition basics, stress reduction, and vitamin D
deficiency. Of those five topics, stress reduction was the most popular with 212
responses, and ergonomics was the second most popular with 198 responses. The open
ended question that allowed people to list other topic ideas resulted in 84 suggestions.
The fitness manager and personal training staff read through all suggestions and
identified a couple of trends. The most consistent comments were in regards to
general/basic exercise information for overall fitness and weight loss (23 related
suggestions). The second largest trend was fitting exercise into a busy life/work schedule
with exercise and stretching ideas to do at your desk (16 suggestions).
RECOMMENDATIONS
Due to the high rate of interest expressed (82%) by the faculty & staff who participated in
the survey, the personal trainers decided an outreach program offering free health and
fitness presentations to faculty/staff would be a worthwhile pursuit.
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The CR marketing staff, in conjunction with the CR fitness manager, will take time over
the summer to develop the advertising necessary to inform the greater campus
community about the presentations that will be available in the fall of 2012.
These presentations will be offered at the noon hour due to the fact that noon had the
highest response count on the survey.
Prior to sending out the survey, the personal trainers had decided that if the program was
going to go forward, it would be best to chose three presentation topics that would be
developed, marketed and offered to campus for fall semester. After viewing the results of
this survey, it was clear the following three topics had the most interest and therefore
should be used for the outreach presentations:



stress reduction
general/basic exercise information for overall fitness and weight loss
fitting exercise into a busy life/work schedule with examples of stretches and
exercises to do at your desk
Currently, two CR personal trainers are in the process of developing these topic ideas into
presentations.
The awards for the Community Transformation Grant are to be announced mid-July.
Campus Recreation should be notified in the very near future if any funds have been
awarded to the personal trainer’s outreach program. If money is awarded through the
grant, the personal trainers will be able to conduct up to four presentations a week
throughout fall semester. If no money is awarded through the grant, the outreach
program will still be viable through funds CR and HR have agreed to contribute, however
the trainers will only offer up to two presentations per week.
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APPENDIX I
Survey Question #3 – “What topics would you like to have covered?”
ANSWERS:
1.
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23.
24.
25.
Exercise limitations for someone with back/shoulder/neck pain
Suggest workout routines for someone who has limited amount of time – say over
lunch hour
Fitness
Cycling classes and weight workouts
Signups for noon recreations activity like walking, jogging, kickball, Frisbee,
volleyball, softball
Free classes on campus
High intensity interval training
Diabetes awareness and prevention/anxiety/stress/depression awareness and
reduction
Strength exercises to do at your desk
Supplements
Program that might possibly be available for working out to stay in shape
Weight management
Heart rate training
Fitness
Seasonal light disorder, as we work in the basement always. If they have any info
covering this topic it would be nice
Weight gain in the midsection
How to battle high cholesterol
As I am unable to afford membership to um fitness facilities/programs, the info
provided during lectures needs to be applicable to staff without access to a gym or
fitness classes
Joint strengthening to reduce pain
Cooking and eating healthy, planning, shopping; cooking eating healthy lunch,
exercising, sleep – impact and importance; get a life, how do we support
employees toward each having the opportunity for a balanced life or a life outside
work
Flexibility and strength exercises that can be done in office
Hormone replacement vs. not
Exercise and sports related injuries, prevention, and/or treatment and remediation
Diabetes maintenance
Injury prevention/rehab
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26.
Your survey seems set up for staff. Those of us who teach have different times
available on different days! I’d also like to hear an overview of any and all
fitness/wellness opportunities that are currently ongoing and available to
faculty/staff
27.
Exercise examples that I can do at work (in my office). And example may be a
stretching exercise
28.
Fitness and body mass – how to best build muscle and lower body fat percentage
29.
The importance of getting off our chairs. No more excuses. And as part of the
nutrition basics presentation, it must be pointed out how the large food companies
are stuffing all we eat with chemicals and keeping us sick, abut not quite dead –
the same thing they are doing with our cattle and other meat products
30.
Fitting exercise into a work day
31.
How to fit in strength, cardio, and flexibility training into a normal hectic day
32.
Basic fitness routines for those who have deconditioned and want to start getting
back to basic fitness (may also have some mobility issues with arthritis in knees).
Some exercises for prevention/reduction carpal tunnel symptoms. Would attend
these classes during work time be eligible for “sick leave” usage or would it have
to be annual or flexed lunch?
33.
Avoiding injuries
34.
Weight control
35.
Body toning – how to target specific areas
36.
Healthy options on campus. How to maximize your lunch hour for health and
fitness. Fitness staff – 45m in exclusive classes for fac/staff fitness
37.
Stretching
38.
Opportunities for health and wellness related activities for staff on campus
39.
Other supplements pros-cons
40.
Physical fitness – exercise programs
41.
General exercises for overall health
42.
Exercise programs including cardio and strength training
43.
Calcium deficiency
44.
Migraine prevention and health
45.
Any new hot, up- coming health/wellness info
46.
Benefits of healthy eating right. Dangers of obesity
47.
Any and all topics would be great. We’d love to have you come present to our
entire department at a staff meeting. Thanks.
48.
Exercise on a budget
49.
Maintaining a healthy spine and joints
50.
Easy exercise strategies/ideas for people who are overworked/have busy
schedules
51.
How to fit in exercise into a busy life
52.
Exercise motivation - long term exercise planning and motivational techniques.
Also info on how to train and exercise as you get older.
53.
I’d like to have info about pesticides/herbicides in food and which produce most
dangerous…and which produce is safest to eat even if it isn’t organic. Also,
information about mercury in fish. In short, info about common contaminants in
food
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54.
55.
56.
57.
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60.
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84.
What is available for individual or small group training
Changing metabolism through both diet and exercise
Would be interesting to learn some simple exercise (e.g. core back strengthening)
or stretches we can do while at our desk or during a 5-minute break
Fitting exercise in during the workday
Exercise for belly fat
Gluten free
Department space is not conducive to giving a presentation. But I would be fine
with going to another more appropriate location for it
Regular physical activity
Basic exercise program for general whole body conditioning. Aerobic and weight
training…
Fitness choices for women 50+
Weight loss blood pressure, blood sugar
Free 30 min fitness options on campus and at home
What programs are being established for employees? Weight and its effect on
overall health. Are there diet plans, fitness plans, etc. out there that can help with
weight control
Seasonal affective disorder
New research/info on appropriate weight training can cardio combination for
healthy body
Exercises which can be done at the desk to help stretch muscles from working at a
computers long periods
Calorie intake and expenditure. (Nutrition basics?)
Interested in finding out some info regarding what to look for (re: quality) when
buying supplements…and what supplements out there are truly beneficial (i.e. for
eyes, mental alertness, energy, weight loss, muscle builders (amino acids) thank
you for all your time and assistance
Info about classes that are offered through campus recreation
Stress reduction, stress reduction, stress reduction
Balance between nutrition and exercise
Sit and be Fit type of exercise
Workout exercises
How to use your exercise machines correctly
Exercise ideas for beginners
I would be more interested in seeing a free introductory class to exercise classes
already offered. To see if that class would be something I would like to continue.
I really am not interested in a general lecture.
Fitness programs are great…
I would like info about vitamins and supplements. What they specifically do and
what happens if you don’t have enough or too much
How to fly a kite
Personal fitness training tailored to the individual
Safe effective mini workouts during travel (business and pleasure), while at
conferences, and when you have no access to a gym and very little time
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