As the spring semester starts to pick up speed, students may find it hard to find time to exercise. This may change thanks to the new fitness classes planned by the Campus Recreation Center.

“You shouldn’t just go to class and sit in your room all day,” Dean Bowen, the assistant director of fitness and wellness programming for over four years, said. “We want to provide an active and healthy lifestyle for students.”

The Recreation Center is open to all students 18 hours a day, seven days a week.  The center offers approximately 60 classes a week, which include a wide variety of activities including yoga, Tae Kwon Do, belly dancing and Zumba. The center also includes open weight rooms for anyone who is interested in lifting.

Besides a variety of classes available to students, the center also provides weekly blood pressure and body fat tests every Wednesday alongside cholesterol examinations on select Wednesdays. The next test is on March 6. These tests are intended to help students find areas they wish to improve and to help set goals.

“The fact that the school offers all of these specific activities and examinations for free really gives us incentives to take care of ourselves,” David Lee, a sophomore mechanical engineering major and frequent Recreation Center visitor, said.

Students are also given the opportunity to buy tickets through the Recreation Center to travel off campus to certain events. Last semester, students went white water rafting, and this semester students had the opportunity to go on a ski trip or see a Nets game. Tickets sold out within minutes of being released.

“Usually we plan about six trips a semester, but that varies on many outlining factors such as weather and transportation,” Bowen said.

Other upcoming events include free fitness advising on March 27 and cycling certification on March 2.  There is also the option to participate in frequent indoor soccer and basketball tournaments alongside other open recreational events. Some events do require registration before hand though.

The center will also be hosting a campus strong man competition in April.

“The fact that they give us all these opportunities to become part of a community, go out and enjoy ourselves and help get in shape really makes the effort worth it,” Alice Jang, a sophomore biology major, said.

Since moving into the new building, the Recreation Center has quickly grown in popularity. With the new building came longer operational hours, an increase in fitness class capacity from 45 to 60 people and the possibility for more planned events.

“We start off with high visiting numbers at first, but, as the days go on, the numbers start to level off,” Bowen said. “But, with weather like we’ve been having, people understandably aren’t coming out as often.”

Currently, the Recreation Center is reaching about 26,000 visits a day, according to Bowen.

“If I can I would love to go to these events,” Lee said. “If I can’t though I know the center will always have another event coming up I can attend.”