Community college wants people to get timely health tips

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Ivy Tech Community College wants people to get hip to some timely tips.

Namely, fitness and wellness tips.

The “Get Fit on Route 66” campaign will help put participants on the road to better health via the college’s Welborn Foundation Wellness & Fitness Center in Evansville over the summer.

Participants will race along the storied highway from Chicago to Santa Monica without ever leaving home - unless they want to - by completing fitness challenges in and out of the gym.

“We want to make it doable for everyone,” said Amy Lutzel, wellness and fitness coordinator at the fitness center.

From May 15 to Aug. 7, participants earn two miles of the 2,448-mile route for every minute they participate in an exercise activity, according to information in the sign-up packet. There is a list of more than 30 events, activities and exercise programs they can choose from to get going down the road.

Along their way program participants can get energizing tips about incorporating wellness into their daily lives from program leaders, Lutzel said. They will also pick up some interesting tidbits about the destinations along Route 66 as they reach them - an element of previous travel-themed fitness programs that seemed to resonate with participants.

“They seem to be our most popular ones,” said Lutzel, who has led programs like Passport to Fitness. “It gets people thinking about traveling and planning trips in the summer.”

Even if they don’t travel far from home, the campaign includes a lot of local attractions and ideas that help people take advantage of wellness opportunities in the area, Lutzel said.

Some of the activities include an hour of gardening or taking a bike ride around the neighborhood. The more adventurous can choose an activity like kayaking or cave exploring.

People new or just getting back to exercise can start with a simple hike in the Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve or Harmonie State Park. Those looking to challenge themselves can run or walk a 5K.

There are classes at the Welborn Foundation Wellness & Fitness Center that participants can join, or take advantage of one of the Fitness in the Park activities on Saturdays through the city’s Energize Evansville initiative.

No matter how they get it done, participants must complete a minimum of 10 different activities from the list along their Route 66 journey, Lutzel said. And there is no shortage of options indoors and outdoors for them to try.

“A lot of people still aren’t aware of all that we have in the Tri-State area,” she said.

Participants will log each of their entries by sending selfies taken during their activities to Lutzel along with an activity diary, she said. The photos can be uploaded onto the fitness center’s Facebook page by the fitness center staff as a way to show what people have discovered to improve their health and to encourage others to try something new.

There are also incentives along the route to help keep people motivated to make it to the end, according to the sign-up packet. For every activity in which people participate for 30 or more minutes in a single session, they will earn a Route 66 sign that they can display at the office, at school or at home.

“It makes them feel good,” Lutzel said. “They have these things that they can show off.”

As participants pass through one of the eight states that Route 66 cuts across, they will also receive a special prize.

Every minute spent exercising at the Welborn Foundation Wellness & Fitness Center counts as two toward each person’s total during the campaign.

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Source: Evansville Courier & Press, https://bit.ly/1QDAvhm

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Information from: Evansville Courier & Press, https://www.courierpress.com