(Photo by: Baptiste Raffin)

Students are back on campus, the spring semester is in full swing, and the pressure of classes is ramping up. Now is a perfect time to relieve school stress and sharpen mental focus. One way to accomplish this is through physical activity.

“Exercise has been proven to elevate mood, creativity and brain function as well as improve physical health and well-being,” Deborah Bowers, JCCC’s Fitness Center and Student Wellness Manager, said.

JCCC’s Barbara Gill Lifetime Fitness Center is open seven days a week and is located just west of the Student Center on the second floor of the GYM building. It includes multiple cardio machines, weight machines, an indoor track, total-body weight training and a specialized 20-minute total-body circuit training system. Best of all, the fitness center is free for all students who attend classes at JCCC.

“I would say that the fitness center is part of Student Wellness,” Bowers said. “Student Wellness, it is an awareness of your physical activity level. It is an awareness of your mental acuity. It is awareness of your mental state.”

The vision of JCCC’s Student Wellness program is to promote health and wellness by building a cohesive campus community for students by furthering their academic success through healthy lifestyle engagement.

Engaging students is an emphasis of the fitness center and Student Wellness. After checking in at the front desk with one of their student monitors, you will find an instructor on duty to help you with all your fitness needs.

The instructors have a wealth of knowledge to help with fitness goals. They are there to help with any instruction on individual exercises or a specific machine.

They will also work with you to set up a program tailored to your requirements. If you’re new to the JCCC Fitness Center, Natalie Bergman, one of the instructors, will give you a tour if you ask.

“The first thing I do is give them a brief tour and show them all the different equipment that we have, and while we’re on the tour, ask them about their interests and their background in relation to working out, what they enjoy, don’t enjoy,” Bergman said.

The environment that the Fitness Center is trying to build is one of inclusion. Braden Gibson, a JCCC student who regularly uses the fitness center, spoke to the Messenger about his experience.

“It’s a stress-free environment for someone who has never used the gym before,” Gibson said.

Providing a welcoming environment for all students, regardless of experience, skill level or where they are in their fitness journey is what the fitness center strives to attain. One of the best places to start, according to Bergman, is the 20-minute total-body circuit training system.

“It’s a good one to start with, and it’s so user-friendly because it shows you how to do the exercise. It’s easy to adjust the resistance on it, whereas some of the [other] machines tend to intimidate newer people. So a lot of people start in the circuit, and then once they feel comfortable, then they might move up to the machines.”

Another way to use the fitness center is through classes. They welcome all skill levels and require no experience or registration. The Spring 2026 Wellness Series classes currently available are Build and Burn, Pilates Fusion, Tai Chi and Zumba.

To find out more information about the Spring 2026 Wellness Series, students can visit the Student Wellness website and become a member of Virtual Student Wellness. This will add a class to your Canvas Dashboard, allowing you to see all current events and announcements.

However students get involved, Bowers says, “move more and sit less.”

JCCC Fitness Center Hours, Monday-Thursday 6 a.m. – 9:30 p.m., Friday 6 a.m. – 7 p.m., Saturday 6 a.m. – 3 p.m. and Sunday 1-5 p.m.

For more information or if you have questions, please email Student Wellness.

To learn more about the Lifetime Fitness Center, visit the Barbara Gill Lifetime Fitness Center page.

To read more about student wellness, visit the Student Wellness page.

To download the JCCC Student Wellness classes to your Canvas, visit the Virtual Student Wellness page.