{"id":2895,"date":"2026-02-11T13:53:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T19:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/?p=2895"},"modified":"2026-02-20T13:58:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T19:58:40","slug":"jcccs-fitness-center-is-more-than-meets-the-eye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2026\/02\/11\/jcccs-fitness-center-is-more-than-meets-the-eye\/","title":{"rendered":"JCCC\u2019s Fitness Center Is More Than Meets The Eye"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Photo by: Baptiste Raffin)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cExercise has been proven to elevate mood, creativity and brain function as well as improve physical health and well-being,\u201d Deborah Bowers, JCCC\u2019s Fitness Center and Student Wellness Manager, said.<\/p>\n

JCCC\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say that the fitness center is part of Student Wellness,\u201d Bowers said. \u201cStudent 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vision of JCCC\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

They will also work with you to set up a program tailored to your requirements. If you\u2019re new to the JCCC Fitness Center, Natalie Bergman, one of the instructors, will give you a tour if you ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d Bergman said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a stress-free environment for someone who has never used the gym before,\u201d Gibson said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a good one to start with, and it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. This is just a small sample of what is offered.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

However students get involved, Bowers says, \u201cmove more and sit less.\u201d<\/p>\n

JCCC Fitness Center Hours, Monday-Thursday 6 a.m. \u2013 9:30 p.m., Friday 6 a.m. \u2013 7 p.m., Saturday 6 a.m. \u2013 3 p.m. and Sunday 1-5 p.m.<\/p>\n

For more information or if you have questions, please email Student Wellness<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To learn more about the Lifetime Fitness Center, visit the Barbara Gill Lifetime Fitness Center<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

To read more about student wellness, visit the Student Wellness<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

To download the JCCC Student Wellness classes to your Canvas, visit the Virtual Student Wellness<\/a> page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,8],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[342],"class_list":["post-2895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-sports"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Saul Epstein","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/sepstein\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2026\/02\/IMG_9089_optimized_2000.jpg","coauthors":[{"link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/mike-kemper\/","display_name":"Mike Kemper"}],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Featured<\/a>","Sports<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Featured<\/span>","Sports<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 7 months ago","modified":"Updated 7 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on February 11, 2026","modified":"Updated on February 20, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on February 11, 2026 1:53 pm","modified":"Updated on February 20, 2026 1:58 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":342,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"mike-kemper","display_name":"Mike Kemper","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2026\/02\/IMG_9089_optimized_2000.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2895"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2897,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2895\/revisions\/2897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2895"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}