Category Archives: Health and Fitness

Health and Fitness, Health and Wellbeing, Sports

Got gymxiety? Our top five tips to move through

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What to do when the hardest part of doing a workout is walking through the front door?   Rest assured you’re not alone.  No matter what the voice in your head is saying, know that you do belong there living your best healthy life.       So, how to overcome it?   Here are our top tips, just choose the strategy that resonates with you! 

Try classes 

If you’re not sure what to do, classes can help you solve that problem!  With a qualified and helpful instructor leading the way, just do as they say, to the best of your ability, and you’re winning!    The UCRecCentre has a range of classes to suit all levels of fitness and co-ordination, musical and non-musical alike.   We also have many of them offered as livestream via our app, so you can check them out online at home first.    Book your spot via the app. 

Bring a friend 

Having an exercise buddy can sometimes make things a little easier, until you feel the confidence on your own.  You can figure out how to do stuff with two brains, not just one.  Plus, it can be more fun and motivating to do a partner workout and you can be accountable to each other to show up.   You can try workouts from the Rec&Sport app – they come with little videos to show you how.  

Avoid peak times 

The RecCentre is less busy than usual (thanks Covid), but we still have peaks and troughs, similar to most commercial and council gyms.     We start to get busier from 3pm until 8pm weekdays, and Saturday morning 9am – 12pm.    You can see how busy the classes are via the app, when you make your booking. 

Have a plan 

Wandering aimlessly around the gym is, in our humble opinion,  a recipe for anxious times.    You could find a programme in our app before you come, and plan how long it will take.   Or, if you want to take the guesswork out, you could book in for an exercise programme with an exercise consultant.   These do cost, but we keep that cost low low low for UC students. 

Get some free advice 

If all of these options seem a little too much still, why not book in for a free orientation session with one of our staff?  Just 15mins, and we’ll take you for a walk around the building, answer any questions you have, and show you how to use the app for booking classes or finding programmes to follow.    You can book via the app yourself, or you can call us and we can book you in to get you started. 

Be well!
UC Rec&Sport | Te Ratonga Hākinakina 

Health and Fitness

Term 4 Small Group Training registrations now open!

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Where did the year go??  We’re gearing up for Term 4 already, which means our Small Group Training courses are open for registration when you are! 

Why SGT? 
  • You get to meet and hang with the same small group of people each week, so it can be a little less overwhelming 
  • You’ll get to know your instructor better, and they’ll be able to better help you one on one 
  • You can learn a new skill that we don’t teach in our full group fitness timetable 
  • You feel like you gotta show up, cause you’ve paid for it, so if you struggle with accountability, this can be an affordable way to help you set new routines 
What’s on offer? 

All of our courses are five weeks, and you get 1 session per week, except for bootcamp, where you front up 2x per week.   

Check out the links for more information on days/times and costs. 
If you’ve got any other questions, just get in touch! 

Ngā mihi
UC Rec&Sport | Te Ratonga Hākinakina 

Health and Fitness

Running is a solo sport – or is it better with mates?

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Have you had enough of this isolation stuff?  Are you ready to find a group of friendly people to go on some runs with?  And while you’re at it, perhaps throw in a bucket list half-marathon as a goal?     Whatever your motivation, it’s quite possible our Run Canterbury group could be just the ticket.

Male runners in Dunedin half marathon
This is Gary, completing the Dunedin Half Marathon

What is Run Canterbury?

It’s first and foremost a running group.  Yes, we train for the Queenstown Half Marathon; yes we provide a 14 week training programme to follow (highly recommended you do, but if you miss a couple of runs you’ll be ok); and yes we meet twice a week to go for group runs (Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5.15pm)  That’s a brilliant way to stay accountable and on track. And you’ll have a pack leader who’s run before (quite a bit of running before) who you can ask all your questions .   Best of all are the chats.

Who can join?

Anyone!   We welcome all levels of runners, and you don’t even have to be a student or staff member.  You just have to like running.  Ok, you don’t even have to like running that much, but it certainly helps.  If nothing else, you’ll learn by the end of the programme whether you can grow to love it!  Don’t wait too long though, our first pack runs start the week 8th August!

How much?
  • $95 for UC Students/staff or Reccentre members, or $80 if you’ve done it with us before
  • If you’ve got a friend who wants to join in with you, but they’re not one of the special people listed above, they pay $155

For all the details, see our website for info and to register.  Or you can email Gary. 

Ngā mihi
UC Rec & Sport | Te Ratonga Hākinakina