Fitness & Wellness

The goal of SPARTANfit is to enhance student success and the pursuit of lifelong well-being by creating opportunities that foster engagement and well-being for MSU students through diverse fitness and wellness services and resources.

 

 Virtual Couch to 5K Begins March 29

MSU students, faculty and staff are welcome to participate in this free five-week program. Along the way, you'll get weekly workouts, tips and support to help you stay on track and accomplish your goals. The program ends just in time for the Spartan Arbor Day 5K May 1. 

Email Brittany Richard at rich1087@msu.edu to register for the Couch to 5K program. Registration ends March 24. 

Download the Flyer

 

Learn more about all of our fitness offerings below.

• State of Spartan Health: Fitness & Wellness

  
  For more information on Physical Activity Guidelines, visit our Benefits of Physical Activity page.

• Comprehensive Fitness Assessment

  Currently, we are not offering in-person comprehensive fitness assessments.

  • Complete Your At-Home Fitness Assessment Here
  • At-Home Fitness Assessment Guidance Video

  ---

   Fitness Assessment

  This comprehensive fitness assessment, available to students, faculty, staff and their spouses, will help to determine your current level of fitness.

  A series of resting and exercising assessments will help establish baseline measurements that can then be used to set goals, monitor performance, and assess progress throughout your exercise program. Following your assessment, you will receive a computerized, age-adjusted fitness profile displaying your results. Based on these results, a SPARTANfit staff member will work with you to establish a tailored 3-month goal-oriented fitness and wellness plan.

  The following assessments are administered:

  Resting Assessments

  • Heart Rate
  • Blood Pressure
  • Height and Body Weight
  • Body Composition Analysis (utilizing bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) or skinfold measurements)

  Exercising Assessments

  • Cardiorespiratory Fitness (utilizing a computerized bicycle ergometer)
  • Muscular Strength
  • Muscular Endurance
  • Flexibility
    
    

  Cost (per individual)
  
  

   

  • 97% of participants said the assessment was of value and benefit to their personal health, fitness and wellness.

  • 94% of participants said the assessment encouraged them to start working towards developing a healthy lifestyle habit(s). 

  “This is an excellent program for anyone wanting to increase their fitness level. Program staff take time to listen to your personal goals, affirm your progress and help you set achievable goals for your fitness journey. Plus, it's fun!”

  - Participant Comment

  For more information or to schedule a fitness assessment, please email Brittany at rich1087@msu.edu.

• Virtual THRIVE!

  
  This 12-week virtual program provides you with motivation, accountability, and support, as well as opportunities to thrive and achieve a higher level of personal health through a variety of fitness and wellness experiences.

  You'll meet virtually with a friendly and engaged professional wellness coach who will help you reflect on your current fitness and wellness habits. They will help guide you in creating a plan to make changes and set SMART goals so you can work toward becoming the best version of you!

  The Virtual THRIVE! program includes:

  • Virtual Fitness Assessments (Pre and Post)
  • Virtual Wellness Coaching
  • Weekly Fitness & Wellness Challenges and E-mail Check-Ins
  • Virtual Weekly Group Workouts with a Certified Personal Trainer
  • Virtual Nutrition Session: Eating Well for Mind, Body & Soul

  
  All virtual sessions will be over Zoom.
  
  

  Cost to Students: $35

  The program runs during the Fall and Spring Semesters. Check back in late summer for fall session registration information!

   

  Results:

  As a result of participation in the program, students reported positive impacts on their self-confidence (100%), physical health (100%), ability to live a healthy, active and thriving life (100%), overall health and wellness (97%), stress level (83%), and academic performance (76%).

  
  Participant Feedback:

  “So many times as students we are constantly on the go and don't have time for ourselves. When grades start to drop, the stress level is beyond belief, and you find yourself in a bad place, you need an outlet to regroup and find yourself again. This program is just that. Finding your true self while, relieving stress, nourishing your body with healthy foods, having time for yourself, and setting weekly, and monthly goals.”

  - Participant Comment

  "I would absolutely recommend this program. The format of goal-setting and having someone cheering me on was so helpful for developing new routines to support wellness in every aspect of my life. I not only felt encourage and supported in the program but felt prepared to continue working towards my goals even when the program finished.”

  - Participant Comment

  For more information or to register for the Virtual THRIVE! Program, please email Brittany at rich1087@msu.edu.

• Virtual Wellness Coaching

  

  Enhancing Well-being for College Student Success

  Wellness coaching is a positive, proactive and supportive process that explores your life in meaningful ways, helping you to feel better about yourself and enhance your well-being.

  Your well-being is an important part of your success in college. "Well-being" is the experience of health, happiness, and prosperity. It includes having good mental and physical health, high life satisfaction, social connection, and a sense of meaning or purpose. School is stressful – there’s no getting around that. But if you take care of your well-being, not only can you be more academically successful, you can be happier, healthier and thriving.

  Wellness Coaches

  A wellness coach recognizes that you are the expert in your own life and in that role, they support you in creating lifestyle changes aligned with your personal goals and values. 

  A wellness coach works with you in a collaborative process to enhance your strengths and turn your challenges into victories, establishing appropriate action plans, offering support when you struggle, and celebrating when you succeed. 

  During your sessions your coach will support you in:

  • Identifying one or more priority areas that you would like to change.
  • Recognizing the benefits of creating new, positive habits. 
  • Identifying barriers to performing at your best and come up with manageable solutions.
  • Creating an action plan that incorporates realistic strategies and goals
  • Successfully implementing your plan by providing accountability, problem-solving strategies, skill-building, and referral to other campus resources if needed.
    
    

  Wellness Coaching is a no-charge service for MSU students. The initial wellness coaching session is approximately 1 hour in which you will meet with a Certified Wellness Coach. After an initial face-to-face meeting, wellness coaching can happen via e-mail, phone, or continued face-to-face follow-up sessions as needed.

  Group Wellness Coaching

  Wellness coaching takes a holistic approach to discover how personal wellness impacts student success, strengths, values, and goals. Through Group Wellness Coaching Sessions, we can offer a supportive environment for students to work through shared wellness concerns and experiences. Group coaching can also help participants identify challenges, resolve barriers, and integrate new knowledge and perspectives into their mindsets. The group coaching approach equips students with skills, strategies and a sense of community-related to their goals. During this session, we will work together to design and implement wellness action plans, along with goals to support students in becoming happier, healthier and thriving!

  This is a free offering for registered student organizations, academic classes, and other MSU affiliated student groups.

  A Wellness Coaching Testimonial:

  "I cried during my first wellness coaching appointment. I had only known my coach for about 10 minutes before melting into a puddle of sadness right in front of her. I was unhappy with myself, my lifestyle, and going through an extremely hard time in my personal life. I knew I needed to make a change, as everything I had tried on my own was unsuccessful.

  I immediately felt understood, accepted, and cared for within the program. I was (and still am) supported by personalized goals and advice. My coach made an effort getting to know me, my interests, and what I deal with in my life. I believe this care and attention has made a great impact on my successes in the wellness coaching program and is the reason I have continued, despite my discomfort with how I looked and felt when I first began.

  Once I was able to adjust my mindset and refocus my mind on positive talk, setting myself up for success, building up the team around me, and taking time for self-care, I began to notice a difference in my level of happiness and self-esteem. Of course, three months is not enough time to make a drastic physical change to my body. However, there has been a definite mental shift in how I view myself, what a healthy lifestyle looks like, and how I can achieve the goals I set for myself. My belief in the program lies in the fact that progress is slow, but the work is important to my health, my future, and my quality of life. And my wellness coach helped me realize this. 

  If you are on the fence, make the appointment. The worst that can happen is you meet someone who gives great advice and cares about your health, and the best that can happen is you gain a mentor, supporter, and a sense of self-esteem. Entering the program is an act of self-care, a way for you to take time out of your life to sit down and think about how to improve both your physical and mental abilities, and that is an extremely valuable thing." 

  Senior, Education Major, 2017

  For more information or to schedule an individual or group wellness coaching session, please email Kristin at traskiek@msu.edu.

• ACTIVE Spartans (by referral)

  Currently we are not offering the ACTIVE Spartans Program in-person, please see our ACTIVE Spartans Virtual Exercise Program.

  MSU Exercise is Medicine on Campus (EIM-OC) Initiative recognizes there are many benefits of exercise, including a positive effect on mental and physical health and aims to make physical activity accessible and welcoming for all students. The ACTIVE Spartans Program is an exercise referral program that matches students with a Physical Activity Mentor (PAM).
  
  When working with a PAM you have access to free individual sessions to explore physical activity options on campus and you will:

  • Develop and implement an individualized physical activity plan
  • Learn creative and consistent ways to participate in physical activity to make exercise a consistent part of your life
  • Be given support, motivation, and accountability

  Whether you are engaging in physical activity for the first time, redefining what a healthy relationship with physical activity looks like, using physical activity to improve your mood, stress management, or coping skills or just want to have fun and make a new connection, the ACTIVE Spartans program is here to help you thrive!
  
  How do you join ACTIVE Spartans?
  
  To be eligible, students must be referred through a provider within Student Health and Wellness, which includes Student Health Services, Counseling & Psychiatric Services (CAPS), Center for Survivors, or Health Promotion. The ACTIVE Spartans program is free for enrolled MSU students.
  
  If you do not have a provider, check out our other offerings from the SPARTANfit Fitness and Wellness Program that are accessible without a referral and can also support you in increasing your physical activity and improving your overall well-being.
• ACTIVE Spartans Virtual Exercise Prescription

  Need Help Setting Up an Exercise Routine?

  Exercise promotes optimal health and wellness and is integral in the prevention and treatment of various physical and mental health conditions. If you don’t know where to begin, our virtual exercise prescription (VEP) will design a specific exercise routine just for you! With an exercise prescription, you can get the guidance and coaching you need to start a safe and effective exercise routine!

  What to Expect

  • The Online Registration Form is completed by you to understand your VEP goals, motivation to exercise, your health history, and assess your current fitness levels.
  • VEP is a one-on-one session with a Certified Personal Trainer (coach). The session is a one-time free appointment, that will last anywhere from 45 to 60 minutes.
  • Coaches will guide you through your VEP, demonstrating proper exercise form and technique. You will be able to interact with your coach to reflect upon any questions you have throughout your session.
  • At the end of the session, a personalized goal-oriented plan will be created. Coaches will provide follow-up motivation, accountability and check-ins via email to further support you.
  • Virtual Exercise Prescription sessions will be conducted utilizing Zoom. Zoom is a web conferencing app that allows sharing of video, audio, and the ability to share your exercise design on the screen of a laptop, computer monitor, TV screen, or smart phone.

  
  

  Types of Exercise

  The types of exercise in your prescription may include some or all the following activities:

  • Aerobic: to improve body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness
  • Muscle-strengthening: to improve muscular strength and endurance
  • Stretching: to improve mobility and flexibility (i.e. range of motion)
  • Neuromuscular: to improve balance, agility and proprioception (body awareness)

  
  When it comes to health and wellness there is no single program that is one-size-fits-all. Whether you are engaging in exercise for the first time, redefining what a healthy relationship with exercise looks like or using exercise to improve your mood, stress management, or coping skills, VEP is here to support you!
• Exercise is Medicine on Campus

  
  Exercise is Medicine® On Campus (EIM-OC) calls upon universities and colleges to promote physical activity as a vital sign of health. EIM-OC encourages faculty, staff, and students to work together toward improving the health and well-being of the campus community by:

  • Making movement a part of the daily campus culture
  • Assessing physical activity at every student health visit
  • Providing students with the tools necessary to strengthen healthy physical activity habits that can last a lifetime
  • Connecting university health care providers with university health fitness specialists to provide a referral system for exercise prescription.
    
    

  MSU has been recognized as Gold Level Campus since its launch in 2015. The initiative is implemented in collaboration by the Health Promotion and the College of Education Department of Kinesiology. 
  
  Current Programs, Events & Offerings:

  • ACTIVE Spartans Program
  • Healthy Homecoming Walk
  • Destress Final Events
  • Education & Outreach
  • EIM-OC RSO
    • Opportunities for involvement include outreach, education, leadership, and social engagement. Join anytime! All students are welcome! For more information contact Fiona Baughman at baughm38@msu.edu.
      
      

  For more information contact Fitness & Wellness Program Coordinator Kristin Traskie at traskiek@msu.edu.
  
  Visit us on:
  
  

  Facebook: MSU Exercise is Medicine on Campus

  Twitter: @MSU_EIMOC

  Instagram: msu_exerciseismedicine

• Ask The Trainer

  

  Do you have a general fitness or wellness related question?

  Ask our nationally certified personal trainers by submitting questions below. As soon as possible, a personal trainer will directly follow-up with you.

  Each week, MSU-Exercise is Medicine will also feature a question and its answer on Facebook & Instagram.

  We thank you for connecting with us!

   

   

• Contact Info
• Resources & Links