Thinking about trying fitness classes at the SAW?

If fitness is your goal in the new year (or really any time of year), then you are in luck because Cornell has a whole new fitness area filled with equipment and opportunities to explore wellness.

The Richard and Norma Small Athletic and Wellness Center (the SAW) is the home of several fitness classes held regularly each week: Yoga, Martial Arts for Fitness, Aerobics for Fitness, and Zumba Fitness. And that’s just the beginning. 

More are in the works for the future.

Health Promotion Director Marcia Sisk helps organize these fitness classes. She’ll pick up with her Zumba classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:15–4 p.m. during the spring semester. Zumba is a dance-based fitness class, and all students, faculty, and staff are welcome, and no exercise or dance experience is necessary.

Sisk is a Zumba fan and you can feel it when she teaches.

“I love to dance! Dancing gets the heart rate up and the blood pumping but feels like a party, not a workout,” Sisk said. “It’s a totally different fitness ‘feel’ but with all the cardiovascular workout benefits.”

And if you’re partying with Sisk during her fitness classes, or any of the fitness instructors, you’ll notice lots of benefits.

“Physical fitness is the foundation for all wellness!” Sisk said. “There are positive benefits for mind, body, and spirit. It increases self-esteem and boosts confidence, releases endorphins, those feel-good chemicals that we need, reduces the negative hormones such as cortisol stored from stress, improves cognitive health–you name it!” 

Associate Professor of Kinesiology Lewis Kanyiba teaches Martial Arts for Fitness on Mondays from 5–6 p.m., which uses basic karate kicks, punches, strikes, and blocks, and Aerobics for Fitness on Wednesdays from 5–6 p.m., which uses traditional aerobics floor dance, Tae-Bo (rhythmic kickboxing), step aerobics, and outdoor/indoor rhythmic brisk walks.

He says fitness classes aren’t just a physical and emotional outlet but a good social outlet too.

“Since these sessions are open not just to students, but the entire college community, the socialization between students, faculty, staff, and their families is invaluable,” said Kanyiba, who has taught numerous commercial and institutional fitness classes throughout his career. “After the sessions, students and staff often discuss events happening on campus, conversations that would have otherwise not happened were it not for this opportunity.”

Then, there’s the long-standing yoga class with the Rev. Catherine Quehl-Engel, which is held on Tuesdays from 3:30–4:30 p.m., and features stress-reducing breath and energy-based meditative yoga for emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. 

Does all of this talk about group wellness and fitness make you feel nervous? That’s okay. Sisk says everyone is nervous at first.

“You’re not alone in that,” Sisk said. “But we are all participating for the same reason. We come into the room at various fitness levels, skill levels, and abilities. But our bottom line is the same. Wellness. We are working to increase or maintain our health and well-being and that’s all that matters.”

Kanyiba says it’s a safe space to learn from your mistakes and he says during his class anyone can request curtains to be drawn in front of the mirrors and that’s perfectly okay. Regularly attending a fitness class starts to become part of your routine and is a commitment to personal health.

“These classes cultivate a sense of personal responsibility to one’s health by showing up, learning, exercising, and asking questions about ‘why this exercise.’ It also creates a sense of belonging,” Kanyiba said. “There are a number of participants who have never missed a session since these classes started Block 1 of 2022! These participants have literally made the 5–6 p.m. hour on Mondays and Wednesdays ‘theirs,’ as much as I have done it myself. We all look forward to seeing each other these days and that cannot be taken for granted.”

Plus, many of these classes provide tips for things you can do outside of class to continue with a healthy lifestyle. It’s free and there are several to try to see which one or which two or three you like best.

All of the fitness classes can be found on the Cornell College Campus Calendar where you can easily add it to your Google calendar with a reminder of when it starts. All fitness classes are held at the SAW.

Class Schedule:

Martial Arts for Fitness 

• Instructor: Lewis Kanyiba 
• 5–6 p.m. Mondays 

Yoga

• Instructor: Catherine Quehl-Engel
• 3:30–4:30 Tuesdays

Aerobic for Fitness

• Instructor: Lewis Kanyiba
• 5–6 Wednesdays

Zumba Fitness

• Instructor: Marcia Sisk
• 3:15–4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays