Diets begin

Liberty launches health initiative

Liberty University is launching a Live Healthy Initiative to incorporate healthy changes in both the fitness and dining aspects of the campus.

According to the Live Healthy Liberty website, the mission of this project is “to create and sustain a healthy campus culture that educates, motivates and empowers Liberty students, faculty and staff to adopt and maintain healthy lifestyle behaviors.”

Jaime Swyers, the LaHaye Student Union’s associate director of fitness, said fitness is one main facet being promoted in the health initiative. As part of this project, Liberty has expanded and renovated the fitness center and added wellness series speaker events, new group exercise classes, faculty and staff group exercise classes, specialty group exercise workshops, fitness competitions and personal training sessions.

In addition, the LaHaye Student Union hosted a health fair Wednesday, Aug. 20 to provide students with a vast amount of resource to practice a healthy lifestyle.
Liberty’s effort to create a healthier campus was modeled in part after Live Healthy Lynchburg, a program created to challenge the residents of Lynchburg to choose healthier lifestyles.

Students have the opportunity to sign up with personal trainers to further excel in their fitness goals. According to Swyers, working with a personal trainer can help keep the students motivated and prevent injuries while working with unfamiliar equipment. Personal training programs are offered for anywhere from three to 10 weeks in length and start at $120.

According to the LaHaye Student Union website, Liberty is also initiating a new Push Pull competition in response to the positive feedback from the spring Bench Press Competition. The competition will take place Nov. 15 at 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on the basketball courts in LaHaye. The top four male and top three female competitors will win a prize. Applications are available at the front desk of the LaHaye Student Union.

Swyers expressed her excitement about the changes being made this fall. She said the new health initiative has been her passion for the past year, and she is pleased to finally launch the project.

According to Swyers, to ensure all the new programs and offerings are meeting the needs of the students, faculty and staff, a wellness coalition of representatives from various departments at Liberty will meet on a monthly basis. The coalition will act as a steering committee for campus recreation to help Live Healthy Liberty effectively reach the entire campus.

“I am so happy and excited that all these changes around campus have been made,” Rachel Leers, a Liberty student, said. “I have always done my best to take care of my health, and I am so excited to utilize all the opportunities that are now available thanks to this new health initiative.”

For more information on events and opportunities to get involved, visit the LaHaye Student Union website at liberty.edu/campusrec/studentunion.