Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog. Today, I’m going to discuss ways to stay active at Amherst when you aren’t involved in a recruitable sports team. I’d love to hear from you, so if you have any questions, please reach out to me at sgoldsmith24@amherst.edu.
Alumni Gymnasium
The entire indoor athletics center at Amherst encompasses a gym, an indoor track, a pool, squash courts, an ice rink, and basketball courts.
The Alumni Gym is a great place to exercise, regardless of whether you are on a sports team or not. There are two floors in the gym, and each floor has different equipment. The top floor has cardio machines (ellipticals, treadmills, etc) and machines to target muscle groups, along with a dumbbell rack. The bottom floor has benches and barbells for weightlifting.
I like to go to the gym very early in the morning, because it tends not to be very crowded. Sports teams (both varsity and club) often have lift workouts where they all come to the gym to exercise together.
The pool has open swim hours during 11AM-1PM and 8PM-10PM during the week, and from 3PM-5PM on weekends. These hours are pretty difficult to make, but they had to schedule around the swim and dive teams. I haven’t had any experiences with other parts of the gym, but I encourage you to go to their website if you want to learn more.
There are also weekly wellness and fitness classes run by outside instructors that are a lot of fun – my roommate and I personally love going to Zumba once or twice a week. Students, staff, and faculty are all welcome to attend the classes, and we have a lot of fun dancing and sweating to upbeat songs.
Above is the schedule for fitness classes this semester.
Club Sports
Amherst has several club sports teams, including soccer, ultimate frisbee, water polo, and crew. For club teams, you can choose how much you want to participate, and that can range from going to practice three times a week and travelling to competitions on weekends, or just being a social member who goes to mixers with the team. Club sports are welcoming of all skill levels and are a great way to try out a new sport.
Active on your own
There are lots of places in or around Amherst where you can go outside and be active. I run on the bike trail several days a week, which is a paved, flat trail between Northampton and Belchertown. The trail is 11 miles long, and is a great place to go on a walk. See Amherst’s wildlife sanctuary, take a bike ride, or even roller skate.
In addition to the bike trail, there are several hiking trails on campus, and lots more in the vicinity of Amherst. My friends and I like to go on a nearby hike every weekend, and I always encourage others to do the same.
The bike trail in the fall!