If you think it’s time to “knock out the fat” or lose the “freshman 15,” personal trainers are currently waiting to help you reach your weight loss goals.

The University’s Student Recreation Center is now offering a personal training program for students and community members. Training sessions utilize state-of-the-art equipment and exercises to help participants reach their weight loss goals. One-on-one and group sessions for two to three people are available.

“I like to look at fitness as a total package,” Jenn Lahta, a recreational sports graduate student and personal trainer, said.

Lahta said personal training not only increases a participant’s range of motion and density, but participants will feel better about themselves and their clothes will fit better.

Lahta is one of five personal trainers the Rec offers. Andrea Hodulik, Nathan Miller and Missi Hendriks, all undergraduate students, and Erin Croley, a graduate student, are also personal trainers and are majoring in recreational sports. To become a personal trainer, each student spent one semester fitness training and had to pass the American Council on Exercise’s certification test.

Doug Jackson, a graduate student majoring in recreational sports, and Cathy Swick, associate director of recreational sports and fitness director, founded the personal training program in 2001.

Swick said the program was started to provide people with a more detailed workout program.

“I love helping and educating people and seeing the results after training,” Lahta said. Lahta suggests people train in groups. “If you work out with someone, that increases your chances to stick with it [your fitness program],” Lahta said.

Training sessions for groups of two to three people cost between $15 and $30 an hour. One-on-one sessions cost $20 an hour to train with an undergraduate trainer and $40 an hour to train with a graduate trainer.

Students and community members can stop by the main office at the Rec to fill out applications for the training program and also browse through biographical information about the Rec’s trainers, information that may help applicants decide which trainer is best for them. For more information about the personal training program, call the Rec at 419-372-2711 or to sign up for a free consultation with a personal trainer, or e-mail [email protected]

“It’s a very good program for us [the Rec] and the program has had a positive impact on students and the BGSU community,” Swick said.