Back to School: YP4H + Community Classes

Happy 2012, everyone! It’s time to look at the new health and wellness classes at Ohio State and the surrounding communities.

With the sudden onset of freezing temperatures, we in Columbus are getting our first real taste of winter this week. The Your Plan For Health educational programs offered this quarter seem to anticipate that we will want to stay cozied up in our offices taking classes on the web rather than trekking across the tundra to learn in person. To that I say, “I can live with that.”

There is one notable in-person class offered this quarter, and that’s “Low Impact Cardio Stride” from Marla Musyt, which will take place Wednesdays in the Agriculture Administration building. If you’ve taken yoga from Marla, this offers a change of pace. (Ha — get it? Cardio stride? Change of pace?) Though the registration info suggests that if you’ve taken one of Marla’s classes in the last year, you should sit this one out and let your coworkers have a turn.

Meanwhile, several upcoming YP4H webinars focus on nutrition, with choices such as “Healthy Meals on a Budget” and “The Heart Healthy Pantry.” I’m especially looking forward to “Is there an App for That? Fitness at your Fingertips,” which is all about smart phone applications. I’m guessing that we’ll hear about programs for tracking exercise, diet, stress, etc. Even if you don’t have a smart phone, this might be worth checking out anyway, since some applications have web-based counterparts that you can use with just a reg’lar ol’ computer.

Rec Sports is offering a bevy of options this quarter as well, including a new indoor rowing class called Indo-Row and a hip-hop dance class called Shake It! Zumba returns, along with boot camp and several half-hour express fitness classes.

Turning to community classes, Upper Arlington continues to improve its web registration for Parks & Recreation activities, albeit with one small glitch. The class listings are supposed to be searchable, but all my test searches yielded no results, even when I searched for known class names. The registration form looks easy to navigate, however, and clearly indicates whether there is room available in a particular class.

One new class on the roster is hula-hoop fitness, otherwise known as “hooping.” [I've seen this kind of fitness routine, and it's intense but low impact, and looks really fun. To keep that hoop in the air, you have to keep moving!] For the Celtically inclined, there’s “Jump into Irish Step Dance.”

Those of  you who enjoyed Samita’s Bollywood Dance through Upper Arlington last year should note that Samita has moved to Habeeba’s Dance of the Arts in Grandview, where she teaches on Saturday mornings.

West siders may want to note that Hilliard Recreation & Parks’ offerings this quarter include Zumba, yoga, and karate.

Finally, this is a good time of year to remember that many local gyms offer discounted rates to Ohio State faculty and staff. Log in to YP4H, and on the Lose Weight/Get Fit page you’ll see a link to the discount listing in the right-hand column.