UCSD Recreation Director Dave Koch says you don’t have to sweat to get in a good workout. And he should know. He’s spent the last 29 years - 4 ½ here at UC San Diego - in the field of fitness. He’s made it his mission to help others get fit while having fun and he says the goal of UCSD Recreation is to meet the fitness needs of everyone on campus. More than 80% of UC San Diego students participate in some type of recreational activity and over 10,000 students play intramural sports. To help those of us who made a New Year’s resolution to get fit, Dave Koch tells us all that UCSD Recreation has to offer.

Koch: My favorite part is being involved in the variety of opportunities and programs associated with recreational sports.  I enjoy seeing students, staff, faculty, and community members get involved, and helping them with their commitment to fitness and better health. 

Koch: If you look in our magazine or on our Web site (http://recreation.ucsd.edu/), you’ll see the wide variety of programs we have to offer.  We also have tremendous facilities.  We have three different weight rooms; we have exercise facilities; we have three different pools, two outdoor 50-meter pools and an indoor pool; we have a multitude of rec classes, all different styles, types, varieties and times, which hopefully meet everyone’s needs.

We also have an excellent personal wellness program that we offer to staff and faculty, as well as to students.   It’s very comprehensive in assessing a person’s current state of fitness and then it helps them get started in developing their own fitness program, with weights, cardio, nutrition and educational components.

We have personal trainers, if people want to go that route.  They can register for a personal trainer and add that to their regimen.

There is also an opportunity for people to come in and work out on their own.  Our basic goal or philosophy is to meet the fitness needs of everyone on campus.  If you don’t like going to gyms or using machines, there are still things you can do - walking, biking, swimming - that can create a healthy lifestyle for you.

Koch: One of the things we offer is the wide variety of classes and facilities.  If you go to a private gym, that’s the facility you have.  Our three primary facilities all have different nuances.  If someone is a swimmer, a private facility isn’t going to be able to offer the pool availability that we have here.  UCSD offers a tremendously diverse Rec Class program that is not matched anywhere in the country. Also, a lot of times at private places, it’s their business to be personal trainers.  It’s a business here too but we want to make that connection between the trainer and the individual to ensure that it works.  We offer a greater array of opportunities that you might not get at a private club.  We also have the geographic advantage.  If you’re working on campus, you can work out on campus.  Whether you choose to come into work early and exercise before you go into the office, or do it during your lunch hour where there is very little travel time, or come in after work and wait out some of the traffic.

Koch: More than 80 percent of our students participate in some form of recreational activity.  We play not just a strong role in recruiting students but also retaining them.  So when students are looking at colleges, they’re looking at the academic side, living arrangements, and they’re also interested in where they can work out and what kind of programs they can participate in.  They’re looking at intramurals or sports clubs, aerobics classes and other opportunities.  RIMAC is one of the premiere facilities not just on the west coast but in the country. 

Koch: A lot of their decisions on where and how they exercise are tied to where they live and their home life.  A lot of people choose to work out close to home.  But for those who want to work out and be a part of our programs on campus, we want to make those available to them.

Koch: We see a little bit of a spike in January.  Not so much with students because they’re aware of what we have to offer and are consistent users in our different programs.  We also have a lot of staff and faculty that use our facilities on an annual basis.  But there is that spike in January of staff and faculty that want to purchase a rec card or join a rec class.

Koch: There are a few things they could try.  One would be the personal wellness program.  It’s a great intro, it’s very user-friendly.  It’s basically an introduction to fitness.  Also, they could sign up with a personal trainer or meet with one of our staff members to learn about our facilities.  We would also suggest they try one of our Rec Classes. We have a wide range of people who use our facilities from 17-year-old freshmen to retired faculty in their 70’s or 80’s.  I think if people come over and visit, they can see what we have to offer.  We’re happy to show people around.

Koch: They mix and we think that’s really beneficial.  It’s a great opportunity to create networking in a recreation setting.   Groups of people -students, staff and faculty - will play together a lot in the summer especially.

Koch: I firmly believe we should all make personal commitment to improving our health.  For each individual, that meaning is different.  Whether it’s walking, biking, swimming, getting on a machine, getting in the weight room, playing tennis, dancing, doing Pilates, yoga or aerobics, that’s your personal choice.  I think the bottom line is we try to offer something for everybody.  If an individual has made the choice toward physical fitness or a healthy lifestyle as part of what they do, we can help.  We pride ourselves on offering a full range of fitness and healthy lifestyle activities to folks.

Koch: When I was growing up, you didn’t “work out.”  But you played sports.  That was just a part of my lifestyle and I continued playing on different sports teams in high school.  Then when I got to college at UC Irvine, I played intercollegiate baseball for one year and really spent most of my time involved in intramural sports.  My profession really started out 50 years ago as intramural sports on campuses.  In the last 50 years, it’s evolved to what you see today.  You not only have intramural sports as a strong component of it, but you have sports clubs, rec classes, a wide variety of fitness and wellness opportunities, and multi-million dollar facilities. 

Koch: Our reciprocity program means any UC student can access the rec facilities on any UC campus by showing their rec card.  So if someone were to go up to Los Angeles for the weekend, or go home to the Bay Area, with their student ID, they can access the rec facility at the nearest UC campus.  For staff and faculty members who have rec cards and are traveling in the state, contact us and we’ll give you a one-week pass that you can utilize on any UC campus.

We’re also just kicking off the “Be Smart About Safety” program with EH&S.  What we’re developing is a program where one of our staff members will go out to different groups of staff whose jobs are identified as potentially high risk for injury through workers comp.  We’re going to create fitness programs specifically targeted to those groups of staff to try to minimize injuries in the workplace.  We want to raise their awareness about the physical nature of their job.  There are a number of things they can do, whether it’s through stretching, weight training, or just general overall fitness to stay healthy.

There’s also the Walk UCSD program which started last summer as part of the systemwide “Be Smart About Safety” program.  Walking is an easy way, a very low stress way to stay fit.  We try to encourage people to walk as much as possible on a regular basis.  We’ve identified eight trails on campus with maps and instructions.  The trails are all over campus, from corner to corner.  So no matter where you are working there is an easy trail that is accessible to you. 

-Walk to appointments.
-When driving, park farther away from your destination.
-Use the stairs instead of the elevator.
-Keep walking/running shoes in your car or office.
-Join a walking group at work.
-Stretch.
-Garden or do other yard work.

-Reduces stress and helps you handle stress better.
-Gives you more energy.
-Builds and maintains healthy muscles, bones, and joints.
-Reduces depression and anxiety.
-Reduces or maintains body weight or body fat.
-Reduces the risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high  cholesterol and high blood pressure.
-Reduces the risk of premature death.