Students, faculty and staff who normally worked out together on campus are now able to join Hawk-Fit workout classes online.
Student fitness instructors are also posting workouts on Instagram, which can be found on the Hawk-Fit Instagram, @sjuhawkfit. Workouts are posted in the story highlights and on Instagram TV.
All of the workouts posted are free and open to anyone. St. Joe’s members who paid for a semester- or year-long membership will not be receiving a refund. Ann Marie Catania ’11, director of Hawk-Fit fitness program, said if anyone has concerns, she will handle the issue case by case.
“The student instructors that are creating workout content or hosting live classes are still being paid for their work,” Catania said. “Without selling any more passes this year, our budget is limited.”
Catania and her sister Kelly Catania ’13 are also the co-owners of Class-Fit Studio in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.
“We have been directing everyone to our Class-Fit page to take part in the online workouts,” Ann Marie Catania said.
The sisters run the virtual workouts from their now empty studio, which can be accessed on their Instagram @classfit_studio. They use Instagram Live to display a different workout every weekday at 12:15 p.m. Times for workouts on the weekends vary, but the studio posts on their Instagram when the workout will take place the night before. After the workout is complete, it is on the studio’s Instagram story for 24 hours.
“It’s kind of like a workout of the day that you can do at any time,” Ann Marie Catania said.
During a recent workout, hosted by Kelly Catania on the Class-Fit Instagram, people could participate in a HIIT, high-intensity interval training, workout. In this workout, the exercises alternated between cardio and strength. About 25 people joined the Instagram Live stream that day, but Ann Marie Catania said an average of100 people view the workouts daily, either live or on replay.
Elise Conlin ’22 has been participating in the online workouts that the Catania sisters host from their studio. She said the workouts have been easy to access on Instagram and she does them on her own time.
“I’m always in class so I always go after on my own time and watch the Instagram Live [replay] video,” Conlin said. “It’s really easy.”
Conlin said she has enjoyed the workouts, but there is a new challenge that comes with doing them.
“It’s harder for me personally to motivate myself when I’m alone versus when I’m with my friends,” Conlin said.
Ann Marie Catania said one benefit of virtual workouts is that more people can participate in them.
“We have had a few members reach out to thank us for continuing daily workouts that they can do from home at any time,” Ann Marie Catania said. “They’ve said they’ve been able to workout virtually with us more often than they could at the in-person classes.”
