A number of lucky staff and student participants have been selected for Kent Sport’s Xercise Factor 2014 and are preparing for the initial boot camp which starts on Monday 3 February. The challenge aims to make long lasting changes to participant lifestyles. It is a complete overhaul of exercise and lifestyle habits and only the truly committed will succeed!
Profiles of the participants can be found on the Kent Sport website and include five students and two staff members. Student George Woolven does karate three times a week as well as running and the gym once a week. He wishes to compete for the University in the BUCS karate competitions and hopes Xercise Factor will help build his strength and stamina and help him to compete to the best of his potential.
Student Kirstie Foss says “I have always been a big fan of sport and exercise however I find it hard to motivate myself initially when I have a low level of fitness. I often feel down when I have a lot of work to do and I pressure myself to study all the time which makes me very stressed, realistically I know that getting some good exercise is necessary and will increase my work productivity and relieve some study related anxiety issues and I think the Xercise Factor will help motivate me into a more regular routine.”
Callum Knight wants to reduce his body fat percentage, increase muscle size and shape and Get Hench! He says “I am committed and love exercise, the best part of my day is coming to the gym with mates.”
Heidi Booth is part of UKC women’s rugby and wants to lose weight for a healthier and happier life. She would love to get fitter and lose body fat before her 21st birthday in August and be well on the way to loving her body. She says, “ I am so determined and focused to do this, I am fed up with wallowing in self pity and being sad with how I look.”
Student Claire Wolf exercises three or four times a week but wants to be pushed even harder during the Xercise Factor. Her goals are to strengthen her abdominals to support her lower back for a better posture and increase her strength and overall fitness to improve her netball performance. She says, “I am up for a challenge and want to be pushed.”
Staff participants include 34-year-old Paul Sharp, Undergraduate Admin Assistant in the School of Arts. Paul says, “Having played rugby and American football over a period of 20 years my levels of fitness used to be very good. I used to weight train, run and be generally very active. I have the determination and mental strength to fulfill and exceed expectations; I just need direction and assistance to do so.
31 year old Vivi Triantafyllopoulou, Lecturer in Learning Disability in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research is also preparing for the Xercise Factor boot camp.
Vivi says, “Now, I am a lecturer at the University and I think that unless I have someone to motivate me to start exercising again I can easily be working in the office until really late every night and not use my membership for the whole year! I am also engaged and planning to get married this coming July. I am not sure that I have the Xercise factor now; I probably used to have it a year and a half ago when I went to two classes per day. I really need your help to get the Xercise Factor back in my life!”
Members of the Kent Sport fitness team will mentor the contestants for the initial boot camp and successful participants will then proceed to the second phase and compete for the honour of becoming the Xercise Factor Champion 2014.
Follow the contestant’s progress with regular updates at www.kent.ac.uk/sports and on Facebook and Twitter (UniKentSports). To find out more about Kent Sport membership or Kent Sport personal training, visit www.kent.ac.uk/sports or call 01227 823623.