Health fitness is one of several health-related majors offered at Gustavus. It combines classroom training with hands-on research and practice outside of the classroom. Department Chair and Associate Professor of Health and Exercise Science Bruce VanDuser feels that this research base is essential to the type of learning his students do.

“Everything we teach is based on research,” VanDuser said. “This allows them to have more hands-on and diverse learning experiences.”

By senior year the health fitness majors will have completed a research project on a topic that they are passionate about. They are then encouraged to present these to a group of professionals in an environment outside of Gustavus.

“About 99.9 percent of our students do present their projects, so we’ve got a really good average. You can’t have 100 percent because there will always be external factors, like spring break, but we have a good average,” VanDuser said.

Senior Health Fitness Major Emma Wilson did her research project on the “effects of taking Whey protein before a strength training workout and then watching the effects on body composition.”

Another component of the health fitness major is completing an internship. This also allows the students to gain experience in their field of study in a real-world environment.

Senior Health Fitness and Health Education Double Major Kate Mathison did her internship at Hennepin County’s HealthWorks. “This summer I was the Health Promotions intern at Hennepin County’s HealthWorks, which is their employee wellness program. I was in the government center in downtown Minneapolis and spent three months working with wonderful people. I spent a lot of time doing data analysis of health surveys, writing summary reports and began working on departmentalizing wellness plans,” Mathison said. “I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and I know that I am in the right field.”

Wilson did her internship at Discover Strength in Plymouth. “I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. It is a personal training facility and everything they do there is research and evidence based. They take their clients to absolute muscle failure and really teach the importance of changing body composition and not necessarily body weight. All 600+ of the clients understand how to properly strength train in the most efficient way. If anyone wants to experience that type of workout, I would love to take them through a couple of exercises,” Wilson said.

In addition to their internships, the health fitness majors gain experience through hands-on work on campus by conducting fitness tests. “These tests are open to the community of Gustavus, so students, staff and employees are all welcome,” VanDuser said.

“The human performance lab offers free full fitness assessments that safely test all realms of fitness. We do a walking treadmill test to evaluate cardiovascular fitness, which can also be done on the bike for someone who isn’t comfortable on the treadmill. We do the basic muscular endurance tests with crunches and push-ups, body composition with the skin fold tests and the oh-so-important resting assessments of your blood pressure and heart rate. We also do flexibility and postural analysis. All of this takes less than an hour to do and any employee or student can sign up at https://gustavus.edu/hes/hplab/,” Wilson said.

Through partaking in the fitness assessment, “the participant emerges with a personal activity plan,” VanDuser said.

“Many of the senior health fitness majors are also great at coming up with weight lifting workouts for anyone who wants to get started but just doesn’t know how,” Wilson said.

The goal of incorporating all of this research into the health fitness major is to open up doors for the students that wouldn’t be opened in a traditional classroom setting.

“Doing the fitness tests and the internships reinforces the skills and knowledge that these students learn in the classroom. They are ready to go once they graduate,” VanDuser said.

“The health fitness major at Gustavus has really prepared me for a vast majority of jobs. I am a health education and health fitness double major and feel as though my options for careers are incredibly broad. I know that with my double major, I have been exposed to opportunities that others with a bachelor’s degree have not had. I am very appreciative of this and am thankful that I feel very prepared for the real world,” Mathison said.