By Molly Dunn
Reporter

Whether you’re on Baylor’s campus, on vacation or staying home this summer, there are plenty of opportunities to stay fit and have fun while doing it.

Pam Long, fitness graduate assistant for campus recreation, said students should find their inner child this summer.

“Going to the playground, going on a trampoline — Do you know how many calories you can burn? You can get a serious workout on a trampoline,” Long said. “Just get into that mindset of when you’re on vacation, be a kid again.”

Long said she enjoys creating new games with her kids throughout the summer.

“The summer schedule kind of frees you up to do things that you see all the time, but you never take time,” Long said.

Murphy senior Colleen Bauer said she loves playing with her siblings to get a good workout.

“For me, it’s siblings you can hang out with. I know my brother and sisters are like, ‘Let’s go to the playground.’ They all hop on their bikes and they want to Rollerblade,” Bauer said. “I haven’t Rollerbladed in forever and I went for the first time in a long time a couple of weeks ago. It was a lot of fun.”

Taking activities outside and playing like children is a fun alternative to going to the gym, Long said.

“I think part of it is just changing your mindset of what exercise is and trying to be active with things that you’re already doing right now,” she said.

If students are on campus this summer, there are many opportunities to stay fit through campus recreation and outdoor adventure.

“The marina is overflowing with people these days,” Long said. “Go outside and go row a boat. It’s exercise and you can stay out there as long or as little as you want.”

Cody Schrank, assistant director of outdoor adventure, said there are other outdoor adventures for students to participate in over the summer.

“The Marina will be open 2 to 7 [p.m.] every day. They will have sailing and the bike shop will be open,” Schrank said. “The rock will be open. We’ll have times when [students] can rent camping gear, sleeping bags, tents, backpacks, stoves.”

Long said students can also enjoy the aquatics in the McLane Student Life Center.

“I think every Baylor student should cross that slide off their bucket list,” Long said.

“How many other schools in the United States have a slide like that on their campus? I don’t think there is another.”

Throughout the summer, students on or off campus can stay fit and healthy by being kids again and enjoying the opportunities summer offers them.

“I think that exercise was to be designed to be part of our natural routine and summer gives us a lot of opportunities to make it more of a natural routine,” Long said.