By Shane Mead | Staff Writer
When Phoenix junior Aleah Schippers was in her sophomore year of high school, she suffered a major hip injury that required surgery and an extended break from competitive dancing. After recovering, Schippers said getting back into doing physical activities was something she never got around to. She even attempted going to the gym a few times with her friends, but did not enjoy it.
Fast forward five years, and Schippers is now the president of GAIN at Baylor, an all-women organization that encourages both the physical and mental wellness of its members.
“I joined GAIN hoping to find something that I really liked, and that’s how I got into lifting,” Schippers said. “I definitely would not prioritize my health and exploring different aspects of workouts without the club having such a positive, uplifting community of other girls. That’s super hard to find sometimes.”
The variety of workouts is something GAIN heavily emphasizes, Schippers said. The organization offers them to entice women of all different fitness backgrounds to join the club without leaving anyone high and dry.
Part of being a member means attending three studio sessions throughout the semester, each of which “challenges the girls to do something they’re not comfortable with,” Schippers said.
Members must complete different challenges, encouraging them to branch out during their wellness journey and explore what could potentially be their new preferred form of working out.
“I feel like the girls really enjoy having all of the different options because sometimes it may be intimidating and they never really had the courage to do it,” Schippers said. “But they get to [try new things], since it’s such a safe space, and then they’ll end up loving something that they never thought they would enjoy.”
Creating a safe space for all women in fitness is something that Schippers and Orange County, Calif. junior Charlie Banks, GAIN’s wellness chair, view as a vital aspect of the club’s promotion of wellness.
“We’ve made a big point about how we are here to support our girls in any step of their fitness journey,” said Banks. “It doesn’t matter if they are used to going to the gym all of the time or if they have never set foot in the gym before.”
Schippers takes advantage of her gym pass perks by encouraging members to join her in the weight room.
“[Schippers] does ‘lifts with the president’ because with her membership, she can bring a guest,” Banks said. “The idea was to foster a community of girls that would support each other and go to the gym together.”
But not all progress is shown in the gym, said Banks. As wellness chair, her job also requires that she ensure her members are doing just as good mentally as they are physically.
Reaching out to members, devising workout plans to assist with time management and offering resources on and off campus are just a few of the many things Banks says she does for her members.
“We just really want to make it so that our girls feel like they are supported in every aspect,” Banks said.
A membership for GAIN at Baylor costs $30 and comes with various studio and campus workouts, social events, a membership T-shirt and more, according to the organization’s sign-up form. Memberships last a full semester and must be renewed to continue.
Though the membership is full of perks, Schippers says the biggest one is the feeling of belonging she gets when working out with her members.
“I feel like the scariest thing for women specifically is just feeling comfortable in a gym and that people aren’t looking at them and judging them,” she said. “That’s just not the case, especially when you are in such a positive community of other girls as well. Everybody’s there to uplift each other and I really love that. It’s amazing.”
For women who feel intimidated to get into the fitness industry but may not be interested in joining GAIN, Schippers encourages them to try it anyway, because the gym community is more accepting than they may think.
“No matter what fitness level you’re at, everyone is going to appreciate that you’re there working on yourself,” she said. “It’s not scary at all, honestly.”
