The Forrest Fitness Center at California Lutheran University currently offers a total of four free fitness classes to Cal Lutheran students and faculty during the fall semester.

Ranging from yoga and zumba, to pilates and the recently added pilates fusion, the Forrest Fitness Center hosts a wide variety of classes for the students of Cal Lutheran. The classes run Monday through Thursday in the dance studio, said Joel Canacoo, coordinator of the Forrest Fitness Center at Cal Lutheran.

“We have yoga that we offer Tuesdays and Thursdays. We offer zumba, and we also offer pilates and a pilates fusion class. We are hoping to add karate kickboxing and bootcamp in the spring,” Canacoo said.

Pilates and pilates fusion instructor Sally Loshelder believes these classes are imperative to students’ health and well-being. She emphasizes this in her classes Monday and Wednesday evenings.

“We do core, balance, opening up joints, tightness in the joints, just core stability and balance,” Loshelder said.

Even though the Forrest Fitness Center only offers six individual class sessions a week, the turnout rate amongst students is very high, usually filling up the entire dance studio, Canacoo said.

“It’s been very positive. Our yoga class has been a hit with our students, as well as our zumba class. Our pilates instructor is quite new, but she has already developed students who want to be a part of that,” Canacoo said.

Erin Hudson, first-year student at Cal Lutheran and participant in the pilates and yoga classes, said she believes the classes are beneficial for her and other participants.

“I like them a lot. It’s kind of like a good hour where you can just like not think about anything else and chill out and relax your mind,” Hudson said.

One drawback for the Forrest Fitness Center classes this fall are the number of cancellations. These cancellations are frequently notified to the entire student body via email.

“I think we have to understand that our instructors are people who work other jobs. This is a part-time job. For example, our pilates instructor works for the Four Seasons, and so things come up. There has been personal issues that have come up as well,” Canacoo said. “As an institution, we always honor those people and understand the fact that things like that have to be given precedence in their lives… I always let my employees know that their safety and their happiness is my first and most important concern.”

Canacoo said the Forrest Fitness Center will be offering a total of six different classes in the spring, allowing students to experience a wider variety of classes that could potentially spark interest in newcomers to join and spread the word.