It was reported the Lowenstein building would be built in Knowledge Park with several different rooms and spaces for the advancement of the exercise science program amongst other recreational rooms. Though many rooms in the buildings are still under construction and available for lease space, many of the spaces are already up and running, including White Horse and Get Fit With Troy. The Exercise Science offices within the Lowenstein building are now fully operational among the other rooms. Dr. Joni Boyd, exercise science professor and coaching minor advisor, talked more about the facility.
“The space is a lab space used specifically for students in the exercise science program,” Boyd said. “There is a classroom which holds about 35 people, and a lab space which is somewhere around 1,200 square feet and the equipment within the facility is worth about $200,000. It incorporates areas for lab board testing for exercises.” The lab is capable of many things including VO2 and max testing, metabolic testing, speed testing, power and agility testing, flexibility and mobility testing, as well as strength testing. Dr. Boyd teaches a strength and conditioning course within the facility. Among those courses Exercise Physiology I and II, Biomechanics, and Strength and Conditioning.
“The advantage of having this lab is that it gives our program an advantage as it allows for research and allows for extra space for events exercise during professional development,” Boyd said. “We didn’t have anything like this in the West Center.” President Mahony also released a statement about the facility at the beginning of the academic year.
“The space includes one classroom that seats 32 students and one lab with multiple pieces of state of the art equipment (total equipment value over $200K). Five academic classes and eight lab sections are taught there with over 100 students using the space each week between lecture and lab. Four faculty members have primary teaching responsibilities in the space. The site is also used to facilitate faculty research, student research, and special training, such as CSCS Strength and Conditioning seminars.”
Upon walking in the room, students are welcomed to a common space with a table, chairs, and a counter, a comfortable looking place for studying. Within the room is a classroom which seats between 32 and 35 students. There, they learn about different exercises and their significance as well as how they relate to real life issues. Then outside the classroom and behind the common space is the lab space. There students can find all types of equipment including a Bod Pod, which can measure body fat, and a jumping mat which can calculate how high you jump based off the time you jumped off the mat and the time you landed back on it. In the lab space, students learn about how these types of equipment can be helpful with real life issues. “This is a mat that can measure which leg you lean on the most,” Dr. Boyd said as she demonstrated a piece of equipment. “In the class, students can learn that using this mat can help someone, for example, who recently went through a stroke and is in rehabilitation or even a baseball player who may want more power in their swing. We can analyze the data to help them switch up their feet to get better results.”
Winthrop University prides itself omg the lab space as it’s safe to say that it is one of very few schools that have the facility, and one of even fewer schools which have the facility designed with the classroom and lab within the same room. Furthermore, Winthrop is graced to have partnered with a company in Rock Hill who actually creates the exercise machines. The company sends newly built machines for students in the class to try out. Students then are able to test out the equipment and make suggestions on if it worked, why it may or may not have worked, and how the equipment can be better. The lab has already begun to receive positive feedback from students and is being used daily within those classes.
Photo: La J’ai Reed/ The Johnsonian
