Calling all health nuts: Friday is the final day of the schoolwide Pac-12 Fitness Challenge. The challenge is an opportunity to support the UA and promote a healthy, active lifestyle.
The challenge began on Monday and ends Friday. It is the continuation of the annual fitness challenge held between the Pac-12 Recreation Departments to engage individuals and inspire them to be active and healthy members of their university. Students can sign up online at PAC12challenge.org and log their minutes of activity each day. They can also download the Preva app, create an account and track themselves on their phones.

The challenge does not only involve students, though. Friends, family and dedicated Wildcat fans can all participate and show their pride for Arizona while staying active and healthy at the same time.

One of the masterminds behind the event on the Arizona campus is the senior assistant director for Campus Recreation, Michele Schwitzky.

“The Pac-12 Fitness Challenge is a fun competition between campus recreation centers to see who is the fittest campus,” Schwitzky said. “Events are planned across the Pac-12 to boost engagement and promote new programs at all campuses. … Most events are either free or very low cost.”

To aid students participating in the challenge, the Student Recreation Center is offering free group fitness courses to all those who show their Pac-12 Fitness Challenge application. There will also be a boot camp at noon on Cherry Field that is free to all Pac-12 mobile applicants, and a new group fitness class called “Pound Fitness” that uses drumsticks to create a rhythmic workout for the whole body. The class will begin at 6 p.m. and costs $5. The final event is a Racquetball Tournament at 5:30 p.m. that includes prizes for the winners.

The activity does not have to be at the Student Recreation Center to count toward a student’s minutes; it can be any form of exercise. The objective is to introduce new ways to work out and show school pride while staying healthy and active, according to the Pac-12 Fitness Challenge site. Some of the previous winners include UCLA, Stanford and ASU. As of Thursday evening, Stanford was in first place with more than 329,000 minutes logged. The UA was in fifth place with about 66,000 minutes.

More than 600 participants signed up to support the Arizona Wildcats, and students can continue to sign up for free online throughout Friday.