Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild launched the first ever Tucson Fitness Month on Saturday with the first event lasting from 10 a.m. to noon at Reid Park.

Lisa Markkula, communications director for the Office of the Mayor, said the purpose of Tucson Fitness Month is “encouraging people to get more active and see the many positive changes it can make in their lives.” 

Markkula said  did not require people to RSVP because they didn’t know how many people would show up.

“There are classes offered every day from May 3-30, at least one class a day and sometimes several classes a day,” Markkula said. “I hope that even if people don’t join us for the launch event, they can still come to some of the classes and find something new and exciting to do to help stay active.”

Markkula said the groups providing instructors for these classes are the Tucson Parks and Recreation Department, the Tucson Fire Department, the YMCA of Southern Arizona and the Tucson Jewish Community Center.

Markkula said Rothschild began with the Walk 100 Miles with the Mayor initiative, which had many participants. She said that event morphed into Tucson Moves a Million Miles.

“We reached that goal,” Markkula said. “So, just continuing along the idea of promoting health and physical activity as a way to improve your health, we came up with Tucson Fitness Month, and again with help from a lot of community partners, the mayor was able to put this together.”

Heather Kleeman, program coordinator for Campus Recreation, said as part of UA Finals Survival Week, the Student Recreation Center will offer free fitness classes.

“We are having a kick-off event on May 6,” Kleeman said, “and we’ll be offering yoga on the Mall during that event from [noon to 12:45 p.m.]”

Kleeman added that Finals Survival Week is something that happens at the end of every semester and gives students an opportunity to get active.

“We’re providing events for students during the week to help with stress relief and to make sure that they survive finals,” she said.

Some of the free classes offered at the Rec Center include yoga, Warrior Flow, Body Pump, Butts N Guts, Zumba, spin, barre and pilates, Kleeman said.

Kleeman also said the free fitness classes are always very popular. She said Campus Recreation will have extended hours during finals as well.

“During the weekends, we usually open at 8 a.m.,” she said, “and we’ll be opening at 6 a.m. instead, and closing at 1 a.m. instead of midnight.”

Jamie Shindler, a pre-business sophomore, said every day she goes to the gym, she feels like she is saving a few days of her life.

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