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Aerobics is a female-dominated activity, but males are beginning to get in on the action
Hey guys, you Ye not catching on!
Aerobics is the 'hip' exercise trend
By BETH BUFFINGTON
Staff Writer
The gym has gotten pretty full, so
the sweats come off, the music starts,
and the lumbering elephants begin
their workout.
Lumbering elephants? Wait a
minute now, who's being called an
elephant? Well, actually one male
student taking aerobics has used
those words to describe how he feels
when he does IM aerobics in a class
of 60 or so females and only two or
three males.
"A lot of the guys think it's sissy
stuff, but I don't," freshman Bryan
George says. "Half the guys I know
couldn't do it. I think coed's fine, but
you do kinda stick out, though. 1 feel
like a big, lumbering elephant some
times. 1 don't like to dance, but as
far as the grunting, groaning and
sweating goes, 1 think it would be
good for guys."
Lumbering elephants or not, aero
bics is quickly becoming a popular
way for hundreds of college students
to tone up and stay in shape, but
it still doesn't seem to appeal to most
guys. Out of about a dozen coed
intramural aerobic classes in Woollen
and Fetzer gyms, Cobb and Morri
son dormitories and Granville Tow
ers (not to mention the classes offered
as undergrad physical education
courses), only a few actually have
males attending. In a class of about
60 to 75, only two or three males
are working out.
"Only two guys have gone to my
class and that was only a couple of
times," says sophomore Mary Abra
. ham, a Morrison Residence Hall
, aerobic, teacher, -JS(q .guys .go. jegu
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larly. A lot of guys think that it's not
masculine or (it's) sissy or that the
girls will know how to do it better
than them, so they don't go."
Juan Flores, a third-year UNC law
student who has been a dancer for
10 years, teaches aerobics at Nautilus
and tries to keep men's desire to avoid
dance moves in mind when he teaches
coed classes.
At Nautilus, Flores is the only male
teacher, and he finds that being male
is a plus in getting other males to
attend his classes. "IVe taught a few
jlasses (with) up to 50 percent men
and 50 percent women and that's
directly related to the fact that 1 do
teach it. Men might be more apt to
try it and find out that it's not as
bad as they thought."
The IM department currently
doesn't have any male students
teaching, but that hasn't stopped the
guys who show up for classes.
Sophomore John Rustin has
started going to aerobic sessions
regularly with his girlfriend and othei
friends. "I do aerobics maybe two
days a week and then on the other
days 1 jog and lift," he says. "Aerobics
is a break from weight-lifting and
jogging and it's fun. The endurance
needed for it is better known now,
and girls are starting to have more
respect for the guys that have respect
for aerobics."
Senior Jeff Rumley, another stu
dent who sometimes aerobicizes with
his Sigma Nu brother Rustin, does
aerobics because he wants to get back
in shape. "Aerobics doesn't take long.
You know, it's easier to do it than
to try and get a basketball game up,
and running is boring." 1 '
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Okay, so what about the guys who
go just to ogle girls in leotards and
tights? None of the men interviewed
admit to this practice, and to the
contrary, two of the males inter
viewed were married graduate stu
dents who said they did aerobics just
to stay in shape. Tim Ritchie, a
graduate student, does aerobics with
his wife Christine, and finds that
many of his "couple" friends do the
same.
John Russel, another graduate
student, was surprised that not more
male students did aerobics. "I went
to one place in Raleigh this summer.
I was going during lunch period when
people were off for their lunch break.
I'd say that 90 percent doing aerobics
were businessmen. It's really for any
crowd."
So aerobics is attracting other
groups of men. "I think that aerobic
exercise is going to continue,"
instructor Flores says. "The aerobic
craze has peaked as far as women
are considered and that's helping to
get more guys to go.
"They're going to the health clubs
the new singles hangout of the
time. It's easier to strike up a
conversation when you're standing
next to each other, both about to
drop dead."
But Granville Towers aerobic
teacher Robin Ennis, a freshman,
says many males don't go to aerobics
because they don't want the embar
rassment of getting noticed. "Aero
bics isn't just for girls. More guys
would come if other guys would go
too. You know, though, that they're
.. not going to got until others, go", v..