Warrior Wellness: An inside look at Willowbrook’s Online Individualized Fitness and Training class

Willowbrook students are working hard every day to become more educated with their health and wellness, and we are thrilled to showcase those accomplishments through this monthly column. In this month’s edition of Warrior Wellness, we take a look at one of our newer courses at Willowbrook.

This is the fifth school year we have offered Online Individualized Fitness and Training, and the class is booming with high enrollment. Students enrolled in Online Fitness use heart rate monitor technology to record their activity before or after the school day, instead of attending a traditional physical education class. The class uses the Myzone MZ-3 device, which not only records their data, but also assigns a point value to their effort level. Students are able to work out at the gym or at home, or even at their sport or club practices, and get their daily physical education activity.

Below are a few testimonials from students who have enjoyed the benefits and rigor of this class.

“To be completely honest, Online PE has been such a blessing. It allowed me to pursue other classes I wanted to take, as well as take a study hall, which was very useful during my sports season. Not taking a traditional PE class was truly very helpful, as I was already working out 2.5+ hours a day, so taking other classes was more beneficial for me. It also pushed me to work harder in my sport; it pushed me to become a better athlete, knowing I wasn’t just racing myself, I also was racing Myzone to get as many points as I could. I’m very grateful for this class, and I highly recommend it!”

- Senior Elissa Haake (pictured above), 10th-place finish in the 200-Yard Freestyle at the 2018 Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Girls Swimming & Diving State Meet

“Online PE has given me an opportunity to continue to work hard at my sport, while still participating in high school PE. I like the class because I am still a part of my school’s PE department, while being able to focus my exercise on my sport. It opened up a period to take more classes and made my high school experience smoother and more enjoyable overall.”

- Senior Victoria Palma (pictured above), 66th-place finish at the 2018 IHSA Girls Cross-Country State Meet (with a Willowbrook school record of 17:50)

“Being a student-athlete in Online PE really helped me take a full class load and still have a study hall to get most of my work done during the day before sports.”

- Senior Matthew Knudtson (pictured above), member of the Willowbrook Football Team, which competed in the Quarterfinals of the IHSA Playoffs for the third consecutive year this fall

“I have never really been one to go and work out by myself for self-gain, but ever since I have been a part of Online PE, I have been working out by myself and got a membership at a gym. I now enjoy going to the gym to see how I improve throughout the year.”

- Junior Samuel Glass (pictured above), enrolled in multiple Advanced Placement (AP)/college-level courses at Willowbrook

These are just a few of the many success stories from Online Individualized Fitness and Training this year. Have a great December, and enjoy the holidays. We will be back at the start of second semester to share more achievements!