• The Fitness Assessment Center has started offering free personal fitness assessments to all university staff and students.
• Fitness assessments are a series of tests that include nutritional analysis, blood pressure, body composition and various physical tests.
• These free assessments show current fitness levels and helps develop a routine to maximize workouts.

Call it old fashioned, but every year I try to make a New Year's resolution.

Go to church every week, go to class everyday, eat healthier, quit smoking — I like to try a new one for the first couple of weeks each new year.

This year will be different, though. This year I have a plan. This year I have a routine.

I resolve to work out every day because this is the year I will finally get in shape.

Thanks to the personal fitness assessments offered in the Rec Plex, I'm already on a path to personal wellness, because as I'm sure you've heard the saying, "A problem well-stated is a problem half-solved."

Last week, I ventured to the Fitness Assessment Center in the Rec Plex with my friend Eric Morris, a sophomore in the College of Business Administration. There, we received our personal fitness assessments, which are offered free of charge to university students and faculty this semester.

Zachary Barnett, the Fitness Assessment Center supervisor and a senior in the College of Health Sciences, said this is the first time since 2001 the university has offered free personal fitness assessments.

"I was hired about two weeks ago to take over the program, and basically make it something from nothing," Barnett said. "It's really kind of an unknown service on campus.

"We only get one or two students a week," he said. "We're trying to let people know about it."

I called the center's office at noon on Friday to set up an appointment, and by 1 p.m., Eric and I were in the Rec Plex filling out consent, medical history and nutritional information forms with Barnett.

"We're going to start off by taking some measurements," Barnett said after our forms were completed.

Barnett then measured our heights and weights and compared the two to give us our Body Mass Index. Then he took our blood pressure and used a skinfold caliper to measure our body fat percentage.

With a BMI of 23.6, blood pressure of 128/80 and a body fat percentage of 12.1, I was in the desirable range for all three measurements, Barnett said.

"We keep all the information from the assessments in a file so people can come back and see how much progress they are making with their workouts," Barnett said. "I recommend for people to come back for another assessment every three months."

The next steps in the assessment process were a sit-and-reach test that measures flexibility, a three-minute submaximal step test that measures aerobic capacity and a max bench press that measures muscular strength.

After we completed the various tests, Barnett sat Eric and me down in his office to go through the results of the tests and provide us with feedback.

"I will come up with a basic plan that you can pick up in a couple of days that will help you get started on a training routine that will maximize your workouts," Barnett said.

Because I was below the desirable range on the sit-and-reach and step tests, Barnett said my training routine would focus on stretching three to four times a day to improve flexibility and aerobic exercises that will improve cardiovascular endurance.

Barnett also suggested that I routinely eat breakfast each morning and cut back on my Skittles and Flamin' Hot Cheetos intake — after he reviewed my nutritional information form.

Even though Eric and I took the basic personal fitness assessment, Barnett said the center could do more specific tests for individuals who may have a particular test in mind.

"The personal fitness assessments can be tailored to each individual person that comes in," Barnett said. "If an athlete comes in and wants their 40-yard dash timed, that is something we can definitely do."

Barnett said the best part about the personal fitness assessments is that they are free to all students and staff.

"A lot of people think you have to pay, but you don't. When I was a personal trainer at another place, a fitness assessment would typically cost $50 to $60," Barnett said.

Eric and I left the Rec Plex completely impressed with the new service.

"Now that I know about these fitness assessments, I'm going to take advantage of them," Eric said. "It was a pretty in-depth assessment. I think it will help me get to where I want to be with my workouts.

"And the price is definitely right."