Originally published March 27, 2015
By Laura L. Acosta
UTEP News Service
Maxie Flores walked, jogged and exercised her way to more than 1 million steps in 2014’s six-week University of Texas System Physical Activity Challenge.
This spring, Flores, the administrative services manager with UTEP’s Professional and Public Programs, is challenging her fellow Miners to step up and join the 2015 UT System Physical Activity Challenge from April 6-May 17.
“I am very competitive and am up to most challenges,” said Flores, who lives a mile away from UTEP and walks to and from home when the weather is nice. “I also want to encourage my colleagues to get active. Walking is so easy. Steps accumulate so fast without even trying.”
The challenge is open to UT Select health insurance members. Since 2009, all UT System institutions have taken part in the friendly competition to determine which campus has the most active employees.
“We’re targeting everyone on campus to get moving, most importantly those employees who are sedentary and sit all day long,” said Eileen J. Aguilar, the UTEP Wellness Program manager. “I know there are days when I’m writing grants and before I know it, I notice that I have been sitting all day long. We are asking employees to make small changes and try to get up every few minutes, take the stairs, park a little further than usual or join a walking group.”
The UTEP Wellness Program will kick off the activity challenge from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Leech Grove on Friday, April 6. Miners can participate in wellness walks at 11:30 a.m., noon and 12:30 p.m. and take part in a 15-minute Zumba class at 12:30 p.m.
UT Select health insurance members at UTEP have until Tuesday, April 10, to sign up for the challenge on the Living Well Health Platform. UTEP’s goal is to increase the number of registered participants by 50 percent over last year from 162 to 350.
Participants will be encouraged to complete 10,000 steps a day, 5 days per week, for at least five of the six weeks of the challenge. Any type of physical activity can count toward the 10,000 daily steps as long as people are up and moving. Participants will log their steps on the Living Well Health Platform. After logging in, they can enter other types of activity by clicking the “cardio log” under the exercise heading.
Stepping Ahead of the Competition
UTEP will compete against UT System institutions that have up to 2,499 UT Select health insurance members, including UT Pan American, UT Health Science Center – Tyler, UT Tyler, UT Brownsville, UT System Administration and UT Permian Basin.
The institution with the greatest participant registration and challenge completion rate by May 17 will host the Physical Activity Challenge “Traveling Trophy” for the year.
Last year, UTEP finished second in the competition after UTPA. This year, the University’s Wellness Program is determined to bring the trophy to Miner country.
“Everyone does a lot of things that can be counted as physical activity,” Aguilar explained. “Things that we do on a normal basis like cleaning your house, even walking your dog can be logged in. We’re asking people to please register, log in your steps and let’s show the UT System and the community how healthy UTEP is!”
Flores averaged about 24,000 steps a day last year, which she tracked on her smartphone using a step counter app. In addition to walking everywhere on campus, she also does yoga, lifts weights and plays basketball on Sundays.
Every morning, Flores and her 10-year-old pit bull, Puppa, walk four miles. They also run two-and-a-half miles, three times a week.
“I have been active all my life, but a few years ago I weighed quite a bit and decided I needed a change,” Flores said. “I changed the way I ate, but I also changed the way I worked out. I was more conscious of both and have lost 80 pounds in two years and I have been able to keep the weight off. I would not have been able to do this without physical activity.”
Get Up and Move
People who register for the challenge will receive a starter kit, which includes a pedometer and activity log. Participants also will be able to earn rewards this year. Those who complete logging two weeks of activity by April 19 will receive a challenge T-shirt. For the sixth and final week of the challenge which ends May 17, those participants who complete the step goal and health assessment will earn a living well picnic blanket.
To get Miners up and moving, the Wellness Program and UTEP Staff Council have planned several fitness activities throughout the six weeks of the competition, such as wellness walks, runs and Zumba classes.
The Wellness Program also has partnered with UTEP Special Events and planned different activities, such as yoga on the lawn and Velo Paso Bicycle class/ride, to coincide with UTEP’s Earth Week on April 20.
Miners are also encouraged to create teams within their departments. Members of UTEP’s Staff Council have challenged each other to see who can walk the most steps. The winner will receive a gift card.
“In my department, we’re motivated,” said Ben Carnevale, network supervisor/enterprise wireless network architect with UTEP’s Telecomm Infrastructure and Staff Council president. “We’re already using some tools to monitor our walking and we’re comparing our activity with each other, but we want to make it official during the challenge.”
The UTEP Staff Council also has created two paths for the wellness walks on campus. The long path will start at Leech Grove, continue down Wiggins Road, veer left on Rim Road, turn left on Schuster Avenue, and left on University Avenue and end at Leach Grove. The easy path will start at Leech Grove, continue on Wiggins Road, cut through the Engineering Breezeway, turn left on Schuster Avenue, then left on University Avenue and end at Leech Grove.
Staff Council plans to continue the wellness walks into the spring, summer and fall semesters after the challenge is over.
Wellness Works
The UTEP Wellness Program has created a health and wellness calendar that includes fitness activities and wellness sessions on campus.
The new calendar is one of several new initiatives that the program has developed to help Miners eat healthy and stay active. During the 2014 fall semester, the program installed vending machines with healthy snack options, such as baked chips, trail mix and granola bars in the Health Sciences and Nursing Building and the Campbell Building.
The program is currently revamping its webpage to offer wellness apps, including the Centered app for the iPhone which helps people manage stress through mindful meditation sessions.