Christine Lynn’s inspiration to bring a new fitness center to the APPLE after-school program comes from working out her entire life.

“I have worked out my entire life,” Lynn said. “So after working out with Robert Johnson and earning my personal training certification, I wanted to bring this to the APPLE program so that the students can get healthy and have an outlet.”

Lynn worked tirelessly all summer bringing in training equipment and setting up the fitness room. She had Pirate Graphics come in to add the logo in the fitness room.

“This isn’t a traditional physical education class,” Lynn said. “We are incorporating different things to try to mix it up, like boxing and a lot of weightlifting.”

Lynn said that the students have responded a lot better to the idea than what she expected.

“The students have been really enjoying it,” Lynn said. “We set goals every month on some of the exercises that we do, so it gives them something to work towards every month. This month we are doing goals on the box jump and they have been working really hard.”

Lynn said the fitness center gives students another healthy outlet outside of school.

“We introduced boxing into the workout and that really helps kids with anger,” Lynn said. “They can punch that bag all afternoon if they want to.”

Lynn said with the goals in place, the students are able to work with each other towards a common goal.

“They all want to reach their goals,” Lynn said. “And when they do we bring them in front of every one and they all cheer for them. They want to accomplish their goals as much as they want to see their classmates reach their own goals.”

Lynn said that the goal of the fitness center is to learn that there are other ways to be healthy.

“I am definitely not a runner, that is one thing that I always tell people,” Lynn said. “But I can lift anything that is in front of me, and that is what I want to the students to understand, is that everyone has their own niche.”

Zach Sowell said he enjoys the class because it is a fun way to make your body more athletic.

“It is good to know your body’s limits,” Sowell said. “Also it is a good way to let off anger, because if you come in and you’re angry then you can go box for a while and let off some steam.”

Sowell’s goal for this month is to box for 10 minutes straight.

Kaya Brust said that she enjoys the friendly competition in the class.

“We all have goals that we want to reach,” Brust said. “So it is really fun to be able to work out with a bunch of people and all of us working hard together trying to help each other reach our goals.”

Brust’s goal this month is to get her box jump height to three feet.