Charlotte Shields-Rossi | a&e editor

Sara Aull found a love for yoga and Pilates while enrolled in Duquesne University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law.

“I found that I was more present and engaged. With those classes, I was able to take my mind off the school stress,” Aull said.

Aull graduated in 2014 and now works as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. But for the past nine years she has returned to campus every week to teach fitness classes to students in the Power Center.

Every semester, Duquesne offers multiple fitness classes in the Power Recreation Center. The classes are free to attend and are hosted every day of the week except Saturdays.

On Mondays at 5 p.m., Aull teaches a 50 minute yoga class and on Wednesday at 5 p.m. she teaches yogalates, a hybrid of both Pilates and yoga. Yogalates is more upbeat and active than its counterpart and she plays Latin music as a way to pump up her students.

Being in a group setting can sometimes add a competitive element among the participants, something she works hard to avoid in her classes.

“[I tell students] that it is your practice. It is not mine. It is not your neighbors, so you need to do what feels right for your body right now this evening, and don’t worry about what other people are doing or not doing. It’s really no one’s business,” she said.

During her classes, she walks around the room and helps students that need it by offering modifications to make the workouts easier or harder.

“They say movement is therapeutic, and I’m a big believer in that as well,” Aull said.

Although some of the fitness instructors at Duquesne are no longer enrolled in college, many of the workouts are led by fellow students.

Junior accounting and finance major, Olivia Habash, began teaching workout classes last August. She teaches 45-minute sculpt classes Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7 p.m. She describes sculpt as a mat-based class that uses light weights for a full-body workout.

Habash likes to make working out fun, so her classes often have a themed element. One week, she taught classes with a Miami Club theme and attendees wore bright colored workout gear and listened to artists like Pitbull and Bad Bunny.

She prioritizes school and sees the fitness classes as a brain break and a way to socialize with her peers.

“I never like to bring any kind of negative energy or stress into the room. I just want to make it like a fun place for students to come,” she said.

Habash has built a community of people, with regulars that come to her classes every week.

“A fitness group is so much more beneficial sometimes because you have people that kind of hold you accountable, but it makes it more fun,” she said.

Marlena Sartini, junior psychology and sociology major, has been participating in sculpt classes since they started.

When she first began taking the classes, she used three-pound weights. After getting stronger she has moved up to five.

“It takes a lot of effort, so I always feel good after, and I enjoy that,” Sartini said.

She always stretches prior, and on the days she feels tired or sore she makes modifications by dropping one or both weights.

“[Habash] always encourages us to do what our body can and still challenge ourselves,” she said.

Junior marketing and management major Nina Ricciuti is one of the university’s spin instructors. Her 45-minute classes are Monday and Friday at 3 p.m.

Ricciuti is a former swimmer, so when she came to college, she wanted to continue to be active.

Spin class, also known as indoor cycling, is an endurance based, choreographed and instructor-led workout. Like Habash, Ricciuti often teaches her classes around a theme.

Overexerting yourself on high-endurance workouts can come with risks, Ricciuti said, so she encourages her students to step out, sit down or get extra water if they need it.

“I say this is a self-paced class,” Ricciuti said.

She makes sure that participants work out safely but also encourages them to try new things and work out to their abilities.

“It is so motivating to see [that] everyone around you is working hard, it pushes you to work harder,” she said.

Students can find the group fitness schedule @duqcsw on Instagram.

Charlotte Shields-Rossi can be reached at shieldsrossic@duq.edu