The football season now concluded and swimsuit season just around the corner, many of us are climbing off the couch in search of an enjoyable, productive exercise regimen. Here's a word of advice: before you go and spend a bundle on one of those infomercial ab crunchers, check out what Frank Micale is offering right here at Ithaca College.
Micale, clinical assistant professor of exercise and sports sciences, is the creator and director of the Ithaca College Fitness Program. Launched in 1991, the ICFP provides both a service for staff and faculty and a practical learning experience for fitness and cardiac rehabilitation majors. The program is an outstanding bargain: participants pay $100 annually, half of which is refunded if they meet attendance guidelines. Included are an initial fitness evaluation that could cost much more elsewhere, an individual exercise program, and personal training and monitoring. Beginning with a group warm-up, participants work out from 6:30 to 8:00 a.m. on weekdays. It could cost as much as $350 for a yearly membership at a health club that would offer little or no individual assessment or instruction. Also available to ICFP participants are continuing education meetings and additional wellness-related services, such as computerized dietary analysis and nutritional counseling, and a newsletter, which is distributed to the entire campus community.
Participants are likely to stay with the program because it's fun, offering both group activities and a variety of individual options such as jogging, swimming, or working out on state-of-the-art equipment. It's a common misconception, Micale says, that maintaining fitness needs to be painful. He adds that people should find enjoyable ways to exercise while they're still healthy, before they have a chance to develop chronic conditions that may demand a strict regimen. Micale stresses the importance of varying activity to lessen the risk of injuries that may be caused by repetitive motion. "We want to give people as well-rounded a program as possible," he says, "one that works all muscle groups, improves aerobic fitness and body composition, increases flexibility, and builds muscle strength and endurance."
People representing a wide range of ages and fitness levels take part in ICFP; only those with high-risk conditions cannot be accommodated. Anyone with fitness-related concerns who can't join the program during the morning time slot is encouraged to contact Micale. "We want people to know we're here and what we're doing, even if they just want to call and ask a question."
Micale grew up in North Brunswick, New Jersey, with strong interests in science and athletics and a predilection for teaching what he knew. He remembers that even as a small child he would show his older brothers and cousins how to play various sports, although they were usually "just kind of humoring me." Today he passes along to students an emphasis on building solid teaching abilities. As they develop confidence and clinical and interpersonal skills through practice, students blossom, he says. "The greatest thing is to see these kids when they're out there say, 'I actually taught somebody something!' "
When he's not on campus, Micale is often found hiking, trail running, or mountain biking with his wife, Jennifer, who is working on a master's degree in secondary education.