Spartan Daily

Aerobicthon: Ready Sweat Go

Aerobicthon 1 Students get their heart rate up during SJSU's 20th annual Aerobicthon on Friday. Photo by / Francisco Rendon

Aerobicthon 2 Andre Bobo glides up the stage while leading the audience through a hip-hop dance routine at SJSU's 20th Aerobicthon. Photo by Francisco Rendon/ Spartan Daily

Aerobicthon 3 Dave Dixon teaches the audience how to combat stress with his kickboxing and zumba aerobic routines. Photo by Francisco Rendon/ Spartan Daily

Aerobicthon 4 With music blasting, Geeta Venkatesan leads pariticants in SJSU's 20th Aerobicthon through a fusion Bollywood, Bhangra, hip-hop-latin exercises. Photo by Francisco Rendon/ Spartan Daily

While end of semester finals often conjure images of students poring over screens and books, the kinesiology department created a different vision: a massive, sweat-filled, music-blasting workout session.

Carol Sullivan, a kinesiology instructor at SJSU, organized the SJSU Aerobicthon for the 20th year in a row and said it has developed substantially from when she started it.

Over 200 participants from SJSU and the wider community fell in line to put their bodies through the 15 minute aerobic routines which included Zumba, kickboxing, Bollywood bhangra, hip-hop dance and Jazzercise.

"When we started, it was about 50 students," Sullivan said. "Now, there are (over 200). It has grown substantially."

Ryan Santos, a member of the Ballroom Spartans DanceSport Team, who performed a Lindy Hop dance routine from his Beginning Nightclub and Swing class, said the scale of the event surprised him.

"This is the first time we've come here — we didn't expect this," he said. "It was mind-boggling how many people showed up."

The money raised at the event, through a $5 fee for participants, would be used for small equipment and supplies for aerobics section of the kinesiology Department and next year's Aerobicthon, Sullivan said.

Despite the money being raised, however, Sullivan said the main point of the event was to help students stay healthy during a difficult time of the year.

"The main thing is for students to have fun and relieve stress," she said. "(That and) to expose the campus and San Jose community to different kinds of aerobics."

Mara Langford, a 60-year-old SJSU alumna, who used to study under Sullivan said this was her 10th year attending the event.

"It's fun," she said. "It gives (participants) an opportunity to experience different aerobic activities to choose what's best for them."

A senior graphics major, Lauren Mackey, said she appreciated the stress relief the event provided.

"It's kind of nice to break up the monotony of staring at a computer with some exercise," she said. "You just gotta jump in, because everyone here is just as awkward as you."

Mackey said she participated in the event initially because of the extra credit incentive offered by the professor of her cardio kickboxing class, but said she felt she got more out of the experience.

"I'm glad I did it," she said. "Especially with Zumba, you (usually) have to pay for it."

Senior psychology major Tim Rossomando said this year was his first time coming to the Aerobicthon.

The over 200 participants who attended the even were mostly females. 

Rossomando said he thought one reason there were so many more women is because men tend to get more embarrassed doing those kinds of aerobics.

However, he said he enjoyed himself and wished he knew about it sooner.

"It was a lot of fun. I would definitely come again if I wasn’t graduating," he said. "There's really no reason to be embarrassed."

Sullivan said all the instructors who led events from a stage donated their time to the event to expose people to different styles of aerobics.

Dave Dixon, a dance instructor from Xtreme fitness in Los Gatos and SJSU alumnus, led Zumba and kickboxing routines and said he enjoyed being able to lead the exercises at the event.

"We're here because we love to teach," he said. "These are the best students to teach."