The New Health Craze On Campus: Walking Up To Quinn, Being Too Tired To Work Out, Then Walking Home
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STADIUM DRIVE - Since opening in 1987, the Quinn Recreation Center has become a staple of App State Fitness. Today it’s known for its array of free weights, group aerobics classes, and balmy, boyish odor. But here’s the catch: before you can get to Quinn, you must first make a nearly half-mile climb up Stadium Drive. Students who reach the top are often exhausted- almost as exhausted as after a hard workout at the gym. While thousands of students are left downtrodden and demotivated by this tough journey every year, some have found a creative new form of fitness.
They’re calling it the NEER challenge: walk from the bottom of Stadium Drive to Quinn, do something so it doesn’t feel like you wasted your time, and walk back to the bottom. “I remember always being frustrated when I got to Quinn and didn’t have the energy to do any of my workouts. Then I thought, ‘Maybe the real workout was the journey to get here,’” says Emily Galliperri, who helped start the NEER by sharing it on her social media. Emily says she’s done nine NEERS so far and claims it’s helped her stay slim and build wishbone calves. Last time, she even went into one of the yoga classes and did a couple of poses before leaving. |
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App State Influencers like Emily have popularized this fun new way to get moving, but a group on YikYak has taken it a step further. They’re trying to “raw dog” the NEER: no earbuds, no water, and no standing in front of New River and telling people you forgot your App Card so they let you in the lobby and you can cool off in the AC. As fun as “raw dogging” may seem, fainting as a result of this extreme exercise has led both the administration and others in the NEER community to condemn the practice.
While the NEER has drawn fitness lovers from as far as WCU and Hickory, local App State students like Todd Wilkes have started to dissent. Todd, a senior at App State, argues the NEER is gentrifying West Campus culture: “Where I come from, everybody knows the rules. You hike up to Quinn, look for an open squat rack, and when nobody gives you one, you go shoot 3-pointers or something. It’s not some glamorous new fad.” Todd says walking to Quinn is a passing trend for most, but for him, it’s a way of life. “Sometimes I’d just find an empty racquetball court and cry. The way the walls echo soothes me.”
With mixed reactions but growing popularity, it’s uncertain where the NEER will go from here. The only thing we at the Rotten Appal know for certain is that it definitely beats actually going to the gym.
While the NEER has drawn fitness lovers from as far as WCU and Hickory, local App State students like Todd Wilkes have started to dissent. Todd, a senior at App State, argues the NEER is gentrifying West Campus culture: “Where I come from, everybody knows the rules. You hike up to Quinn, look for an open squat rack, and when nobody gives you one, you go shoot 3-pointers or something. It’s not some glamorous new fad.” Todd says walking to Quinn is a passing trend for most, but for him, it’s a way of life. “Sometimes I’d just find an empty racquetball court and cry. The way the walls echo soothes me.”
With mixed reactions but growing popularity, it’s uncertain where the NEER will go from here. The only thing we at the Rotten Appal know for certain is that it definitely beats actually going to the gym.