Czula leads Life Fitness Program

Joe Bubar Guest Writer

Director of Life Fitness, Roman Czula wants to be clear: “‘In the Pink’ is not a porno site,” rather the name of the Life Fitness Program at Vassar.

The program offers non-credit wellness classes to anybody in the Vassar community, from students to spouses of professors. The classes include everything from dance, martial arts, squash, wall climbing and swimming to many courses for improving one’s lifestyle such as smoking awareness, rape aggression defense and mindfulness-based stress reduction. While ideally Czula would like the classes to be free, participation in the classes currently requires a fee.

The purpose of these classes is to “eliminate excuses for not exercising,” said Czula. He feels that people at Vassar are extremely bright, “with equally bright excuses.” His goal is to have somebody who has never gone to the gym, “the people who simply were afraid or embarrassed…to take the first step.”

The idea to teach life fitness at Vassar began around 1990 when two teachers, one who had recently had a heart attack and the other a stroke, came to Czula, who was the varsity tennis coach at the time. They wanted Czula to help get them back in shape. After this, Czula then developed his proactive philosophy for the program. Rather than just helping people get back into shape, he wanted to reach them before the heart attack or stroke. With the help of the late Vice President of Finance Tony Stellato, the Life Fitness Program was created.

After retiring from coaching in 2006, Czula began working full-time in the fitness department. “It’s part of what I do,” Czula said of teaching life fitness. An athlete himself, Czula relishes in the opportunity to teach others the habits that they can keep up with for the rest of their lives. He realizes that college life can be very stressful and thinks that people need to “commit a little time to themselves.” “Exercise,” he claims, “is the first prescription for any ailment.”

Czula is always looking to expand the program, and will offer any class for which there’s a qualified teacher. His newest addition to the classes is Capoeira, a Brazilian fight dance and martial art, which will begin as soon as an instructor is found.

For more information on how to join or create a class, look for Czula’s weekly e-mails or visit the life fitness Web site at lifefitness.vassar.edu.