Weightlifting became a big stay at home activity during the COVID-19 pandemic and has become a huge trend in the world as we return to normal. However, before the pandemic began, Elizabethtown College invested in the Bowers Center for Sports, Fitness and Well-being, a facility for their student body to use for physical fitness and other areas of improvement in student lives. The pandemic and the Bowers Center birthed the Lifting Club in the spring of 2022 led by students Zach Stambaugh and Luke Wentzel.
“I felt that creating a club tailored towards the gym would be something new to Etown and would also allow for people to start to one another to create more of a community, less of an intimidating environment within a common sense,” Stambaugh said. The Bowers Center and many gyms can be very scary for newcomers or regular attenders as well so Stambaugh and Wentzel have tried to give back to a community they love being a part of.
Stambaugh started lifting when he was in high school because he felt he wasn’t big enough to play soccer at his size,and he started growing through the gym by learning from others he saw and watching YouTube. Now through the Lifting Club, he’s able to teach and create a social environment for many to feel comfortable in and ask for tips, recommendations and routines in the gym.
“We hold healthy cooking meetings where we make healthy foods, talk about lifting and food tips,” Stambaugh said. The club holds this type of event in the Demo Kitchen in Bowers. They also hold many group lifts in Thompson gyms to work together as a club. In the future they look to hold lifting and physical activity challenges with prizes to promote competition amongst their group and the rest of the student body.
Stambaugh worked with anatomy professor at the College Dr. Natasha Clarke to start the club. She has provided the structure of the club, instructing Stambaugh and Wentzel how to run meetings and using her expertise to advise healthy fitness and dieting tips for many of the members.
The group is very open to new members to join whenever and they can do so by emailing the group at liftingclub@etown.edu, Stambaugh at stambaughz@etown.edu or by contacting them on their Instagram page @etownliftingclub. The group currently has 70 members of all ages and genders. At any point, you can find many members in Bowers lifting and exercising, and everybody is very open to communication so that everybody can meet their fitness goals.
“We really strive to celebrate the small wins in life, like hitting a new PR, which is a huge landmark of self-improvement,” Stambaugh said. There are many types of lifting and fitness, and all are encouraged by the group as long as personal growth is being made. People start lifting for many different reasons and everybody has started at different points. The group has goals of self-improvement and strives to be judgment free so that all are welcome.
Stambaugh founded the club with close friends Wentzel, Liam Wright and Trai Roland to become the board of the club. Stambaugh played soccer during his first year at Etown with Wright who now manages and helps the team. Roland is on the school’s wrestling team with their season beginning soon.
