East Lansing fitness businesses also have reported being busy during the past month.

Scott Mayol, owner of Powerhouse Gym, 4790 S. Hagadorn Road, said about 80 percent of its members are affiliated with MSU, and he has noticed that in the past two months, the free exercise classes at his facility have become more busy.

“I attribute that to the spring break pick-up because a lot of girls come in and do that as an alternative to running on the treadmill,” Mayol said.

Snap Fitness, 115 E. Grand River Ave., also consistently has been busy during the past few months, general manager Gina DeMott said. Snap Fitness added new classes to give customers alternatives to the traditional workout, such as pole dancing, which have brought in more customers, she said.

While some students have hit the gym in preparation for their spring break trips, others have been working to improve their levels of fitness as part of the MSU Moves Me Challenge — a program to establish engagement in movement and fitness activities. More than 1,330 students and faculty are participating in the challenge, logging their level of activity online daily. The challenge began on Jan. 23 and continues through March 4.

McNeil said stepping out of one’s comfort zone and trying new activities is something he has tried to encourage participants to do in order to see results from the challenge. Many of the participants said they have used the IM Sports facilities so far, contributing to the recent surge in memberships.

Kinesiology graduate student Ryan Patterson has added cycling classes and playing basketball at the IM Sports facilities about three times a week to his normal routine of running and weight lifting.

Other participants, such as nutritionist for the Health4U program Peggy Crum and kinesiology senior Eric Loveland said, like Patterson, they were fairly active before taking on the challenge, but they have been continuing to make fitness more of a priority during the past month, adding activities at the IM Sports facilities to their weekly routines.

Crum added group cycling to her fitness routine of walking with her dog and a friend a few times a week, and said her team, “What The HEALTH!,” has made strides since the challenge began.

“I think it is impressive that even though not everyone has reported, we’ve increased our baseline minutes by 133 percent, and we’ve gone from light moderate activity to vigorous activity,” she said.

Loveland has tried to participate in more sports at IM facilities in addition to his usual runs six to seven times a week. Recording his fitness activities daily has been a motivation boost throughout the winter, he said.

“It kind of provides a little bit of credit toward the work I do and the activities I’ve participated in throughout the day,” he said. “It makes you feel better about yourself.”

Neither Crum nor Loveland said the challenge has been too difficult so far, and they feel good about the level of fitness they are at.

The biggest challenge Patterson said he has faced so far has been to log his activity every day, but it helps him see the progress he is making.

“It shows there are programs out there if people are not active,” Patterson said. “They can participate in a challenge or anything MSU offers to promote health and wellness for the better.”