Sandbox!
Happy class projecting!
Are we there yet?
Listen to my podcast exploring the limitations to group fitness at Furman and other gyms.
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https://soundcloud.com/hannah-butlak/v3-group-fitness-pod_mixdown
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Fitness for all?
Erika was sitting on the spongy black mat in the group fitness studio - palms sweating. She looked around, content with the back corner she had claimed. She was the only one in the yoga class so far, good because no one else had to see her struggle. She felt hidden in the dimed lights against the dark midnight purple wall.
This semester was the first time Furman had allowed their employees to attend the group fitness classes in the twelve years she had worked there, so Erika decided to take control of her physical health.
With only a few minutes to go until the instructor began the class and to Erika’s horror, the entire Furman Men’s Soccer Team filed in, all seventeen of their mats coating the hardwood floors, and the class began.
She tried to be as mouse-like as possible as the instructor called out more and more challenging yoga poses. She felt herself begin to fall… and heard a thud. She looked over to see two of the soccer players on the floor from losing their balance. They chuckled at themselves and stood right back up.
“It is nice to see them struggle too sometimes.”
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In this room, it did not matter who was in the class and their level of fitness. It just mattered that she tried. So she adapted and tried again.
Erika wanted to commit to the process and understand fully what she needed to do to accomplish her goals of sleeping better and improving her overall health. The CDC recommends that adults get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a day. Studies at Johns Hopkins have shown that this form of exercise helps your body increase the slow brain waves during sleep for a more rejuvenating slumber. Erika noticed that she felt stronger and was sleeping much better. She loved it.
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“I was worried that she was going to overdo it,” Jessica, one of Erika’s co workers, stated. “I had to tell her to pace herself, but she just loved going so much.”
She was able to keep up her fitness with these classes through the spring semester of 2024. However each semester, the schedule changes based on the student instructors’ availability. That following fall, Erika was limited in the classes she was able to take. So, she tried to take matters into her own hands and exercise solo in the Physical Activity Center (PAC).
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The PAC consists of two floors of raw iron weights with a vast wasteland of cardio machines, weight machines for every muscle group under the sun, and students all sweating around in their tank tops, headphones, and pristine sneakers.
(Left to right) Erika, Jessica, myself
“Going in there is really intimidating, for sure. I was scared,” Erika said.
Weights are thudding, there are clangs of metal, and thunderous footsteps on the treadmills. Erika said that the second she walks in, all the youthful eyes laser focus on her and what she looks like.. Polar opposite to the warmth of the group fitness studio.
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“For group fitness, it was really nice, and I wanted to try everything.” But she did not feel like she had the space to do that in the PAC.
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This is unfortunate because others in her life have been able to see the positivity within her for group fitness.
One of the fitness instructors who just started to offer Zumba classes shared what she has seen from Erika.
“She was so excited to try a new group fitness class format. She had said how much she disliked having to workout on the main PAC floor and that there was a new opportunity to try a new class,” Amelia stated. “She had to push to just keep trying, but now she is really good.”
Furman group fitness schedule for Spring 2025
Instagram @furmancrw
Her family has been supportive of the process and adjustments to their home life. Her husband at first felt that he needed to remind her “Don’t abuse, don’t abuse the exercise,” because she was going so much. But now, he is more worried about enjoying the healthier food she cooks. They see the good that it has done for her.
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There is the option to take the classes that are offered later in the evening, but most employees don’t want to drive back for a class, especially after working from 4:30 AM to 1 PM. They are tired and have other aspects of their life that they need to take care of.
Luckily for Erika, she lives four minutes away so she has adapted her afternoon home tasks before heading back to Furman. She keeps pushing herself and tries to modify her day. If there are no classes, she still does not work out on the main floor. She tried to take her son for comfort, but the environment never reminded her of the studio. Sometimes, it’s simpler to workout at home.
But group fitness brought a new community that Erika loves to her, and more importantly, a love for her physical health. So, Erika is continuing to push herself in her fitness and adapt to get to the spaces that make her comfortable.
Picture of Adi Dubash -https://www.furman.edu/people/adi-dubash/
Adi Dubash enters Furman's campus looking very clean-cut, which was very usual for him. His slightly grey stubble beard and sharp comb-over haircut signify his very sharp and clean expression. As he enters the science building, the scrape and stomp of each step Adi Dubash takes can be heard as they echo throughout the polished main level of Plyler Hall.
He enters his very detailed office with his many objects and pictures that represent him as a person, from his research to pride flags, to figures that he finds interesting in his own way. His office is very calm, with a small white noise and a smell that will relax you the moment you enter.
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After stopping by his office, he makes his way downstairs to his laboratory, where his workday begins. As he reaches his lab walking down the dark and empty halls of the basement, he peers at the pictures of his former students that are posted on the door of his lab, this gives him the motivation every day to keep going and continue his work and reminding him that their success is most important.
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Dubash’s journey truly began during his undergraduate work at UT Austin in Texas, where he was a biology major. But where he truly found out what he loved to do is while he was getting his PhD at UNC Chapel Hill, Dubash explains that, “I had an opportunity to teach and so, and that was at UNC Chapel Hill, and I was doing research and I was teaching at the same time, and I realized I really like both.” Here is where his love for teaching and research truly began.
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Dubash’s story takes us all the way back to his youth in Mumbai, India, where he developed a love for science and biology early on. As we know now, Dubash eventually received the opportunity to pursue this passion when he committed to the University of Texas in Austin in 1999, which he graduated from in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science with a focus on Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biology. With the knowledge that he would not want to get into the medical field of sciences, Dubash set his sights on a doctorate in order to continue his research in cell biology.
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Following his graduation in 2003, Dubash then committed to UNC Chapel Hill where he completed a 6-year program that earned him a PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology. It is also during his time studying at Chapel Hill that Dubash found his love for teaching. Despite accepting the role of teaching a class at Chapel Hill, he initially didn’t think much of it but realized afterwards that it was something he could see himself doing for the rest of his life.
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Dubash’s next endeavor brought him to Northwestern University in Illinois where he continued his love of biology as a post-doctoral scientist in a fellowship. Beyond the fellowship, Dubash also occupied himself through work at the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning, at Northwestern University.
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In 2015, at the end of his 6-year fellowship at Northwestern, Dubash knew he wanted to pursue a career in which he could continue his research into cellular biology while also satisfying his love for teaching. This is what brought him to Furman University where he’s followed his passion and dreams, and made waves in the field of cellular biology.
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In 2015, Dr. Dubash applied for and was given a Visiting Assistant Professor position at Furman. With his newfound passion for teaching from his time at Northwestern, he was more than pleased to find a job where he could do both. His time in this position lasted for two years before he became an assistant professor for Furman’s Biology Department. Now, during the school year, Dubash focuses on teaching his students, and spends his summers teaching them in his lab. The ability to switch it up is exciting for him, especially with the directive of his work each summer changing slightly.
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Dubash leaned back into his chair, his eyes glimmering as he reflected on previous cycles of this routine, and said “I feel like every summer it's nice to be able to switch your hat, you know, so you can go from being predominantly teaching to being predominantly research, and it's kind of nice to get that break”.
Dubash’s lab does more than just work in the summers. Traditionally, his students that work with him for one summer continue their work throughout the school year, with Dr. Dubash’s assistance. It is a hard balance to maintain, but Dubash takes it in stride. His office and his lab are spotless, a reflection of his mind: organized, strategic, and adaptable. But he has to maintain this to keep up with the ever changing research developments, because it can have to be modified so fast.
Just recently, Dubash secured a three year grant for 364,000 dollars. This grant, alongside many others, have enabled him to have a state of the art lab - with an imaging microscope that not only accelerates his work, but other departments at Furman.
This is a greater reflection of the other labs and the culture at Furman, with his lab neighbor being Dr. Shields, an accredited Chemistry professor at Furman. He raves about his colleagues, waving his hands in the air to emphasize that “ the nice thing about being a small school is that it's really competitive.
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We're working collaboratively, because really, we're not trying to compete with each other in terms of what we publish. What we're trying to do is collectively work together to train students, right?”. They all have a shared goal - to teach students, and get to do research along the way.
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Dr. Dubash is flourishing in his professional career at Furman both in his teaching and personal research. He is currently teaching human physiology, helps students find individualized internships, and guides their thesis projects.
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Dubashs success as a professor is seen through his students' success and their admiration for him. A former student of Dubash, Nicolette Monnier, speaks highly of her experience exclaiming that Dubash has a “strong commitment to making sure that all of his students feel like they are empowered to make their own decisions about how they present their research.”
She speaks to Dubash's personal research as well stating, “he has such a commitment to his own, like professional integrity and like integrity within the research sphere.”
For his personal research, Dubash is currently focusing on, “how cells connect to each other or attach to each other”. The most important aspect of Dubash’s research could have profound impacts on the world in the future.
Dubash states, I'm very interested in migration of cells, so how the connections between cells affects how they move and migrate, again, predominantly because that's relevant to cancer.”
Furman has given Dubash the unique opportunity to succeed in both of his passions, teaching and research. He has fully embraced the opportunity and is positively impacting the Furman community