Jermaine Peterson is a staff member here at OCCC. He serves as the Coordinator of Students for the mentorship program, Connecting With Mentors.

“It’s a program designed to assist students navigate college to support them academically and to help them develop their personal and soft skills,” he told the Pioneer.

Peterson is an avid gym user. When interviewed in the gym in early February, Peterson said he was not working on New Year’s resolutions to get fit or lose weight.

“I would say that I don’t believe in it. I just don’t typically,  I guess I don’t engage in it myself.  I think I’m always setting goals for myself,” he said.

For Peterson, it doesn’t matter if you make the goal of getting fit any time of the year, whether it be January, May or December – you must be motivated to be better anytime of the year.

Whether or not you are sticking to your New Year’s resolution or just have a new goal of getting better or eating better, it’s great to have habits that encourage you to do those things, as well as facilities, like the recreation center and gym, to make those goals a reality.

In the book Atomic Habits, written by James Clear, Clear writes “Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress.”

If you have a goal but don’t have a system behind it, you might do it for a day and then you might not do it for the next day. You must make it a habit.

“Success is the product of daily habits—not once-in-a-lifetime transformations,” Clear writes.

It’s always good to have an accountability partner every step of the way, and of course, you want that person to be truly honest with you and have that person have the same mentality to work out or eat better with you also.

Peterson said that “it is important to. As much as you can surround yourself with other like-minded people, people can support you. And that, yeah, that’s big. having any type of accountability.”

For those looking to get fit or lose weight, the gym at OCCC has everything to offer for anybody that has a particular workout. It has a workout area where you can lift weights, a basketball court and generally anything for any kind of activity.

“It’s nice I like it, and the equipment is still very new. It never really seems like you must wait for any of the equipment if you do. It’s very short wait time,” Peterson said.

OCCC also has virtual workouts on YouTune that are derived from regular workouts.Videos available include various workouts such as yoga, wheelchair workouts for people who are on wheelchairs, kickboxing, upper body workouts, and core workouts.

They also have advanced workouts if you really want to get your blood pumping. And yes, people within the OCCC community get free entrance to the gym. They also have memberships for people that are outside of OCCC.

So if you’re at home and you don’t want to go out, or even have a free workout space with a lot of equipment, the options are limitless. You can call the recreation center at (405) 682-7860 to find out more.