Students will have a chance to prove their athletic abilities Saturday at the Ultimate Athlete Competition in the Student Recreation and Wellness Center.

The competition, which starts at 10 a.m. and ends at 1 p.m., is a series of nine challenges and will be conducted by nationally recognized personal trainers and group exercise instructors.

The challenges include pull-ups, shuttle runs, one-minute sit ups, vertical jumps, one-rep max chest presses, sit and reach, one-mile runs, one-minute push-ups and 40-yard dashes.  

Luc LaBonte, senior nutrition major and fitness and wellness team leader, said the Rec hasn’t done an event like this before.

“It’s a competition encompassing all aspects of fitness,” he said. “It includes flexibility, strength, endurance, power and speed.” 

Ben Cope, fitness coordinator at the Rec, also said the event is different in that it ties multiple areas together. 

“In the past, we’ve done bench press competitions and stuff like that,” he said. “But with all these adventure races, we thought we’d do more of an athletic-type competition.”

LaBonte said anyone is welcome to participate.

“We made it a competition because there are a lot of new sports coming out that are more geared toward full fitness, rather than just one genre,” he said. “It takes the whole concept of fitness and makes it into a competition.”

Cope said there are five categories the participants will fall into: excellent, above average, average, below average and poor.

LaBonte added the competition will run on a points system. He said there will be a male and female challenge winner as well as a male and female overall winner, with both based on points. 

“We encourage everybody to try all of them,” LaBonte said. “If you just attempt one, you get a point.”

LaBonte said the competition is like a modified fitness assessment.

“It’s not only you against everyone else,” LaBonte said. “It’s you against you.”

LaBonte added that the event is based loosely on the American College of Sports Medicine, or ACSM, guidelines. He said that participants can take the results they get and look at ACSM guidelines to determine what to improve on. 

LaBonte said registration starts at 9 a.m., one hour before the event starts at, and the cost for the event is $10. He also mentioned that preregistration is available through the Pro Shop and online. 

“There are people already registered,” LaBonte said.” We encourage people to preregister just so we have an idea of how many people are showing up.”

LaBonte said people who register will receive a general fitness and wellness T-shirt, a drawstring bag and a coupon for 20 percent off fitness and wellness services. 

“We are just trying to promote recreational services and fitness and wellness,” LaBonte said. “We will see how well it does — maybe it will become something we do every year.”

Contact Hannah Reed at [email protected].