A demanding, free 8 week boot camp for people with Spinal Cord Injury that meets for 4 hours, once a week. During the class, participants learn about how to exercise and how to set up an exercise space in their homes. At the start of the class, participants are assessed and provided with an individualized activity program consisting of 1 hour of resistive exercises, 1 hour of aerobic and breathing exercises and 1 hour of exercise on a mat using the Spinal Mobility technique. Participants also engage in a group training session during which various aspects of exercise are discussed as the “Topic of the Day”. Topics include the following;
- What are resistive exercises?
- What are aerobic exercises?
- What are the non fitness benefits of exercise?
- How do you develop new habits and change your behaviour to support being more active?
The X Class is staffed by volunteering clinicians and students allowing all the participants to share their knowledge about exercise and rehabilitation while enabling the volunteers to practice the Spinal Mobility technique and review other fitness activities pertinent to this population. Starting in 2012, the X Class has been held at the Aspire Center for Wellness + Health and is currently hosted at the newly-opened Axis Project.
The X Class is currently provided as an elective to Physical Therapy students at Columbia University and available for course credit to Physical Therapy students at Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY). It is held in the Spring and in the Fall.