Several teachers college facilities — the ceramics studio, the (now shuttered) swimming pool and 19th-century lift elevator, the Earth Friends cooking lab — often prompt visitors (and sometimes even employees) to say, “I never knew TC had . . .” But the showstopper may be the College’s new EXerT Clinic & Applied Physiology Lab on the 10th floor of Thorndike Hall.
EXerT, directed by Carol Ewing Garber, Professor of Movement Sciences, boasts stethoscopes, blood pressure sleeves, digital scales, treadmills and an advanced Body Composition Analyzer (mBCA) that measures a person’s Body Mass Index through electrical impulses that are transmitted through their bare feet.
A venue for TC students to launch cutting-edge research studies on movement, exercise and health management, the lab has evaluated Olympic-caliber men’s and women’s rowing teams for the physiological outcomes generated by intense exercise. But EXerT also welcomes the TC community each week (Thursdays) for health screenings and counseling.
“We offer different evaluations about people’s physical activity and exercise habits, from the world-class Olympic hopeful to that person who hates exercise and really isn’t active at all,” Garber says. “Other universities may have fitness programs or traditionally-run exercise classes. Ours is a way of bringing our scientific knowledge and expertise to everybody and making it accessible.”