Host: The start of the school year has been different from any other type of school year. COVID-19 has made school systems vastly different than years past. Hello, I’m Grant Goupil. Here at Mercer, University Center gymnasium might seem like a place to be careful. Today I have with me Xavier Perkins, who is a junior at Mercy University. Xavier tends to work out at the University Center gym frequently.  How would you say that the school is doing in regard to maintaining a safe environment in the University Center gym.

Guest: I think the schools doing a pretty good job about it. Every time I go to University Center and workout I see spray bottles, I see rags. And every time I’m finished with a set, I’ll make sure to wipe up behind myself. So I’m leaving it clean for the next person.

Host: Would you say that covid has changed the way that you go about working out every day?

Guest: Oh, definitely. Yes. I’m very conscious of the weights. I touch the bench as I touch any equipment that I touch. I pretty much wipe it off. And I’m always conscious about who’s been there before me.

Host: What, if anything, are you a little bit more careful of when going to work out? Or are you really not even worried about that at all?

Guest: I’m always making sure I have a mask on, always making sure there’s rags available. At first throughout the semester, I was very strict on myself about that. But I will say I’ve been very lax in the past few weeks about those things.

Host: Would you say that working out helps you to get your mind off, you know the everyday stresses of school, that you know go on with a student?

Guest: Yes, definitely. I try to get two lifts a day in but if I can’t, I’ll just stick to one one lift a day, it really helps me get my mind off the stresses.

Host: when you do work out what time do you normally work out? Are you more of a morning person at night or whenever you want to go?

Guest: I work out in the morning. I’m definitely a morning person. At night I like to work out at seven, seven o’clock at night. I did about a two hour lifting if the day permits if my class schedule allows me to do that.

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