If you’re on Instagram straight flexin’, you may want to add #stackedstudent to your selfies.
Boise-based fitness company, Body-bulding.com, is conducting a “Stacked Student Search” through Nov. 17 to promote its free fitness program for students, “Big Man on Campus.” The search is open to all students in the US, and participants must register on Bodybuilding.com before they are eligible to compete.
Steve Cook, Bodybuilding.com fitness model, said he put the program together after Bodybuilding.com approached him about a study of weight gain in college students.
“The study looked at stress, food on campus — it all added up to students gaining weight,” Cook said. “We wanted to create something to give kids an opportunity to really take it on themselves, build their schedule and make time for fitness.”
The program covers what lifts to do, what food and supplements to consume, and how to manage your time and set goals, all within the common constraints of college life. Cook said the videos that correspond with the program are some of the highest rated on Bodybuilding.com.
Cook said Bodybuilding.com came to him because of his own experience as a student athlete.
“I was somebody in college who played college football, loved to work out, lived in the weight room, but as a biology and psychology integrated studies major, school took up a lot of my time,” Cook said. “My goal in college was to build muscle, just like it is for so many people.”
Cook said the search is a way to rejuvenate the program, which is more than a year old, so more students can use the program to maximize their performance in college.
“My senior project as an integrated studies major was taking a look at how exercise in college can improve cognitive areas,” Cook said.
The search, which is sponsored by Optimum Nutrition, has been going since Oct. 7, and consists of students posting photos of themselves working out, or flexing after their workouts. Contestants tag the photos #bmoc, #stackedstudent and @bodybuilding.com. Each photo submitted gives the student a chance to be one of the weekly winners. An athlete of each gender will be selected. Weekly winners may appear in special features on Bodybuilding.com, as well as win $150 in Bodybuilding.com store credit toward Optimum Nutrition products. According to the Stacked Student Search webpage on Bodybuiding.com, “selfies will be judged on originality, the ability to inspire others and overall awesomeness.”
One weekly winner will be chosen for the grand prize which includes a $1000 credit for Optimum Nutrition products and a personal training session with Cook, who will visit their campus when his busy schedule permits.
The search appears to be doing well on social media with more than 2000 photos posted on Instagram, so far. Students can also post selfies to Twitter and Facebook.
Cook said Bodybuilding.com is looking to get more involved with college campuses after the search concludes, but there may be some roadblocks.
“Bodybuilding.com is thinking about doing more with colleges around the country, you know whether that would include me doing some seminars and working out with people or what, but there are some laws in a few states that could make it difficult at this time,” Cook said. “But they are definitely going to be doing more with college students in the future.”
Andrew Deskins
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