Christian Yabut has been an F45 instructor since his freshman year. Going into his senior year he became a lab assistant for the Human Performance Lab furthering his love for sports science.

“I’m pretty much living at the Heskett [Center] right now,” Yabut said.

Yabut is a lab assistant for the Human Performance Lab (HP Lab) run by Dr. Heidi Bell.

The HP lab offers resources to both students and the public. A piece of machinery they use is a Dexa Scan which can show body fat percentage and bone mineral content. The lab also offers a VO2 machine that can test endurance. A DARI Motion Analysis is also available which can help analyze movement for people going through physical rehab.

The test offered to students at the HP Lab cost $100. If a student were to go to the hospital to receive a similar test, it would cost thousands of dollars.

“[Working for the HP Lab] has honestly made me a better student,” Yabut said. “They push me to be a better student. Being there in the environment is a lot of fun and you gain so much knowledge out of it that you wouldn’t gain from normal curriculum.”

Yabut is also an instructor for F45. “F” stands for functional and “45” is how many minutes the class lasts. Functional movement can include tasks such as picking up a box from the ground, carrying groceries and opening doors.

“It trains (the) strength and the cardio side,” Yabut said. “To sign up for classes you can sign up through the WSU Campus Rec app. Lots of people are scared of fitness and do not want to go to it and one thing these instructors push is community.”

F45 participants consist of various age ranges of students and faculty.

Dr. Elizabeth Behrman, who is a WSU professor, takes classes regularly at F45  with Yabut.

“So I have to exercise, but I hate exercise. But F45 is actually fun,” Behrman said. ”And the instructors are great, especially Christian.”

Behrman also said she takes classes at F45 because she’s getting older. When adults get older, they start to lose bone mass. F45 is structured to get every muscle group strengthened including the cardiovascular system.

“He’s one of many excellent instructors at F45,” Behrman said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad one. Christian is very good, he’s welcoming, enthusiastic …and he remembers our names. Oh, he’s fantastic.”