{"id":421331,"date":"2026-10-07T16:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T16:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/421331\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T16:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T16:50:10","slug":"wellness-redefined-the-miami-hurricane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/421331\/","title":{"rendered":"Wellness, redefined – The Miami Hurricane"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A student walks in the Herbert Wellness Center on Friday Oct. 2, 2026. The Herbert Wellness Center offers a variety of classes from Aqua fit to Buns & Bellies. \/\/ Olivia Attalla, Contributing Photographer<\/p>\n

On any given morning at the University of Miami, wellness is easy to spot. Every treadmill at the Herbert Wellness Center is full, students pour out of the Metrorail on their way to a Pilates class and iced matcha accompany 9 a.m. lectures.<\/p>\n

However, being \u201chealthy\u201d at UM looks different than it used to.<\/p>\n

Wellness has been part of UM culture for decades. As early as the 1960s, the University promoted physical activity through organized intramural leagues and competitions from badminton and volleyball to wrestling and swimming. The University continued that commitment by opening the Patti and Allan Herbert Wellness Center<\/a> in 1996.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In August 2000, the University\u2019s rowing team invited students who had never rowed before to try the sport as walk-ons, drawing more than 70 students to Lake Osceola.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost were simply students eager to try something new, enjoy the Florida sun on the water, and get fit,\u201d said Melanie Borger, an assistant crew rowing coach at UM in 2000. \u201cThere seemed to be something about the beauty of Coral Gables and its year-round summer weather that encouraged a fitness culture you didn\u2019t always find on other campuses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aug. 17, 2026, marked the busiest day in Wellness Center history, with 4,946 entries, according to Student Affairs Wellness & Recreation. While the gym still remains a major part of campus wellness, the way students define a healthy lifestyle has expanded far beyond working out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The old pillars of a healthy lifestyle were simple: Working out, eating healthy, drinking water and getting sleep were enough to check the boxes.<\/p>\n

The current wellness regimen has expanded to include pilates, run clubs, matcha, step goals, fitness trackers and workout-sharing apps.<\/p>\n

Miami ranks as the third-best city in the U.S. for supporting healthy living, according to Coworking Cafe<\/a>. The warm weather and UM\u2019s fitness facilities, group classes and recreational sports make wellness easy to build into everyday life.<\/p>\n

Freshman Minal Qadeem said UM\u2019s resources have encouraged her to incorporate more cardio into her routine since moving from Memphis, Tennessee.<\/p>\n

But perhaps the biggest shift is that wellness has become social.<\/p>\n

Instead of simply asking a friend to grab lunch, students are increasingly spending time together through wellness and movement. They take Zumba classes outside Richter, practice nighttime yoga by the pond, compete in pull-up challenges hosted by fitness influencers, take Pilates classes across the city, join intramural 3v3 basketball leagues and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy friends and I enjoy trying out new workout classes because it\u2019s a fun way to spend time together while also staying active. Recently, I went to a CorePower class for the first time with friends because they recommended it,\u201d said freshman Maya Mitchell.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Technology has added another layer by making wellness measurable and competitive and, at times, a marker of status. Expensive boutique fitness memberships, health-tracking devices and activewear can turn wellness into something students display as much as practice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Freshman Luke Sinatra recently competed in a StepBet challenge. This app lets users bet money on meeting step goals. After a busy day caused him to lose the challenge, Sinatra said, \u201cMissing my step goal was frustrating because getting steps on campus is usually so easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those numbers influence some student\u2019s daily routines. Summer Cowen said her step count has increased since coming to college, motivating her to aim for 10,000 to 15,000 steps daily.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve started walking around campus between classes or during my free time specifically to get more steps in,\u201d Cowen said.<\/p>\n

Wellness has also developed its own aesthetic. Workout sets worn in class, trendy water bottles and matcha have become staples of everyday campus life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prevalence of athletic wear and fitness trackers makes wellness feel less like a separate activity and more like part of everyday life at UM,\u201d said freshman Eric Hurt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hurt pointed to the popularity of Alo clothing and Whoop bands as examples of how wellness has become increasingly visible in students\u2019 everyday routines.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The trend goes beyond what students wear. Wellness has become something students talk about, post about and build into their daily routines.<\/p>\n

UM students have valued wellness for decades, but wellness is no longer simply something students do to stay healthy. It is something they do together, wear, track, talk about and increasingly build into their identities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A student walks in the Herbert Wellness Center on Friday Oct. 2, 2026. The Herbert Wellness Center offers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-421331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}