Dan Neeble is professor at Loras College in the engineering and computer technology departments, but lately he has been getting his body ready for the rigors of Ragbrai for the summer.

“I have been working out to get some exercise,” said Neeble. “I’m trying to build up some strength, agility, and flexibility for Ragbrai.”

One of the key reasons for this is that fact that he has his own personal trainer, Jonathan Koenig. Koenig is a physical education major and his taking a class in the sports science department that offers Loras faculty personal trainers free of charge.

Neeble first heard about this opportunity from one of his colleagues and thought that he would give it a try. He signed up for the program and was later assigned Koenig as his personal trainer.

“Some of the other people that I have talked to that are doing the program say that they are learning a little more about what is a good way work out and what is a good to build muscle,” said Neeble.

The class starts out as just as any other class. They discuss how they should construct their workouts and proper ways of stretching before they actually get their clients or in this case the Loras faculty. Then they will meet with clients for the next six weeks to improve their physical fitness.

“We can show them exactly what they need to be doing and the proper ways to do it so nobody can get hurt,” said Koenig.

Each client fills out an evaluation sheet in which type of workouts they want to do or what type of the body they want to improve. In Neeble’s case, he wanted to improve his leg muscle for the 400 plus mile bike ride across the state Iowa so it will much easier.

“I went for a bike ride yesterday and I can tell that the endurance was a lot better than it had been just from the few times we work out together so far,” said Neeble.

The personal trainer also marks down the progress that their clients make in order to keep them on pace with their goals. One thing that Neeble really appreciates is the fact that it is a scheduled workout and it forces him to go to the Athletic Wellness Center to exercise.

“I rely on him (Koenig) for the knowledge and the understanding on how to do things, so if I’m not sure I am going to tell him,” said Neeble.