Engage in Your Physical Well-Being

Updated with new offerings on September 29, 2022.

GW’s Lerner Health and Wellness Center is temporarily closed until mid-fall as we perform extensive HVAC work throughout the entire building to replace outdated and non-functioning units. We will provide an update to the university community when we have a firm reopening date.

The Lerner team continues to provide physical well-being opportunities in other locations both on- and off-campus. Group fitness classes will be offered at District House and alternative workout spaces are open for students at both Mount Vernon and Foggy Bottom locations. Additionally, local gyms in Foggy Bottom are offering student discounts to GW students.

The following opportunities are available to full- or part-time GW students enrolled in a fall 2022 on-campus class. Full- and part-time, online-only students are eligible only for our virtual options.

*Faculty and staff paid memberships to Lerner are temporarily paused during this closure. Please check out these physical well-being opportunities offered through GW’s Human Resource Management & Development Office.

**New: Campus Rec Basketball Opportunities Throughout October

An outdoor and indoor basketball court will be available from 2 - 8 pm each Sunday in October (ie: Oct. 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30) and Sundays in November, if needed.

The courts are located at St. Patrick’s Episcopal School, the school on Whitehaven Parkway across from the Mount Vernon Campus main entrance.

Free/open basketball play, men’s and women’s club practices, and intramural sports leagues will be offered.

Campus Rec is working directly with club sport presidents and intramural sport captains regarding practice and league play.
If you or someone you know is interested in playing intramural basketball this year, please have them email [email protected] and request to be added to the IM sports league info list.
The courts will accommodate open/free play opportunities from 2 - 8 pm each Sunday. No reservations/RSVP needed for open/free play, just show up by yourself or with a friend/group of friends and have fun.
Staff will be onsite to monitor free/open play and to direct club and Intramural participants to the proper locations. Basketballs will be supplied, however, we encourage you to bring your own wipe-off towel and water bottle.

How to Get to St. Patrick’s School: From Foggy Bottom take the Mount Vernon Express Shuttle. On Sundays, the shuttle runs every 15 minutes from 7 am - 7 pm, and every 30 minutes from 7 pm - midnight. Track the shuttle’s status on the GW Rider app on (Apple/Android).

Workout Room in University Student Center for GW Students

Any enrolled GW student (undergraduate, graduate, law, medical, or doctoral) can access workout equipment in University Student Center (USC) Room 301. Equipment in this space is self-powered and includes free weights, yoga mats, training balls, self-powered rowing machines, and upright bikes. Treadmills, stairmasters, etc. are not available at this location.

Open Monday - Sunday: 7 am - midnight. The USC will be open during Fall Break but may have reduced hours.

West Hall Gym at the Mount Vernon Campus

The West Hall gym includes a main workout room and small studio space for group fitness programming. Treadmills, ellipticals, ARC trainers, stairmaster, and free weights are available at this location.

West Hall Gym opens on Monday, Aug. 29. Fall hours are Monday - Friday: 8 am - 9 pm; Saturday 10 am - 4 pm and Sunday noon - 8 pm. All enrolled GW students have GWorld Card tap access to this location.

**New: Lloyd Gym at the Mount Vernon Campus

Lloyd Gymnasium, located on the left as you enter Mount Vernon’s main entrance on Campus Drive, includes cardiovascular equipment and free weights for strength training. The center of the gym features an Astroturf floor that supplies extra bounce and support during workouts. This space, an NCAA-approved strength training facility for GW’s intercollegiate athletics program, will be open for students to do individual, self-paced workouts using the equipment provided.

Starting, Sunday, Oct. 2: Open Monday – Friday: 7 – 10 pm, and Sundays: 1 – 8 pm, including Fall Break. All enrolled GW students have GWorld Card tap access to Lloyd gym during these times.

In-Person Group Fitness Classes on Foggy Bottom

No need to register; just show up! First-come, first-serve for the first 30 participants at each class. These free classes will be held in the Dance Studios in District House or at the Smith Center’s Champions Club. Class types, days, and times will vary. We will send a weekly email highlighting classes for the week ahead. Interested? Fill out this Group Fitness Interest Form to sign-up for the weekly email.

Weekly Yoga Class at Mount Vernon

An all-levels yoga class will be offered on Fridays from 4-5 pm in the Hand Chapel on the Mount Vernon Campus. The class is open to all students. Please bring your own mat. Note: Hand Chapel is accessed via stairs and does not have an elevator for ADA accessibility

Pool Hours Extended at Mount Vernon

The Mount Vernon Campus pool will be open on Saturday and Sundays from 10 am – 8 pm through Sunday, Oct. 2, at which time the pool will be closed to prepare it for cold weather winterizing.

Lerner on Demand: Instructional Videos at Your Convenience

Our group fitness instructors have recorded over 200 fitness classes that you can participate in at your own pace. Visit our YouTube Channel and explore these online classes from your residence hall room or off-campus apartment. Or, grab a few friends and create a new weekly Saturday tradition–a group workout and then brunch at District House!

Walking/Running Routes: Explore Foggy Bottom & Nearby Neighborhoods

We mapped out several walking/running routes that allow you to explore Foggy Bottom and some of our surrounding neighborhoods – including the National Mall. These routes range from one to eight miles.

Outdoor Adventures via GW TRAiLS

GW TRAiLS is an outdoor adventure and leadership program committed to connecting our students to the outdoors. Join GW TRAiLS on one of our upcoming day or weekend trips this fall.

Learn more and sign-up for one of our upcoming fall trips. Check back often as we continue to add both day and weekend outdoor adventures.

To register, sign in with your GW email account. If it’s your first-time logging into the Campus Rec Portal, follow the instructions in RED to reset your password. Select a trip, follow the prompts, and submit payment to complete your registration. All trip fees include all associated costs for participation, transportation, food, etc. unless otherwise noted.

You must complete registration 24-hours prior to a trip’s departure. If a trip reaches capacity, you may register to be placed on a waitlist. If a spot becomes available, you will be notified at least 24-hours in advance.

If you need to cancel your registration, check out each trip’s cancellation deadline as defined in their registration process. Cancellation windows vary and processing fees may not be refunded.

If you are facing financial hardship, we offer partial and full fee waivers based on individual circumstances. If you are interested in an upcoming trip and the trip fee prohibits you from signing-up, please email us at [email protected] with the following information: Your name; GWID, trip you’re interested in; a brief description of what waiver amount (e.g. 25%, 50%, 100%) would help you to be able to participate.

Intramural Sports

This fall, we will be rotating our traditional schedule so that the intramural sports offered are all outdoors. Basketball will be a late fall semester or early spring semester activity this academic year. Fall leagues include soccer, flag football, and–if there is interest–we can offer ultimate frisbee and kickball. Games will be on the National Mall. If interested, email us at [email protected].

Club Sports

GW offers 10 Club Sports teams for men, eight teams for women, and 22 co-ed teams. Club Sports teams are open to all students. If you are interested in joining a Club Sports team visit the team’s Engage page to contact the president and/or team contact, or visit us at one of the Org Fair Fridays in September, part of Weeks of Welcome. The team’s president or an executive board member will be your primary point of contact for practices and games.

Student Discounts Offered at Local Gyms

Gyms in the Foggy Bottom/West End area are accepting new members and some offer discounts to college students when you show your student ID. Please contact individual locations about student membership options, including OrangeTheory Fitness, Soul Cycle, PureBarre, SolidCore, Madabolic (Dupont), VIDA Fitness, and Washington Sports Club.

Discounted Access to Local Gyms Through the Active & Fit Program

For a low cost of $29/month, students who sign-up for an Active & Fit membership will get access to 7,500 of Active & Fit’s partners–including Gold’s Gym and Planet Fitness in the Foggy Bottom/West End area.

Memberships are $29/month with a two-month minimum plus an enrollment fee and applicable taxes. On initial sign-up, your credit card is charged $87. This includes a one-time $29 enrollment fee and a two-month minimum membership of $29. If a participant chooses to cancel after two months, you must provide a 30-day notice of cancellation directly to Active & Fit.
The month-to-month membership can continue as long as you want. Your Active & Fit membership does not need to end once Lerner reopens.
Participants must be 18 years of age and have a valid GW student email address.
To enroll, you must use the dedicated link provided below. The link cannot be copied and pasted, nor can it be typed into a web browser.
Once enrolled, print or save to your phone the Active & Fit fitness card, and show it to the participating fitness center. The fitness card is available in the member’s Active & Fit Direct account.
Once you sign-up with Active & Fit, all interactions are between you and Active & Fit. GW is not a party to the individual agreements between students and Active & Fit.