Fitness Programs

Please take a virtual tour of our facility.

RIC offers a Strength & Conditioning program that focuses on enhancing participants' physical potential, while at the same time increasing social, psychological, and leisure skills and awareness. The Fitness Center serves people with all different types of disabilities and has adaptable equipment to suit everyone's needs. On an average, the fitness program alone sees about 20,000 visits a year, making it the largest program offered by the Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Sports Program. This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Chicago Blackhawk Charities, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation.

Exercise increases muscular strength, improves balance and coordination, reduces the risks of heart disease, and helps individuals maintain an independent lifestyle.

Benefits of Exercise

Stroke
Spinal Cord Injuries
Multiple Sclerosis
Cerebral Palsy

• Reduces hypertension
• Enhances glucose regulation
• Improves blood lipid profile
• Reduces body fat
• Increases flexibility
• Leads to increased mobility and less dependence on assistive devices

Visit the American Heart Association website

Spinal Cord Injuries: Benefits of Exercise

• Increases muscular strength and endurance (in upper body)
• Enhances sense of well-being
• Helps prevent upper-extremity over use injuries
• 10-20% improvement in peak power output and VO2 max

Visit the National Spinal Cord Injury Association website

Multiple Sclerosis: Benefits of Exercise

• Promotes greater joint flexibility
• Increases muscular strength and endurance and cardiopulmonary endurance
• Improves functional performance
• Leads to increased energy and boosts self-image

Visit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society website
Visit the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation website

Cerebral Palsy: Benefits of Exercise

• Leads to an enhanced sense of well-being
• Lessens the severity of spasticity and athetasis
• Increases range of motion
• Improves coordination
• Increases strength and muscular endurance, including skeletal muscle hypertrophy

Visit the United Cerebral Palsy website
Visit the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke website