Dawn Monahan said she was intimidated by the new GroupX system because the class she wanted to take was labeled as advanced.But the anthropology senior spoke with the instructor and found both comfort and a challenge with the new system.”I like it because there are a lot of people who’ve never worked out … and they’re not going to understand the language [of the class],” Monahan said.The new GroupX class system divides the classes by intensity and degree of choreography. There are all-level classes, intermediate level classes and advanced level classes.Monahan said the new system allows students who’ve never worked out a chance to try in a class specified for all levels, and at the same time, allows students who work out more consistently to attend intermediate or advanced classes which progress in intensity.”One of my friends takes intermediate ballet, and everyone in the class knows what they’re doing,” she said. “[Because of the level specification], they can do more combinations instead of just the basics.”Amy Kokemor, Healthy Lifestyles interim coordinator and GroupX instructor, said 85 percent of the classes are for all levels, and the classes labeled as intermediate or advanced will still accommodate any student who wants to participate. She said at least one class for all levels is always available in every time slot.”[The new system is] more fluid,” Kokemor said. “It’s more consistent. People find what fits them the best, and they tend to stay.”The new system has shown more consistency with specific students. Students are returning more and more each week — something the classes have not seen since participants had to pay a fee — which allows instructors to do more in class and get to know the participants better. Catherine Sticklen, communication studies senior, said she is a regular participant in the mat Pilates class on Mondays.Although the class is not labeled as a specific level, the instructors show the participants different levels of each exercise to challenge the more advanced students while accommodating the less advanced students. The classes have progressively gotten harder, as well.Kokemor said feedback from both participants and the GroupX instructors were the reasons the two levels were implemented within the GroupX schedule.”We were finding that there was a wide range of levels in each class,” she said. “We were modifying every exercise [for each level]. There was a boredom factor for advanced people.”Kokemor said the new system allows regular exercisers to step up through the levels, while providing students who are more sedentary the opportunity to feel comfortable around others of the same level or speed.”It gave [the instructors] a chance to experiment with different workouts,” Kokemor said. “They can do workouts they couldn’t do last year when it was all levels for safety reasons.”Having advanced classes allows for less introduction time and more workouts, routines and combinations. GroupX participation is higher than previous semesters, but these numbers can’t be attributed to the new system specifically.Shannon Smoke, art history graduate student, said she attends the advanced power yoga class on Sundays and likes the new system.”It’s a good thing because it was hard to tell if you can keep up with everybody,” Smoke said.Smoke said she’s learned more yoga positions and is challenged more because of the new system.____Contact Mary Walker Baus at [email protected]