On the second floor of the UT Recreational Sports Center, F45 participants linger at their stations eagerly, watching screens at the front of the studio that display a countdown to the fitness playoffs.

“45 seconds of work, 50 seconds of rest, 10 stations in total,” said Kelly Tang, a F45 coach, program assistant and accounting senior. “You’re going to hear a countdown to get started.”

On Thursday evening, UT RecSports hosted its annual F45 fitness playoffs, a global event in partnership with the F45 fitness brand built on promoting science-based, high-intensity, full-body training. Led by student coaches, the competition consisted of 10 stations, each lasting 45 seconds per heat of participants to make for nine rounds of 20 minutes.

Given less than a minute per exercise, fast-paced movements left sweat marks and spilled water bottles as participants pushed themselves to complete as many reps as they could in the allotted time. Amidst the booming house music, public relations freshman Gabriella Sifford can be seen pushing herself to earn her reps. Sifford, who said her life revolves around fitness, finds the competition to be a uniting force.

“I get a lot of encouragement in (the) community and being around people who are like, ‘Let’s go, you got this,’” Sifford said. 

Part of the voices that pushed individuals throughout the competition included F45 coach and first-year social work graduate student, Gabrielle Carrasco. Since joining F45 classes on her second day of freshman year, Carrasco said she found a community among the people who chat about their lives, work out and crack jokes in the middle of intense workouts.

“Opening up (F45) playoffs … to people beyond TeXercise … gives them the opportunity to see that it’s actually fun,” Carrasco said. “Working out with people is actually fun and exciting.”

The UT F45 studio opened in 2018 as part of F45’s collegiate expansion and, under the TeXercise program, offers over 35 classes a semester with almost 3,000 exercises. 

Participants of all fitness levels have the opportunity to take classes that range from cardio and resistance to a combination of both. Over 50 participants competed in the playoffs for this year, hosting a combination of people who have never tried F45 and those who have never skipped a fitness class.

“We really look forward to building our F45 community and really focusing on the participants and seeing how far something that’s really unique here with the F45 community (can go),” said Maddie Kuehne, assistant director for fitness and wellness. 

The fitness playoffs marked a first for Sifford, but definitely not a last. Though reaching a mental block mid-station, Sifford said she found herself motivated by the coaches, community and F45.

“It’s that sense of community that I search for in fitness,” Sifford said. “It comes together and it helps you push through those hard times.”