There’s a new focus on fitness at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

After eights years of planning and construction, the $34 million Warrior Recreation Center is finally open on the upper campus. The immaculate 67,000-square-foot, two-story building opened April 11, 14 months past the original target date. The center offers a multipurpose gymnasium with an indoor jogging track overhead, and two floors of cardio and weightlifting equipment, complete with rotating climbing walls.

"It’s been a long wait, but we’re happy with what we’ve got," said Lloyd Hisaka, director of UH Student Recreation Services.

Just to give you an idea of what a vast improvement the new facility is over the old one, consider this: UH’s former fitness center, located in a single room on the bottom floor of the Stan Sheriff Center, had 10 cardio machines, "if we were lucky," Hisaka said.

The Warrior Recreation Center boasts approximately 100 top-of-the-line treadmills, elliptical trainers and other cardio equipment.

It’s a dazzling and convenient facility for UH students, who have been paying a $175 Campus Center and recreation fee each semester to fund the project and now finally get to utilize it for free — as long as they are still enrolled.

"I have maybe a month left of school, so I might as well milk it as much as I can," Erna Alonzo, a senior from Kahului, said at the facility’s grand opening.

UH faculty and staff can pay to use the center, as can alumni who graduated in the 2008 spring semester, when students started paying the recreation fee, and later. (UH officials indicated last week in a news release that they will consider extending membership to other alumni once they can get a good assessment of facility usage.)

The Warrior Recreation Center is a welcome addition to the Manoa campus for students who want to stay healthy and avoid the dreaded "freshman 15" weight gain and other hazards of a hard-charging college life.

We dropped by the center to find out how some UH students stay healthy and fit.

BEFORE college, Alonzo, 22, had no interest in strength training.

"I always thought cardio, cardio, cardio," she said. "Then I was like, ‘You know what? I don’t really like cardio. I might as well try weight training.’"

So Alonzo enrolled in a weight-training class, which helped her find a workout she actually enjoyed.

"I thought, well, might as well take that so I have a reason to go to the gym," she said. "And then I’ll go when I don’t have to go, just to do it. It’s more just for fun, not like, ‘Oh, I have to get skinny.’ Just more for fun."

Alonzo says she doesn’t really focus on her diet — "I eat whatever" — and has had no problems fitting in her workouts.

"Right now it’s easy because I have a lot of breaks. Once you get in the mindset that it’s for fun, then you want to go and work out."

While he keeps an active lifestyle, sophomore Roger Sibayan, 20, of Salt Lake knows a healthy diet is just as important, if not more so.

"I always like to think about ‘What am I eating?’ — portions especially," he said. "I also try to cut out all that junk food, trying to get to my personal goal. I’m trying to get toned down a little bit.

"Everyone tells me diet is 80 percent and 20 percent is workout. So I’m trying to incorporate all of that."

Sibayan is a regular at an off-campus gym but also gets exercise from outdoor activities such as hiking Koko Crater and going to the beach with friends.

Now that the Warrior Recreation Center is open, the engineering major says he’ll "most definitely" consider using the campus gym, especially because it’s free for students. Sibayan’s gym time mostly involves weightlifting and some cardio.

"I’m here (on campus) almost the whole day on certain days, and sometimes I want a chance to escape the school life," he said. "So I want to be like, ‘OK, I want to hit the gym.’ And it’s right there. Most definitely we’ll be taking advantage of that one."

HANNAH Kinsolving knows all about health and fitness.

The 23-year-old junior kinesiology major from Seattle is schooled in how the body works and how to keep it working optimally. Her concentration is in nutrition, so she tries to eat healthy by avoiding fast food and sticking to healthier options while on campus.

"It’s on my mind often," she said of her nutrition.

She chooses lean proteins like chicken, and vegetables such as green beans, broccoli and sweet potatoes.

Exercise-wise, Kinsolving enjoys running, lifting weights and occasional yoga sessions.

"I try to just make it happen, like, five times a week," she said. "It helps me get things done. It helps me feel better about myself, to be active."

Most of her classes are on UH’s lower campus, so it’ll take a little more effort to get to the new Warrior Recreation Center than it did to use the school’s previous fitness space at Stan Sheriff Center.

"It’s a way nicer gym so it’s worth it," Kinsolving said. "It’s such an upgrade from what we (had)."

SOPHOMORE Genni Brookshire, 30, admits that when she needs to cut something out of her day to make more time for studying, her first sacrifice is exercise.

"Usually the first thing to go from my schedule when I’m busy is I don’t go running," said the marine biology major from Reno, Nev. "It’s really tough, especially when school gets really busy, for me to keep up with that."

Running, Brookshire says, is her main form of exercise. But she also enjoys activities that are fun and physically demanding, such as surfing and bodyboarding. A resident of Waikiki, she usually hits the waves at the Wall or at Diamond Head.

Like her friend Kinsolving, Brookshire tries to eat a healthy diet but finds it difficult to do so on the UH campus.

"It is expensive," Brookshire said. "And a lot of the stuff you can get doesn’t really have a lot of nutritional value. You can get stuff that’s not fried or that is a salad, but a lot of times it’s not going to have all the vegetables and protein that you really need in a meal."

Instead, she opts to make her own meals. But she and Kinsolving pointed out another challenge to establishing healthy habits on campus: There aren’t a lot of microwave ovens for students to use, they say.

"It’s not really conducive to bringing your own food," Kinsolving said.

BACK IN high school in Hilo, Zackery Shozuya was a two-sport athlete, playing football and running track. But while the 22-year-old junior isn’t on a Rainbow Warrior team, he still tries to keep in shape by hitting the gym at least five times a week.

"I’m just trying to stay healthy, not really trying to focus on anything in particular," he said while taking a break from his weightlifting session at the Warrior Recreation Center.

A major reason Shozuya wants to stay fit is because of his family’s health history, which includes high blood pressure and diabetes. With that in mind, he also tries to limit his intake of sweets and salt.

"I kind of want to better my health to prevent that," he said. "And it (working out) makes me feel better."

Good Fit spotlights inspiring fitness stories of change, self-discovery and challenge, and other fitness-related topics. Tell us what motivates you and how you stay fit and healthy. Email features@staradvertiser.com.