Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Teenagers stretch before a cycling class at the Weight Club in Blacksburg. Each Tuesday and Thursday night, between 15 and 25 teens take a cycling class geared specifically to their age group.

BLACKSBURG -- An indoor cycling instructor in Blacksburg has one idea to combat teen obesity rates and keep children in the New River Valley healthy.

Each Tuesday and Thursday night, between 15 and 25 teens gather at the Weight Club in Blacksburg for a cycling class geared specifically to their age group. The room is decorated with a pirate flag and strings of lights, and students can hook their MP3 players into the room's sound system.

"I think it's something easy but still a good cardiovascular workout," said Kelly McPherson, class founder and instructor. "It's fun, and we incorporate music they like into it."

The idea is to get teens up and moving no matter what their fitness level, McPherson said.

More after-school fitness programs, such as the cycling class, would be ideal because students and teachers are already loaded with work during the school day, said Patricia Gaudreau, supervisor of science, health and physical education for Montgomery County schools.

It's difficult to make a policy that can be applied to all schools in the county because of the diversity of circumstances in the schools, such as location and population.

In the Montgomery County schools, a wellness team submits three fitness and nutrition goals for students and staff each year, such as offering yoga classes and bike rodeos and asking them to keep logs of their daily physical activity.

It's hard to fit everything students need into a school day, Gaudreau said.

"I think there's definitely a huge focus on fitness, with everyone from the governor's office down," she said. "Most schools struggle with where to place that, because there are also very heavy requirements so students can meet all of the their Standards of Learning" instruction.

The cycling class started in the spring when McPherson, who is also Blacksburg High School's swimming coach, created it as a supplemental workout for the team. Word spread through the community, and students not involved with the swim team started joining the workouts.

"I think it's more of a peer thing, and it's really social," she said. "It's less intimidating than joining an adult class."

Taking the class with people the same age makes the class more fun, said Stuart Hunter, a Blacksburg High School senior.

"There's just something different about being here with people and listening to the same music here than at my house on my iPod," Hunter said. "I really enjoy it."

Hunter is a member of the swim team and started attending the classes when they began. He said he had never taken a cycling class before.

"It's a different way of exercising than I'm used to," Hunter said. "It's still a group activity, but it's different."

It's the same basic cycling class as what would be offered for an adult but with more enthusiasm, said Jamie Roman, another class instructor.

"With adults, I usually explain more about what we're doing when we're working out," Roman said. "The kids don't care what we're doing as much, so I just try to be funny."

Currently there is no obesity or fitness data for the student population of the county as a whole, Gaudreau said. Information is tracked on an individual basis through school health screenings with nurses but isn't collected into any one place, so it's hard to know what kids are doing outside of school and what kind of fitness programs the county might be able to implement, she said.

"The best compromise would be to expand the after-school programs," Gaudreau said.

"I think that could be more of a solution, because they use a different staff instead of overloading the teachers even more."