At Western Oregon University, 900 students a year are enrolled in “PE 131 - Individual Health and Fitness.” This course is a 2-credit course required of all students as part of the University's “Liberal Arts Core Curriculum.” An issue in this course has always been the traditional "go to the weight room and lift" laboratory sections. Students register for these labs as scheduled “two-hours-per-week” sessions, and many students have complained that being limited to working out during these “required times” made them feel “less likely” to work out in a weight room again. In trying to develop alternatives to this type of lab experience, relationships have been developed with local fitness clubs in which interested students could work out on their own time (in some clubs as paying members, if they chose to join the club, and in one club by using a term-long guest membership). In addition, a "walking with a pedometer on your own time” lab has been developed to further the number of lab options available to students. In both of these labs, initial responses of students to end-of-program questionnaires indicate that “flexibility of workout time” is the major reason for their choosing to participate in these labs. Students also report that they are “very likely” to continue to use their alternative lab workout on their own in the future, after they have completed the course. The “money issue,” needing to buy a good pedometer or to pay for a club membership, was seen as being the primary obstacle to their commitment to continuing to work out after their course was over. For the “pedometer students,” the advantage found in flexibility of workout time was somewhat counterbalanced by their view that needing to find a walking partner in the future, who may not have a pedometer and may not, therefore, be as committed to exercising, was an issue that may become a significant factor in determining the likelihood of their continued participation in a fitness program on a regular basis after the course was completed.Keyword(s): college level issues, exercise/fitness, participatory