Crowded gym

posted in: Opinion | 0

During certain times of the day, the weight room accumulates so many people that it is difficult to walk through without getting in the way. With the machines and weights extremely close together it leaves little space for walking. Once people use the aisle way as their work out space, it becomes a slim to none chance you are getting through. The overcrowding in the weight room causes the Stoller Center to be an inadequate space for athletes to train.

Currently the Stoller Center consists of two weight rooms: the main weight room is 5,000 square feet located in the front where all students and faculty have access to exercise, and additionally, Pacific built a second weight room in 2011 within the field house only for athletes with the supervision of a coach. During the afternoon, routinely around 3 p.m., the main weight room begins to fill with students. With 1,644 students attending Pacific, consisting of 18 varsity teams, there is bound be a large amount of traffic.

Some bring up the idea of not using the weight room during the busy hours. However, as active college students our schedules are packed full and have certain time allotted for workouts. We should not have to change our entire schedule around the crowding of a weight room.

Now, I understand the immense costs associated with expanding the weight room. So what about the second weight room, why not allow athletes without regulations? It typically goes unused due to the lack of a coach supervisor. Granting varsity athletes the authorization to enter anytime will free up space (considering a majority of the students working out are athletes) and put the space to use without additional expenses.

I realize there may be a liability issue associated with unsupervised athletes. However, the main room is not monitored and there are hardly any mishaps.  As varsity athletes perhaps we can be trusted enough to use this space with responsibility.

Essentially, with the increase in undergraduate students, specifically varsity athletes with the addition of football, we have out grown the weight room provided. An activity that is supposed to be stress relieving and relaxing has become frustrating and prolonged. All we need is more space. Better yet, space is there; why not let us use it?

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