What's the deal with Working Out @ SBU?

<p>I'm a new graduate student here.</p>

<p>I wanted to run on a treadmill and do some free weights- so I went to the "gym" they have in the Student Center. It had nice equipment, but the entire place was way too small, and the locker rooms were pitifully small...a little cramped if you catch my drift.</p>

<p>So then I decided today to check out the actual sports complex. As I thought, it had a great huge locker room, so no complaints there.</p>

<p>The problem is, I can't for the life of me find a room for aerobic exercise! No rooms full of treadmills and other machines like most gyms have...</p>

<p>I decided to go to the weight room, which I DID find- and was utterly disappointed. There is a great "varsity" weight room that I couldn't go into since I don't belong to an undergraduate team. The weight room for everyone else was stock full of Cold War-era machines, that you need to bring your OWN WEIGHT PIN for?! I've never seen this in a gym- making people bring their own PINS for Christs sakes???</p>

<p>So I ended up unable to lift weights in there since I couldnt use any of the machines without a pin >:-/</p>

<p>Please, someone please tell me there is a nice, adequate room in the sports center where I can find some free weights, some decent aerobic equipment, you know, the stuff most schools have?</p>

<p>Did you go to the gym on the third floor of the SAC? The one downstairs sucks, while the upstairs more ventilated, better equipment(it has all the equipment you want) and is big enough.</p>

<p>Delfino, I went to the SAC 3rd floor gym. Perhaps you haven’t seen many big university gyms before.</p>

<p>let me say this- the SAC gym bathroom has TWO showers, and about 40 little lockers. To shower and change, you are literally BUTT to BUTT with 3 other men the entire time. It’s beyond pitiful.</p>

<p>The actual size of the gym is decent, but nowhere close to how spacious most college gyms are (one corner for freeweights was taken up for 20 minutes by about 4 guys).</p>

<p>What I was mainly PO’d @ with the SAC gym was the locker rooms…terrible really. It’s almost like they want commuters/grad students to not work out there (after all,we cant just go back to our dorms after working out before class to shower/change).</p>

<p>It is really disappointing. They have a weight room with old equipment, which sometimes is outright dangerous. A lot of the benches are wobbly and give out in the middle of exercises and like you said, it is not structured for large use, which is why it is always stuffed and disorganized. The problem is that it wasn’t designed with a gym in mind, they just wanted to make a weight room to get the job done.</p>

<p>I stopped going for 8 months and got a membership at LA fitness. Now I have been going for a week, and it simply cannot be done. I only do lifting and there isn;t enough equipment to work all body parts. Several machine attachments have gone missing, so it is really limiting. All there is to do really is complain, the situation is not going to change anytime soon, which is why I am going back to a membership at a large gym.</p>

<p>So frasifrasi, there is NO aerobic room in the main gym? Just that beat-ass old weight room for kids to use???</p>

<p>That’s why we’re building the new rec center, unfortunately. Don’t be afraid to raise the issue with Sue DiMonda and/or the Recreation staff; budgets are tight, so things won’t change overnight, but the more students raise the issue, the more likely it is for something to be done about it.</p>

<p>Real change, though, might not happen until the new building opens. (I’m told it’s expected during the 2011-2012 year.)</p>

<p>Chris</p>

<p>Thanks for the response, Chris. I might bring it up with the higher authorities. </p>

<p>I’m not sure I’ll still be here in 2012, but I’ve decided that the outdoor track is fine enough for me to run on until it gets too cold. I can still use the athletic center locker room then.</p>

<p>As for weight lifting, I’ll have to endure the small space the SAC offers. I appreciate someone “official” responding to this post, though :)</p>

<p>Yes, the best you get is the treadmills and the weights that are available. I give credit to the students, though. A lot of times you see everyone working together and getting really creative with exercises. It isn’t for me, though, because I have been lifting and bodybuilding for roughly 3 years and I shoot for results. If I don’t have the equipment available to target specific body parts or have to wait several minutes to do some exercise , I am not reaching full potential. But it works for most people. Keep in mind that a LOT of people start working out in the beginning of the semester but most simply give up as the workload increases or just get bored and stop going, so it tends to get better after a month or so.</p>

<p>What do you mean by aerobic machines? I know they have stationary bikes, treadmills, and ellipticals? I also think they have some group classes in the sports complex, but I don’t have too much information about it.</p>