The number of people using the new fitness center has doubled at the start of the spring semester, according to athletic staff.
Many students, staff, and gym workers said its new central location and improved workout equipment were incentives for the Emerson community to exercise more, and it was always the college’s intention to build a new fitness center in Piano Row, according to Ron Smithers, the associate athletic director.
“But then the pandemic and a lot of factors moved the project [further back],” he said. Smithers also said the new center now has all brand new and “effectively double” the amount of equipment.
The Fitness Center opened inside the first and lower levels of Piano Row last November after six years off campus in a temporary location, said Smithers. The Fitness Center has had three different locations in the past seven years. Before 2018, it sat in the college’s Little Building. Most recently it was located at 42 Summer St. in Downtown Crossing before making the move back on campus three months ago.
Christian Jones, a junior writing, literature, and publishing major who has been using the gym since it was located in Downtown Crossing, said the equipment in the new center made a difference.
“Sometimes machines would be broken at the [Downtown Crossing] one,” said Jones. “Everything feels cleaner which really makes you have more energy to work out, and people are more motivated to go with you.”
Sadie Scholl, a freshman majoring in sports communication from California, walked out of the lower level of the fitness center Jan. 24 after a midday workout. She had only one complaint: “These stairs are killer going back up after,” she said jokingly as she pushed herself through the last set of steps up to the ground floor.
Scholl visited the Downtown Crossing location only once last semester with some friends, and while she did not consistently use the gym, she said that she would have been scared to work out at night because of the walk to and from the Summer Street.
“The [new] location is so much more convenient and having it closer to main campus buildings feels safer,” Scholl said.
The operating hours of the Fitness Center were also extended with its move back on campus, a well-received move, students say.
“The fact that its hours are so flexible is helpful because I have class schedules that are really opposite,” said freshman Addy Goldstein, who was working out with her friend, freshman Zee Ajayi.
Goldstein said that people are “way more willing” to go to the new center, jokingly calling it “sleek and beautiful and to die for compared to the other gym.”
“It’s brighter in there and more motivating,” said Ajayi.
“The only thing I think is missing,” Goldstein said as she looked at Ajayi and smiled. In unison, the two said “more mirrors.”
“The people who go to the gym are narcissists who love looking at themselves,” said Goldstein. “I’m talking about me, I love looking at myself and it is definitely motivating to see yourself.”
Sophomore lacrosse player Zach Stern-Hayes said the new center is “working out really well for everyone.” For athletes like him who have always done group workouts in the center, Stern-Hayes said he thought the layout of the new center was better at keeping teams out of other students’ ways.
Smithers said that everything he had heard so far about the center was positive. Eventually, the center plans to let fitness training certified students run workout classes and bring in diverse wellness programs, he said.
“The fact that twice as many people are coming really shows location is everything,” he said.
