The scene is all too familiar for gym-goers in the past two weeks: occupied cardio machines and a line of disgruntled Jumbos waiting impatiently. With New Year's resolutions fresh in the hearts and minds of a new population of fitness fanatics, the Lunder Fitness Center is currently experiencing its largest crowds of the year, according to Fitness Center Director Michael Pimentel.
Sophomore Jessica Awerman boasts a workout schedule of five days per week throughout the school year. Recently, she has found the fitness center conditions especially aggravating.
"The other day it was the worst," she said. "I had to wait 20 minutes for a treadmill."
Awerman was particularly dissatisfied with the state of the gym in the semester's opening week, when three treadmills, two elliptical machines and one stationary bike were broken.
"Whenever machines go out of order, they need to be fixed," she said. "Most students don't have a lot of time, and if you have to wait, you're just not going to want to come to the gym."
Pimentel explained that machines were thoroughly examined and primed over the winter break in anticipation of a busy New Year's season. The early mechanical difficulties with cardio machines, he said, are the result of wear and tear from unusually heavy use.
According to Pimentel, the New Year's rush is not a new phenomenon. "This is an annual thing that happens, where for the month that we get back from break, volume doubles," he said. "We go from 600 people per day to 1200 and up per day."
The Lunder Fitness Center services more than just Tufts undergraduates: Graduate students, faculty and their families, staff and their families, and alumni are all eligible to use the facility.
Awerman said the larger crowds have also limited the amount of available storage space.
"There's not even enough space for people's bags," she said. "They're crowding the whole area. The cubbies are obviously not enough."
Freshman Kaeli Deane, another regular gym attendee, said the problem is not limited to the New Year's rush.
"Honestly, the gym is much too small for the amount of people who want to be working out, and it's too crowded for the amount of machines that we have," she said.
According to Deane, even her post-cardio abdominal workouts, which don't require machines, have been hampered by limited floor space.
"There's not even enough space to do abs because there's only room for six people," Deane said. "So I'm waiting to do that after I've already waited for a treadmill."
Pimentel said he agrees that the Fitness Center needs more space.
"We could literally double the floor space and we'd still be very busy," he said.
According to Pimentel, plans are in the making for the increased gym space that so many Jumbos demand. While he was unsure as to when it would be built, Pimentel said the construction of a "mezzanine" overlooking the current fitness center will eventually allow more space for cardio machines. Additionally, one to two more elliptical machines, mirrors and a stretching area will be added to the equipment area in Gantcher.
In the meantime, he said, Jumbos will simply have to wait for the intensity of newly-crafted resolutions to dwindle.
"It usually dies down within a month," Pimentel said. "And when the weather gets nice, a lot of this stuff will transfer outside."
According to sophomore Julien Chemouni Bach, the constant presence of practicing sports teams has aggravated the recent overcrowding.
Pimentel agreed that fall sports teams contribute to overcrowding.
"There are a lot more fall athletes than winter and spring, and they all start their more formal off-season training in the beginning of the semester," he said.
As a result, even gym-loving students who avoid cardio machines are feeling the effects of larger crowds. Chemouni Bach, whose fitness program is comprised of just weight lifting, said that recent conditions have taken a toll on the quality of his own workouts.
"When it gets really crowded, you lose the intensity just because you have to wait for machines," he said.
According to Chemouni Bach, the constant waiting is also the fault of inexperienced weight lifters, who tamper with the regular order of the gym.
"You get all these new people who are not gym rats, so sometimes I'll find equipment moved around," he said.
Since an expanded exercise room is not an immediate possibility, junior Jenny Deprez suggested an alternative solution. Rather than adding more equipment to the fitness center, Deprez suggested that fitness machines be added to dorms where they do not exist, and repaired in dorms where they are broken.
"In South [Hall], there were two bikes and a treadmill, but they were always broken," she said, adding that reliable dormitory fitness centers could greatly reduce gym traffic.
Pimentel acknowledged that waiting in line at a crowded gym can be annoying, but defended Tufts' commitment to health and exercise.
"The university knows that fitness is a priority for the students, and they want to support that because they know that it is more than just a trend, it's a lifestyle," he said. "[President] Bacow said he wants to make Tufts one of the healthiest college communities in the U.S."
