I would like to begin with a quote from the "Athletics and Fitness" section on Tufts' undergraduate admissions website: "If you are looking to keep up with (or start!) a fitness routine, you will certainly be motivated by the university's extensive athletic facilities." To whoever wrote this, here is my response:
I am excited about the pending construction on the athletic complex, but it will not affect me at all. I will graduate in May, having spent four years working out in a gym with eight treadmills for about 5,100 undergraduates, approximately 400 Fletcher students and many members of the faculty and staff. The above figure does not include the one treadmill we reserve for our 28 sports teams. Given that annual tuition at Tufts is over $50,000, the current state of our athletic facilities is completely unacceptable. While the school now seems to agree with me, promising to break ground on construction this spring, I propose an interim solution to deal with the chaos that is our fitness center.
I am a runner, so the treadmills are where I spend most of my time. Unfortunately, with spring break only a couple weeks away, it seems like everyone has decided to spend most of his or her time on the treadmills as well. While our facilities should be able to accommodate everyone who wants to work out on a given day, currently it can't even accommodate the regulars, who block working out at the gym into their daily schedules. The long line for the machines causes congestion at the entrance and means you spent half your workout time waiting in line instead of actually exercising. To address this issue, which seems to have everyone pretty peeved, I have three suggestions.
First, a 30-minute rule should be reinstated. While there are signs posted, requesting people to limit equipment use to 30 minutes, they are often inconspicuously hidden under a pile of magazines or blend into the dozens of other fliers taped to the wall. In order to be the slightest bit effective, there should be multiple, well-marked signs (maybe on a brightly colored piece of paper) posted around the gym. If everyone respected a time limit (whether it be 20, 30, 35 or 40 minutes), there would be greater turnover; more people would be able to run in a given period and perhaps even get back onto a machine more quickly.
The signs, however, are essentially useless if the rule is not enforced. Student employees at the gym should keep an eye on the machines and step in if someone gets a little too treadmill-happy. (Those runners, for example, who cover up their time on the treadmill so that eager line-waiters can't tell how long they've been pounding away. … No, I am not entirely innocent of this, but I recognize it is unfair and needs to change.)
That last step is to create a sign-up sheet. With a sign-up sheet or a white board visible to everyone for treadmills, people wouldn't have to waste so much time in line. They could lift weights, stretch or hop on a bike while they waited. This would alleviate the congestion around the entrance and make the gym experience more pleasant for everyone.
While fixing the treadmill and cardio line problem will make things better, it is only a start. The weight area is constantly overcrowded, and the basketball courts are often full. The bottom line is our gym is too small and needs improvement (to say the least). Yes, I am glad the administration is finally paying attention, but for those of us who won't benefit from the renovation, something needs to change in the meantime.
