Alumni unhappy with fitness room equipment replacement

Several alumni and students expressed mixed reactions to the addition of new free-weight equipment at the Health and Fitness Center.

“I like nice, new things, but none of us had input on what we thought ought to be addressed in here,” said alumnus Charles Evans, who frequently uses the weight room at the HFC. “We had a two-week lapse where we couldn’t work out. We’re paying our money.”

Alumni pay $200 a year, or $100 per six months, for membership and access to the HFC facilities.

“When I spoke with the assistant director, she said the equipment we had was degrading,” Evans said. “Weight benches do not degrade. They don’t have any moving parts.”

Despite new benches, they don’t meet the quality standards of the prior benches, Evans said.

“Now, whenever you do bench presses, you bang your knuckles against this thing,” Evans said, pointing to the rack.

The multipurpose benches, set up for bench pressing, do not fill the specific role for the particular exercise, Evans said.

When bringing in new equipment, campus officials failed to properly consult alumni and students, Evans said. Frequent users of the facilities knew of more serious and legitimate concerns with the pre-existing equipment, he said.

“We had a really excellent cable machine. There’s barely enough room in there for one person now,” he said.

The weight room has a new dumbbell rack, but dumbbells stolen from the HFC earlier in the semester were not replaced, Evans said.

“The dumbbells were in the corner and on the floor. The mirror is now broken because of it,” said alumnus Scott Morehead, who often uses the weight room.

Several of the foot straps for the elliptical machines are broken and went unaddressed, Evans said.

“Why was there the expenditure of capital to replace those things which, technically, did not need replacing, especially in this era of budget crunch?” Evans said.

The university gave the previous benches and other equipment to the Buncombe County Department of Corrections, he said.

Morehead, who graduated in 2004, said he did not understand why the athletics department did not receive the older equipment or at least have priority over correctional facilities.

“It seemed like we rushed into it, and there wasn’t a lot of planning,” Morehead said.

The weight room closed for four days this fall to replace the old equipment. Morehead said he did not understand why this was not done over fall break.

“Upon re-opening, there was nothing in here,” Morehead said.

The two-week period without benches disrupted Evans’ workout routine, and he had to go elsewhere to workout, he said.

“For two weeks there were no benches in here,” he said. “You need benches to work out.”

In response to his inquiries about the administrative decision-making process, Evans said the university officials “stonewalled” him.

“I got the same standard answer,” Morehead said.

Some students were less upset about the transition and the circumstances surrounding the change.

“There was a time overlap where there weren’t benches or weren’t some other things in there, which was fine. It forced people to change their workout routine,” said biology student Chris Cleveland, 27.

Cleveland, who uses the weight room at the fitness center three to four times a week, said he is satisfied with the process of adding new equipment. The weights and benches were outdated, he said.

“Some of it was a bit archaic but still functional,” Cleveland said. “But there was a large amount of chalk built up on it, and there’s the fact it was so old that it was nasty lying down on it.”

Cleveland said, ultimately, he’s content with the upgrade.

“It worked out well. You do the best you can do. They got the new equipment in and organized,” he said.

The new equipment upgrades made the fitness center more attractive, said biology student Jason Fredericks, 32, who frequently uses the weight room.

“I think the old equipment was fine, but I can understand if you’re coming in and we’re showing the gym to potential students, it looked kind of crummy,” Fredericks said. “Coming here and seeing the new equipment, it’s all better.”

The amount of free-weight equipment is adequate for the amount of students and alumni using the room, Fredericks said.

“There’s a couple of times where people have to rotate through, but people are friendly about it,” Fredericks said. “But we try to come in here when it’s not that crowded. It gets real crowded around five, between four and seven.”

Evans and Morehead said some of the replaced equipment was necessary, although most of the expenditure did not seem logical.

“We all have agreed that the Smith machine did need replacing,” Evans said.

An attempt to reach the Assistant Director of Campus Recreation, Dominique Ennis, by phone was unsuccessful.

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2 comments

Aaron

Wed Dec 2 2009 10:21

I could care less about the benches. New, old, they get the job done. But I would have rather had more bikes and elliptical machines. The wait for free-weights is, what, five minutes max? Bike and ellipticals are 30 minutes to an hour.

Gym Rat

Thu Nov 19 2009 22:38

The new equipment is fully functional if used properly and was selected to create more space! One should not be hitting their hands on anything if they are benching correctly. Also every thing that can be done on the benches could have been done utilizing different equipment when the benches were not there. The staff is there to show you these things. There is nothing broken on any of the ellipticals, I think he is refering to the bikes and the straps are not needed to use them. The mirror is broken but not visible creating no issue or hazard.

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