After 18 months of construction, the first phase of the new 1986 Fitness and Wellness Center opened on Monday, January 29th. The opening of the recreational pool, which was originally scheduled to reopen along the central fitness area, was postponed to Friday. February 16th due to “unforeseen circumstances.” With the exception of the pool, the first of the three phases of the renovation was completed on schedule.
The new fitness center has 50 cardio machines, including 21 treadmills and four Peloton bikes, up from 36 cardio machines offered at Stevens Fitness Center, which closed Dec. 23 for renovations. It has increased more than. Peloton bikes are equipped with commercial subscriptions, allowing gym goers to participate in online classes without the need for a separate Peloton account.
Campus Recreation celebrated Monday’s fitness center opening with ‘special branded workout towels'[s] The opening ceremony also marked the first day of classes for the semester, making it “one of the busiest days of the year,” according to the campus’ associate director. Dan Bennett, Records, Facilities and Operations;
Jessica Ward, Campus Rec’s senior associate director of athletics, told The Prince that she is “really excited” about the new space. “There’s a lot more equipment that we didn’t have before,” she said.
The new section of the gym is called the 6-Minute Ab Zone. Equipment purchased from The Abs Company creates a circuit of exercises designed to provide a comprehensive and time-efficient ab workout. This zone has traffic lights intended to help users time their exercise, with green lights encouraging them to continue exercising and red lights indicating when it’s time to replace the machine. “It’s kind of like a game,” Ward told The Prince, adding, “We wanted to try to get something completely different.”
Apart from these new additions, the availability of more traditional strength training equipment such as dumbbells, benches, racks, bars, and plates has nearly doubled. In total, the plates weigh more than 10,000 pounds.
The new fitness center provides a platform for patrons to perform a greater variety of weightlifting exercises. All the exercise equipment is also located in his one 9,000 square foot space, a slight increase from his 8,000 square foot space on the upper and lower floors of Stevens Fitness Center combined.
Although Phase 1 of the 1986 Fitness and Wellness Center includes a lot of new equipment, there are also some glaring omissions. Currently, the new fitness center does not have select machines previously offered at Stevens Fitness Center, including machines for upper and lower body exercises. There is also no cable system used for lat pulldowns and cable rowing exercises, but there are two cable pulleys that can be used for a variety of cable exercises.
Kate Ruedke, 27, who typically goes to the gym five times a week, told The Prince that she is most looking forward to using the new fitness center with “more benches and better free weights.” But that’s “apparently that’s it,” he said, now that there is a shortage of cable machines. ”
Despite these omissions, some students said they saw improvements with the new space.
Oliwia Morska, a 24-year-old employee of Campus Rec who works in the fitness center, told The Prince that she was excited about the “proper training space available to everyone.”
Ward acknowledged that CampusRec was “in the know.”[s] But the second phase of the renovation will address that issue, and will include cardio machines such as equipment with selectors and self-powered treadmills. Ward explained that the center’s increased size has made much of this new equipment possible.
The second phase, scheduled to open in the fall, will also include a new accessible entrance and lobby intended as a space for students to relax between classes and training. Ward said the Phase 2 area will be “less gym-like,” emphasizing the importance of inclusivity in the space. She said the campus “has a different feel” compared to Phase 1, and explained that she hopes the rec will foster a “community center feel.”
In summer 2025, Phase 3 will replace the current Stevens Fitness Center area with a space focused on functional training equipment with “grass as flooring” and more space. Once all three phases are completed, the 1986 Fitness and Wellness Center will be approximately 25,000 square feet.
Victoria Davis is an assistant news editor at The Prince.
Vitus Larrieu is a news contributor and podcast editor at Prince.
If you have any corrections, please send them to the correction address.[at]dailyprincetonian.com.