The Beacon Fitness Center, in the back of the first floor of the McCormack building, has recently upgraded some of its equipment. According to Chris Fitzgerald, the director of intramural and recreation programs, the university replaced eight treadmills, five elliptical trainers, six stationary bikes and the Nautilus Nitro ‘selectorized’ strength equipment. Fitzgerald said the overall cost for the upgrade was around $100,000. Some of the funds came from the president’s office and must be paid back over a period of time. The cost was also supplemented by the trade-in value received for the outgoing equipment.
“[They were replaced] because of wear and tear,” explained Fitzgerald. The machines were over five years old and they were breaking down too often, some of them beyond repair.
Abbey Lade, the general manager of the Beacon Fitness Center, clarified that the typical warranty on the machines in the gym was about three years. Once that three years are up the Fitness Center has to pay out of pocket for maintenance and repair. As the machines get older, the cost increases.
“The fitness industry changes fairly quickly, so within five to six years the technology has been up- graded,” said Lade. The new tread- mills have “cardio-vision,” or individual TV screens built right in, where students can watch cable while working out. Lade also said that the Undergraduate Student Government recently supplied funds to invest in “cardio-theater,” basically audio hookups for the machines without TVs built-in, making it so students can listen to the televisions that are mounted on the walls.
Lade explained, “We’re getting new equipment so we can better service our students.” The newer machines have more widely avail- able parts so if they do break down, they can be fixed sooner.
Personal trainer, exercise and health science and business management major, Brett Miguez, wholeheartedly endorsed the Beacon Fitness Center’s decision to upgrade. He said that the new machines “are 100 percent better and more accessible.”
When asked what the Beacon Fitness Center was looking to change next, Chris Fitzgerald said that they might replace the free weights. “That stuff has been there for a very long time,” he said. “It won’t be a dramatic change like what we saw this year but piece by piece you’ll start to see some of the old free weight equipment being replaced with newer versions of the same thing.”
Lade added, “We’re trying to be able to work with what we have and give [students] some state-of-the- art things that they would see if they were to go to any other fitness club or university.”
