UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Accessibility to Penn State’s fitness centers continues to be a top priority for Campus Recreation, a department within Student Affairs. Last week, the promise to support a broad range of fitness levels was fulfilled with the purchase of 170 new pieces of equipment that will be phased in by the second week of May. These pieces include self-powered and SYNRGY equipment that will expand on Campus Recreation’s mission to build an inclusive and supportive community for members of all fitness levels in the recreation centers.
Additional equipment will also mean less waiting, said Linda Buonanno, senior associate director of Campus Recreation, facilities and operations.
“The student’s communicated that the spaces in our fitness rooms were overcrowded and that waiting for equipment had begun to impact their workout experience,” said Buonanno. “We sat down to discuss their needs last spring, and began to develop our plans to address the students’ concerns.”
Fulfilling that promise became the general theme over the next two semesters as Campus Recreation staff put their heads together to determine their best course of action. A final decision was made to diversify equipment and replace equipment that was frequently in need of service and maintenance. Students can expect to see the final stage of equipment installed in the Intramural (IM) Building, Hepper Fitness Center, and the White Building very soon. Many of the new pieces are already assembled and ready for use.
“We’ve added equipment brands like Life Fitness, Matrix, Precor, Woodway, Schwinn, and Octane Fitness to provide a variety for our students,” said Mark Lozinski, assistant director of Campus Recreation, facilities and operations. “The selection of fitness equipment is related to a student’s comfort level when accessing and using a piece of equipment and this varies from person to person.”
New equipment includes the advanced SYNRGY system and new self-powered pieces. “The SYNRGY piece provides a circuit of activities like battle ropes, kettlebells, step-ups, TRX, medicine balls and endless rope. These elements within the SYNRGY can support opportunities for small group training sessions that will facilitate a sense of community and relationship building between students and members, that Campus Recreation is interested in,” said Laura Hall, senior director of Campus Recreation. She followed, “We’re constantly looking for opportunities to help support the holistic wellbeing of our students and members, and these new pieces of equipment are just one more step in that direction.”
“These state-of-the-art pieces of equipment provide an opportunity for all fitness levels to meet their goals, whether they are beginners or advanced,” said Buonanno.
Non-students can sign up for a Campus Recreation Membership online at studentaffairs.psu.edu/campusrec/membership-access, call 814-867-1600, or stop by the IM Building sales desk for more information. Student access to Campus Recreations facilities is activated automatically for all current UP students, as it is already included in the student-initiated fees.