Thomas Iacobucci | The Crow’s Nest
By Dylan Hart
The campus gym is expanding its inventory with four new pieces of equipment designed to make working out more interactive and fun.
Over winter break, a set of planking equipment with a paired smartphone game, two rowing machines with real water and an arm bike machine with built-in disability access arrived at the gym. Next week, two StairMaster stair-stepper machines will join the inventory.
The equipment was selected with two goals in mind, said Hannah Anderson, Campus Recreation’s fitness coordinator.
“It was based on wanting to be more ADA accessible because we realized that we weren’t really as much as we’d like to be before,” she said. “And it’s what our patrons wanted. We listened to what they say; we listened to what their wants are.”
The new arm bike machine, which lets patrons pedal with their arms for an upper body workout, was designed especially with disabilities in mind.The seat pulls out so a wheelchair can slide in. The gym was also rearranged to make the facility more ADA compliant.
“We wanted to make us more ADA accessible so that people in wheelchairs, or with different disabilities or limitations, are able to come in and still have options to utilize our facility,” Anderson said. “And we wanted to make sure that we had equipment that accommodated for them as well.”
Stair-stepper machines have been the most consistent demand of gymgoers since she joined the staff in May, Anderson said.
Patrons previously used the gym office stairs as a way of simulating a stair-stepper machine. Al Gentilini, director of Campus Recreation, said there was a “risk inherent” in patrons using the stairs, so getting the equipment was a priority for the gym.
“We want to give them the option to have that workout without interfering or putting themselves at risk,” Gentilini said.
Campus Recreation also plans to start fitness challenges associated with the new equipment in the next month. One such challenge, called “Conquer Your Mountain,” pairs with the StairMaster machines. The challenge lets patrons track their progress relative to actual mountain climbs.
The new equipment was obtained as part of a trade with local equipment dealers. The staff traded in two treadmills and a leg exercise machine for the new equipment. Anderson said that there are still alternatives to every piece they traded.
Among the more unusual additions are the new planking station and the water rowers. The planking station includes four plastic Stealth Plankster boards with a slot for a smartphone. The boards were designed with the Stealth Fitness app in mind, which has a number of planking games for patrons to use.
One game has patrons targeting planets in a solar system. Another lets the user hang glide through a wooded landscape.
As for the water rowers, Anderson said, they have a “much more smooth feel” and a “more fluid motion” than their previous mechanical counterparts.
“The primary use of those is to use those in a lot of our high-intensity interval training and our boot camp-style classes,” Anderson said.
