The fitness center on the Pierce College campus is host to all sorts of people with at least one thing in common, they’re here to exercise.
However, the fitness center isn’t a free-for-all, sports teams and weight training classes dominate the gym for nearly the entire week. Pierce community services has set up an “Open Gym” Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 6:30-8:30 pm. Sessions require a fee of three dollars per visit and the participant must be at least 14 years old.
Two hours of exercise at three dollars per session, three nights a week isn’t a broad enough time slot to allow an adequate number of would be gym-goers into the fitness center. Pierce should allocate the resources necessary to keep the gym open on the weekends, when the majority of students don’t have classes.
There wouldn’t be a need for weekend sessions if the athletic department was given a private, separate gym dedicated to the various needs of their sports teams. A student who has chosen to compete at the collegiate-level is entitled to an environment that enhances their ability and allows them to thrive. Most equipment athletes use would seem foreign to the more casual crowd of weight trainers and treadmill users.
Los Angeles Mission College was granted an exercise facility exclusively for students. At $90 per semester, it still beats Pierce.
CSUN has an enormous gym, complete with rock walls. These are made possible by including a gym membership in the final tuition price.
If a student were to utilize all the opportunities of Pierce’s open gym, the breakdown would look as follows; at three dollars per session, open three days a week, a student would pay nine dollars a week or $36 a month. In the same vein, there are only six hours of open gym a week, or 24 hours a month.
As college students, saving money is crucial. Gym memberships off-campus may better suit someone’s needs. Crunch Fitness is a more frugal $10 a month, and sits a mile away from CSUN. 24 Hour Fitness, while on the higher end at $44 a month, grants access to any branch of the franchise and is also open 24 hours.
The south gym, which is mainly used for karate classes, yoga classes and circuit training can easily be renovated to include user-friendly weight machines and a cardio-centric area. The amount of revenue that a community gym, that invites not only students but all willing to sweat, is well worth the money that would be spent.
