The Herbert Wellness Center’s growing congestion is a headache for students

Graphic Credit // Ashley Purtiz

What’s the best place to work out on campus? If you asked me this question a year ago, I would say the Herbert Wellness Center. However, times have changed, and that isn’t such an easy answer anymore. 

Students cannot enjoy their workouts and reach their fitness goals at the Herbert Wellness Center because it is now more congested than ever. 

“Sometimes, I must wait ten to fifteen minutes before a bench is available,” said Michael Finkel, a third-year student majoring in finance and accounting. “Because of this, the wellness center has become a less desirable place to work out this semester.”

Wellness center memberships allow access for students, faculty/staff and alumni, so students may assume that the wellness center’s congestion is due to the expansive membership, but that is not the case. 

Anthony Musto, executive director of the wellness center, said that most students use the gym at different times than the other members, but there are a lot of students who want to come and work out. According to Musto about 3,500 to almost 4,500 members visit the wellness center daily.

It is not feasible for a campus gym to accommodate all the students, so the gym is overpacked, leaving many displeased and discouraged.    

“The thing that really sucks is it can end up discouraging people from continuing to go to the gym,” said Tyler Cahill, a junior majoring in Architecture and an employee at the wellness center. “It’s hard enough to get students motivated to go to the gym. But with it being so busy, sometimes students who are motivated to go to the gym give up after a couple of sessions. They have to wait so long for equipment, it is too time consuming.”

As of late, I have been trying to avoid the wellness center and only use the gym at my apartment. It is hard for me to rely on the wellness center for my daily workout because it takes so long to wait for the machines to become available. 

With extracurriculars and studying for midterms taking up most of the students’ time mid-semester, there is only a small amount of time to allocate for the gym. Fighting to find a machine at the wellness center would only inhibit the progress of workout goals and likely frustrate most students.

Despite the increasing congestion in the wellness center, the gym has some notable positives and advantages for students, like excellent workout classes, such as yoga and ballet. 

The wellness center is also constantly improving, with it being renovated just last semester to help alleviate the congestion. 

“The wellness center will also add two cold plunges by the end of the semester. We recently restructured the fitness room to focus on resistance training, which has grown popular over the years,” said Musto. “The sauna will be renovated this semester as well.”

Although these amenities and improvements are appropriate measures for the wellness center’s operability, the congestion makes it impossible to enjoy a complete workout. Unless students pick the right time to go to the gym, they will continue to be frustrated with the overcrowding and long wait times for gym equipment, leaving students dissatisfied with the ability to use the gym.