Regardless of its name, the weight room of Snyder Hall does not contain any weights or barbells.
Other residence hall workout areas have the same issue. The rooms are either lacking in equipment or contain damaged equipment.
Business preference freshman Kate Llewellyn said she has experienced the same issues with the fitness center in Yakeley Hall.
She said the fitness center only has one working treadmill and two ellipticals. Some students also struggle with not having any kind of workout room available to them in their residence hall.
“My dorm hall, McDonel, doesn’t have a workout room at all,” business preference freshman Paul Lindow said. “It would be nice to work out in my own dorm instead of walking to IM-East.”
While the conditions of complimentary residence hall workout areas are becoming increasingly run down or are lacking in equipment, some recent residence hall workout areas are requiring students to purchase memberships.
One of these workout areas is the Wonderbodies Fitness Area in the Wonders Residence Hall.
Though the location of this fitness area is convenient for students who live in Wonders Hall or in South Neighborhood, the financial aspect might not be as convenient.
“I have a Wonderbodies membership because I live in Wonders Hall, and it’s easiest to go there,” James Madison freshman Olivia Kreft said. “The membership is really expensive though. It’s about as much as the regular IM membership.”
According to the MSU Live On website, memberships for the Wonderbodies Fitness Area are $70 for one semester. This type of membership is called the “Green Membership.”
This price is relatively similar to the fitness center package most purchased by students — the $85 semester pass that offers membership to the IM Sports Circle, IM-West and IM-East recreational buildings.
MSU Residence Education and Housing Services also offers several options to students free of charge.
One of these options is the Live On and Be Fit program, which is when the MSU RHS services partners with the Recreational Sports and Fitness to provide many types of group exercise programs in the neighborhoods where students live.
Ashley Chaney, associate director of communication for Residence Education and Housing Services, said the program tries to look at the full experience of being a student who lives on campus.
“We want students to be healthy, and we know the role that fitness plays in that,” she said. “We make sure that we are offering a wide variety of classes that meet the different needs and requirements of students.”
Aside from exercise centers and classes, MSU also boasts a wide array of intramural and club sports for students.
