Boston University’s Fitness and Recreation Center saw a 1% increase in visitors compared to the same week last spring, with 34,761 guests.
“Everybody’s coming off of the new year and making promises to themselves, and so we see a huge uptick, as does every gym,” said Shaun Bossio, FitRec’s director of finance administration.
Bossio said FitRec is planning to debut a “usage heat map” collected from data from the gym turnstiles, which will help students “plan out [their] workout.” FitRec expects students to have access to this data within the next few weeks, said Bossio.
“All the days of the week, all of the hours of the day, and you can tell based on all of those, what times are busier over the last seven days,” Bossio said.
Crowding and equipment availability are largely due to the time of day, said Executive Director of FitRec Caitríona Taylor.
Peak hours usually occur between 2-7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, while mornings before 9 a.m. and weekends offer a “more relaxed environment,” Taylor said.
“A lot of folks go when it’s busy because they like the social aspect, because they like being with their friends and making new friends,” Bossio said.
Senior Taylor Hawthorne said she gets “really frustrated” when the gym is full.
“I feel like the equipment sometimes can be limited too,” Hawthorne said. “If I’m going for the Stairmaster and there’s none open, I’m not just gonna sit here … and wait for it to be open.”
Freshman Gabrielle Hugo goes to the gym for health reasons, and prefers to not wait for machines because of a busy schedule.
“It’s really hard to find a bench, to just work out,” Hugo said. “I don’t know if it’s because of the influx of [College of General Studies] kids, or New Year’s resolutions, but it’s been very busy.”
Taylor recommends FitRec’s physical education classes, which have seen a 38% enrollment increase since last fall, if students are finding that the equipment isn’t available at their preferred times.
Another option for students is Fitness at Fenway Center, located on BU’s Fenway campus.
“It’s a smaller facility and it is really tailored to the folks that live over there,” Taylor said.
Freshman Diya Shah said, “I think the trip to Fenway and back would be more of a hassle than waiting for machines here.”
