Because do we really need seven ellipticals?

The reopening of the Barnard LeFrak Fitness Center sparked excitement and relief for all the Barnard baddies who love to work out. Unfortunately, this baddie was very disappointed. 

While I understand that there wasn’t a huge amount of space to work with, the layout of the gym and the choices of equipment are underwhelming. It’s giving ‘hotel gym’ and not in a good way. 

So, I decided to redesign it, using my friends’ and my own suggestions. As a disclaimer, I am NOT an architect major or remotely good at drawing. The proportions in this are definitely off. In fairness, I tried to get a blueprint but was unsuccessful, so the map is based on my eyesight. 

The first thing I’ll explain is my cardio section. Currently, the gym has eight treadmills, seven ellipticals, six bikes (two different types), and only TWO stair masters. I think I speak for all of us when I say it is absurd that there are only two. So, my design has double the stair masters and half the ellipticals and bikes.  

Another thing I doubled was the squat racks. Like the stairmasters, two is not enough. I also added a hip thrust machine and a normal leg press, which are absent in the current gym. The lack of equipment for glute and leg exercises shows that Barnard doesn’t want their baddies to have dump trucks. 

Some more crucial pieces of upper-body equipment are bench press racks and a chest fly/rear delt machine. The current gym has only a chest press and shoulder machine. There needs to be more range for push and pull days, which is also why I added a cable machine complex. 

While I don’t claim to be some all-knowing gym lord, I am pretty confident in my suggestions. The current layout does not accurately reflect what Barnard students want and need in their home gym. 

Despite all this, I’m still grateful that we now have our own space separate from sweaty Dodge. If someone could circulate my suggestions to the Barnard planners, though, that would be great!

Barnard Gym redesign via author