California Lutheran University needs an athlete-only weight room. Too often, the Forrest Fitness Center is overcrowded with the amount of different teams trying to use the space. This affects athletes and regular gymgoers alike, as often, people are pushed aside or affected by numerous team lifts.
โThat is something we do hear from gymgoers that arenโt student athletes, you know, that they would like some more space when they use the gym,โ said Joshua Cruz, interim coordinator of the Forrest Fitness Center.
As an athlete myself, I have witnessed people leave the gym when our team walks in because they donโt want to feel โin the wayโ. As someone who loves the gym, it makes me sad because I understand how beneficial it is for studentโs physical health but also mental well-being.
According to the National Library of Medicine, physical activity has proven to be beneficial in almost every way to young adults but many fall into sedentary behavior as they grow older.
College student work habits are directly tied to the amount of physical activity they get, per the article, โPhysical activity is associated with decreased risk of heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and lower all-cause mortality rate. The prevalence of chronic disease is a significant issue in public health.โ
Many in the campus community understand how much value the gym brings to students, staff, faculty, and outside guests.
โBeing active is important to me as a former student-athlete. I think we all should, you know, take initiative in taking care of ourselves,โ Cruz said.
Mathias Schmidt, president of the CLU Muscle and Strength club, said the gym should be a valuable space for all students, not just athletes.
โI started a club in the fall semester of the 2024-2025 academic year to help advocate for all individuals who want to improve their health, whether they are a current student-athlete, used to be a student-athlete, or never were,โ Schmidt said.
Schmidt said he, as well as many members of the club, have been unable to complete lifts or had to change their workout plans due to the overcrowding of sports teams and gymgoers competing for time and space.
โThere are days when the equipment there is being used by teams. The entire section of the gym is unavailable and, you know, when certain people have their workouts laid out in a set way that you canโt do that first thing because the entire area is being taken up, itโs not ideal,โ Schmidt said.
The Forrest Fitness Center is open to everyone at Cal Lutheran and anyone outside of campus with a membership. Joshua Cruz believes an athlete-only gym would help alleviate business and invite more people from the community into the space.
โWe have memberships that are open to the general public, and I donโt know if a lot of people know that, but I think, and I havenโt verified this, but something they might look into, or one of their first questions when theyโre deciding over a gym membership is, โWhen is it busy?โ and,โAre the sports teams going to be in there?โโ Cruz said.
I have hardly ever seen anyone outside the Cal Lutheran community within the Forrest Fitness Center.
โIf there were two separate facilities, then maybe that could attract more people to sign up for memberships at Cal Lu so that way theyโre not sharing with athletes,โ Cruz said.
In Schmidtโs time serving in student government at Cal Lutheran, he has worked to expand the gym and its resources.
โSome solutions I started working on as a class senator โฆ was to start putting some funds towards more equipment, and to invest into the gym, to create more opportunities for people to work out in different ways, to start building the foundations of a new gym for student-athletes,โ Schmidt said.
An athlete-only gym is not a win only for athletes, itโs a win for every person who wants freedom of space in their workouts at Cal Lutheran.
โIf there were different facilities for athletes and everyone else you kind of just avoid that problem,โ Cruz said. โI donโt know what the timeline would be, but it would be something that I think would be beneficial.โ
More spaces for physical activity and enabling every person on campus to make the choice for themselves whether they use the gym or not is the right thing to do.
โItโs not ideal considering how much weโre all paying to be here and the fact that there is funds throughout the campus that we could make it work to expand the gym,โ Schmidt said.
No one should feel forced out by the amount of athletes and teams constantly taking over the gym space. Athletes too, need the ability to work out every day without fear of harming those around them or splitting up from their teammates just to make the space work. No one is in the wrong in this fight for space, it is just a problem in need of a solution.
โWe donโt need new lights in Kingsmen Park that donโt light anything. We donโt need more furniture in the Student Union building. We need to invest in actually important facilities,โ Schmidt said.
