Ruth Brown

SDSU’s Wellness Center will be providing new exercise equipment for students to test out and see if they like the machines.

The equipment arrived on Jan. 21 and will be available for trials until Feb. 6, said Shari Landmark, SDSU’s Health and Fitness Programs Coordinator. The trial equipment will be located on the west side of the foyer in the wellness center.

The machines will come from four major exercise equipment manufacturers, including Technogym, Life Fitness, Nautilus and Precor. There will be eleven different types of cardiovascular equipment. Some of the equipment will include treadmills, elliptical trainers, stair steppers, summit trainers, stationary bicycles and resistance training machines. The manufacturers of the exercise equipment will be giving away free water bottles and t-shirts to those students who choose to participate in the trial surveys.

The trial machines may also come with built in televisions or iPod adapters. Some of the treadmills will be able to have movies put in for the runner to watch. Cable will eventually be put in if those machines are purchased.

The trial equipment is open for anyone to try, and any comments from students would be appreciated, said Alex Brown, President of the Students’ Association. The more students who try it, the better, he said.

Students will be given comment sheets to write down their opinions and thoughts on which machines they like best and which they think they will use the most frequently. Directors will then take into account what the students’ opinions are when they choose which equipment to purchase.

“For example, if we get a lot of comments saying that students liked a particular machine because it had great back support, then we might be more inclined to purchase that machine,” said Doug Wermedal, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs.

Many students are excited to try out the new equipment. “I think having trial machines is a great idea,” said Julia Konstant, a sophomore nutritional science major. “There isn’t enough equipment in the wellness center right now, and some of the machines are broken. If we get more equipment, I think it will be a lot easier for everyone.”

Other students appreciative about receiving more exercise machines. “New equipment would be a really big help, because right now, there isn’t enough for the amount of people who want to use it,” said Emma Konstant, a senior biology major. “Sometimes it’s hard because we have to work around the athletes’ schedules to use the machines, but with new equipment I guess it will be easier.”

“I think that having new equipment in the wellness center would be a really good resource for students to use,” said Theresa Knutson, a sophomore nursing major. “If we had better equipment, then students would be more interested in actually working out there, rather than going to one of the local Brookings gyms that you have to pay membership fees at. It should be a great improvement.”