Reporter
Squatting, deadlifting, and overhead presses are fantastic exercises for people to incorporate into their daily work out routines. However, many people, including students at CSU Bakersfield, find themselves performing these exercises, as well as others, in one single location: the squat rack.
CSUB’s Student Recreation Center offers a power rack, which allows gym-goers to adjust safety bars so that they do not get hurt, a typical squat rack, and a Smith Machine. Unfortunately, some students, such as criminal justice major Alec Romero, believe three squat racks are not enough for the SRC.
“No, it’s not enough. A lot of people want to do squats, and there’s usually a line of people waiting,” said Romero.
Romero went on to talk about having to rotate racks and allowing others to work in.
“Sometimes when I come there will be several people on all the racks, and so we’ll have to work in and alternate between different exercises,” Romero said.
Biology major Erica Peña had similar things to say about the availability of the SRC’s squat racks.
“No, it’s not an adequate amount of squat racks. I think it’s very inadequate. you’ll see those two squat racks and people waiting to use them,” Peña said.
When asked about how long Peña has had to wait to use a squat rack, she gave a surprising answer.
“The most I’ve waited is probably ten to fifteen minutes. I’ve seen people in them not even squatting,” Peña said.
Environment Resource Management major and SRC employee Anthony Briseno disagreed with what Romero and Peña had to say.
“I think it’s an adequate amount ‘cause realistically, three people could be cycling through it. So you could have nine people working out,” Briseno said.
Briseno also mentioned that while waiting to use a rack, he would usually have “enough time to do another work out.”
Furthermore, Briseno believes the SRC has an “adequate amount of equipment” altogether.
Whether the SRC has enough squat racks is still up for debate, but it is no doubt that there are students who are currently unhappy with how many racks are currently available.
I myself have waited to use a squat rack on many occasions, even on the weekends. And, as someone who work outs would know, it is extremely easy to spend more than thirty minutes inside a squat rack, leaving others to wait on their gains.
