My most utilized part of Hofstra University’s campus is the David S. Mack Fitness Center. Open from 6 a.m. to midnight during weekdays and only a few hours less on the weekends, the facility is practically always available to Hofstra students and alumni.
On the first floor, there is a sprawling weight room with dumbbells, barbells, hand weights and machines galore, as well as a massive gymnasium with six basketball hoops and extra rooms for group exercise classes. On the second floor, there is a track surrounding the entire floor, dozens of cardio machines and extra weightlifting machines.
The weight room is where I spend most of my time. With the impressive variety of equipment, I’ve never had an issue with doing an exercise that I wanted to do. From what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard from many who use the facility, however, is that the weight room can get way too crowded.
With such an overpopulated weight room, you need to go at the right time. Over the summer, I would go straight to the Fitness Center from my nine-to-five job. At that time, the courts were always open and the machines were never taken. It is the same whenever I go before my 11:20 a.m. class on Mondays and Wednesdays; it’s a deserted utopia over there.
Think about what time you’re going to use the weight room before you go, it’ll save you a headache.
Despite such high traffic in the fitness center, Hofstra’s ability to maintain the equipment is superb. Last month, two cables were marked as “out of order,” meaning that gym-goers had no choice but to crowd around the remaining three cables on the first floor, which made my workouts take longer than I would’ve liked. It took only a week for the cables to be up and running again. At any other gym I’ve been to, those cables would’ve been out of order for months.
One personal gripe I have with the weight room is the lack of squat racks with safety bars. There is only one squat rack that can catch the bar if you fall when doing a barbell squat, which is an extremely popular exercise. When it’s being used by multiple people switching on and off or one person who decides to do all their leg exercises on this single rack, I often find myself settling for the racks with no safety bars at all. This doesn’t feel right, especially with the risk that if I fail my barbell squat, the weight could come crashing down on the ground, injuring me or damaging the equipment. For such a popular exercise, it confuses me that there aren’t more safe squat racks to accommodate for the demand.
Looking at the gymnasium – the other main attraction of the facility – you’ll find a ton of pickup basketball games going on throughout the day that anyone can hop into. I’ve made a few friends by joining a pickup game on a random Sunday morning.
Pickleball, volleyball and other intramural sports practice here at times, meaning that part of the facility is closed off for that time. While these sports are welcome, it leaves those who want to play basketball without much of an option, especially in the wintertime when it’s too cold to use the small outside court.
In reaction to this, another wish I have for the Fitness Center is to improve the outside basketball court. The concrete slab with only two hoops by the parking lot is a prime location for my friends and me to play enjoyable pickup games during the spring and late summer seasons. But the court doesn’t have any three-point lines, a key or even a half-court line. If more than 10 people are out playing on this court, taking up both hoops, which happens often, you’re subject to leaving or waiting because, as mentioned before, the inside court is already being occupied by one of the various clubs that uses the space.
Overall, the David S. Mack Fitness Center has an impressive weight room that, while crowded at times and lacking squat racks, offers a very good gym experience if utilized properly.