Longwood University has started the installation of a new fitness performance center underneath the north west apartment building at the Longwood Landings. Construction began early last week and will continue into the summer.
The space that is being used for the center was the temporary fitness center last semester. The performance center was suggested to the Longwood Real Estate foundation by Matthew McGregor, dean of wellness, after the fitness center was relocated to its original place.
According to McGregor, the suggestion for this center came from surveys completed by members of club sports who wanted to have a strength and conditioning program, similar to what the inner collegiate athletes have access to in Iler Hall.
“This idea kind of came from, we had been think of it for a couple years, and really it came from a bunch of our, some surveys we had done with our sport club athletes,” said McGregor.
Along with the feedback from students who are a part of club sports, McGregor shared that feedback from Exercise Science students relayed that they were wanting to work with individuals who are farther in their workout careers instead of just starting.
“A lot of them want to work with higher end athletes. Most of our personal training clients are people who are more on the beginning side of the scale,” stated McGregor.
According to McGregor, he and the Longwood Real Estate Foundation were discussing how the vendors under the Longwood Landings enjoyed the extra presence of students that were there while the fitness center was located there.
"Midtown is very excited to add the fitness performance center as a tenant. The activity and traffic will only benefit Longwood, other midtown tenants, as well as the greater community. I am thrilled that in the fall it will be up and running," said Louise Waller, executive director of campus planning, construction and the Real Estate Foundation.
McGregor was quick to pitch his idea for the fitness performance center with the increased traffic as a selling point.
“At the time I’m like ‘Well I got an idea for you, boy do I have an idea for you’ and so we pitched this idea of the fitness performance center,” McGregor said.
The space will differ from the current Student Health and Wellness Center in that it will not serve as a place that students come and swipe their Longwood ID and work out based on a personal routine, according to McGregor.
“We do some programming in here, but the primary purpose of this space (Student Health and Wellness Center) is informal recreation, or that’s what we call informal recreation, self guided recreation. That space (fitness performance center) isn’t going to be any of the self guided,” McGregor stated.
According to McGregor, the new fitness performance center will be strictly instructor led and will be a combination of body weight exercises, crossfit and functional training. The center will also be offering a number of group fitness classes for individuals as well as groups of people.
The new facility will be open to individuals as well as groups of people such as organizations on campus. They will be able to rent out the space and an instructor will lead them through a group fitness program. McGregor also said that these programs will not cost the students any money.
“For the group fitness classes that we schedule down there, there wouldn’t be any charges for those,” McGregor stated.
According to McGregor, all the people involved in the project are very excited about its completion. Construction of the center is projected to be done a couple weeks into the 2017 fall semester.
The area where the gym was last semester is now being renovated for a new space.
The area where the gym was last semester is now being renovated for a new space.
The area where the gym was last semester is now being renovated for a new space.
The area where the gym was last semester is now being renovated for a new space.
