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  Daily Bruin File Photos Second-year international economics student Victoria Hoang climbs the rock wall during ResFest last year.

By Scott Bair

Daily Bruin Reporter

One of the greatest phobias of an incoming class of first-year college students is the dreaded “freshman 15” – the 15 pounds you lose or gain your freshman year.

The John Wooden Center, UCLA’s own fitness center, offers many ways to make sure that the weight gaining bug doesn’t bite at the newest members of the Bruin family.

Whether students are interested in racquetball, Tae Bo, pick-up games of basketball or weight training, the Wooden Center is the place for all recreational needs.

In order for students to get their meals, they have to swipe their Bruin cards to gain entrance to the dining halls. They can work off all of those extra calories in the same way. A simple swipe of a Bruin card at anytime between 6:00 a.m. and 9:45 p.m. (shorter hours on Saturdays) gains free access to most of the Wooden Center’s facilities.

The most popular Wooden Center features are the weight training and cardiovascular exercise machines. It is often difficult to find an open treadmill or bench press during peak hours, which normally run like L.A.’s afternoon freeway rush hour, from 3:00 to 6:30 p.m.

“The treadmill is a major part of my cardiovascular workout, but it’s very hard to get one most of the time,” linguistics major Katya Pertsova said.

In order to give everyone a chance, there is a 20-minute time limit for the treadmills and a sign up sheet to maintain the running order.

The room past the wall of backpacks and lockers contains enough free weights and isolation machines to complete the workout of every weightlifting enthusiast. A strong weightlifting community resides within the walls of the 3,468-square-foot weight training room. Lifters often come in packs or meet up with someone during an identical weight-training regimen and find themselves a workout partner.

If the musky odor of testosterone is too much to take, there are many other options to burn some calories. The nine racquetball courts at Wooden are also in high demand, but simply calling the Wooden Center staff can reserve a court.

Strapping on a pair of Nikes and heading down to Collins Court, located down the corridor to the right of the front desk, is a surefire way to find a pick-up game of basketball seven days a week.

The three indoor basketball courts are always full and welcome competition for the expert and the novice player alike. Lucky basketball players might even get the chance to go up against the UCLA Bruin basketball players, who every once in a while will look for a pick-up game at Collins Court when they’re not practicing with the team.

The Rock Wall does cost money, but is definitely worth a try. The Rock Wall is designed for all levels of climbers, with many different routes to climb for a $5 daily fee. Students can rent climbing equipment for an extra dollar. Rock climbing enthusiasts can get a 30- or 90-day climbing card for $25 and $60, respectively.

The $15 quarterly charge for a fitness pass is a price that many students are willing to pay to expand their Wooden Center experience. The fitness pass opens the door to over 30 classes that range anywhere from step workouts to dance classes like Ballerina Bootcamp. The classes are constantly offered, keeping regular schedules between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.

  Daily Bruin File Photos Ashley Karr, a second-year anthropology student, teaches Total Knockout, an aerobics class at the Wooden Center. Students can also sign up at the beginning of the quarter for martial arts classes in a wide array of traditions and styles. Every class is ready to teach beginners as well as allow experts to practice their craft.

The John Wooden Center is the capital of the UCLA recreation family, housing the administrative center for all classes and intramural sports that occur all over the campus.

Despite all of this activity, the Wooden Center will be under construction for a couple of years during their major expansion project. By the time that the incoming freshman are juniors they will have new showers, locker rooms, saunas and a weight training room that will triple the size of the current one.

“I know a lot of people who go to L.A. Fitness because Wooden is so popular,” said mechanical engineering student Matt Masado. “The expansion of the weight room and the locker facilities will bring everyone back and make Wooden the perfect place to work out.”

During the construction period, the John Wooden Center will be making many concessions so students are not affected by the expansion effort. “We’re going to have as many activities and features that we’ve always had but with less room to do it,” said Wooden Center manager Dennis Koehne. “Our hours will be expanded to make up for any inconveniences caused by construction. We want to make sure that inside the Wooden Center, the students won’t even know that construction is going on.”

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