After two years of cross-campus collaboration and decision-making, Group X spin classes will officially have a designated space in Harstad 109.
During spin classes, students had to struggle to drag heavy bikes from the Columbia Center to Memorial Gym, while the pounding of basketballs and shouting from nearby players made it hard to hear the instructor. This frustrating and inconvenient experience has persisted for years.
Group X, a popular group exercise program offered by the recreation department at Pacific Lutheran University, has offered classes over the years, such as yoga, rowing, strength training, and, most favored, spin. However, Group X has never had a designated space to call its own, which has created issues for the program.
The program has been temporarily hosted in the dance department’s space located in the Columbia Center, and occasionally in Memorial Gym. However, these short-term solutions raised some issues that prompted the spin program to get its own space.
When borrowing the dance team’s space, the spin classes were subjected to limited time slots. This led to the bikes being moved around from the Columbia Center to Memorial Gym, which caused extra wear and tear on the equipment. And once the bikes were in Memorial, the sound quality and interruptions from people wanting to play basketball were not ideal for exercise classes.
“It’s a decently spacious, underused room with large windows for natural light and good airflow, which is important for spin and other fitness classes,” explains Rob Thompson, the overseer of Group X at PLU, “its location on upper campus—close to other residence halls and the AUC—makes it easy for students to get to class and encourages participation. The room will start as a dedicated spin studio, with the potential to expand into a multipurpose fitness space for classes like yoga and strength training.”
“I’m looking forward to the new spin studio because I want a consistent place that we can call our own,” expressed Brianne Salgado, a fourth-year education major who frequently attends Group X spin classes. “I do appreciate the dance team sharing their studio with us, but it’s time we have a place to call our own.”
The new spin studio is undergoing a renovation, thanks to an endowment from a generous PLU alum who wanted to give back to the recreation department. The updates, which include new floors and mirrors, are expected to be completed between late October and December.
Thompson expressed the program’s future plans for the space: “We constantly run waitlists since we only have 17 bikes, and last year we had 267 participants across our classes—many of whom came to multiple sessions. Having a permanent space will let us serve more students, protect our equipment, and give us flexibility to expand into new fitness offerings.”
