The Los Medanos College Fitness Center has opened up again for the 2022 spring semester. Located in the Kinesiology and Athletic Complex, students, faculty and athletes alike are welcome Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m..

Although the Fitness Center has been open since the spring of 2020, it was closed temporarily because of the pandemic. Along with the Fitness Center, every class on campus had to be placed online. Now for the spring semester, the Fitness Center is open for everyone.

“We’re trying to promote it to students and athletes,” said Derek Domenichelli, the men’s basketball coach at LMC.

Domenichelli explained that he and others are trying to advertise the Fitness Center as much as they can.

“We’re going around campus and working with the counselors and administrators to make sure that the people know that the Fitness Center is open and available to students,” said Domenichelli.

Students can use the Fitness Center if they enroll in the courses KNACT 110, 120, 130 or 140. When joining, you will have access to everything the Fitness Center has to offer. They have cardiovascular, strength, functional and circuit training areas.

“The equipment here is unbelievable, it’s state of the art equipment, with the cardio and the weights, and the free weights,” said Domenichelli.

Students have already made an effort to visit the center and have started using the equipment with no issues at all.

“It’s my first day here and it’s pretty nice, it’s almost complete,” said William Fuentes, a student at LMC. Fuentes added that he does want an abdominal machine to further complete the center and wants more people to enroll and use the Fitness Center.

“Exercising is good for everyone,” Fuentes said.

The Fitness Center did remove the fitness challenges it used to host. These were challenges that were structured for students in order to make them physically challenge themselves. 

“I think it would be great if we could do more of those weekly or bi-weekly,” said John Guadamuz-Cruz, a student who had been enrolled in the course previously last semester.

Guadamuz-Cruz said these challenges would make those who are enrolled in the course work with one another to reach their goals.

“It would help students come together,” said Guadamuz-Cruz.

As of now the Fitness Center is almost back to normal, with many people coming in and out all throughout the day. Students will still have to wear masks at all times when inside.

The Fitness Center’s current count of students for all of the classes are 150 students collectively. When it first opened in 2020, it had around 500 students enrolled in the class. Instructors would like it if more students enrolled.

“In large part it’s because we don’t have people on campus,” said Colleen Ralston, the head of the Kinesiology Department. Although she has seen that there are more people enrolling due to her emails sent out to students, her goal is to have more enrollment.

“If we could hit 300 that would be amazing. That’s doubling what we have now,” said Ralston.

People will be able to enroll in the Fitness Center throughout the semester, they will just need to complete their hours at the Fitness Center when they enroll. In order to pass, students will need to complete a total of 36 hours. There may not be a lot of students, but instructors are very much willing to help students exercise.

“I think if the students understand the benefits of working out, they’re more likely to sign up for the course,” said Domenichelli.