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.”