This page is for archiving comments from 2008 for ARC.
2008-01-15 14:13:32 in some ways i have to agree with fred's comments. it is annoying when a whole group of people all congregate around a machine and dont use it (or use it improperly to the point that they might as well not use it). ive found that when i come across a situation like this, i will usually ask them how many sets do they have left. if they arent serious about working out, theyll usually say they are done, or at least offer to let me work in. if they do let you work in, its a great opportunity to demonstrate proper lifting technique, and equally important, proper breathing technique (so they wont giggle during a repetition). and dont worry about the new years crowd. theyll be gone as soon as they engorge themselves at a super bowl party. —JeffIto
2008-02-02 13:00:37 Used to be as beautiful on the inside as it was on the outside, but now it is breaking down. More machines are breaking down than before and not getting fixed as soon as before. —G.L.
people keep throwing down dumbbells —FredChen
2008-02-18 18:22:01 My biggest complaint about the ARC are all the retards that don't rerack their weights. It makes it difficult to figure out if someone is done with a piece of equipment and it's an inconvenience for all of us. I encourage anyone who reads this to call people out on it when you see them leaving a piece of equipment without reracking their weights. —AlexPerkins
agreed. it's like nobody knows any gym etiquette—FredChen
2008-03-14 16:49:55 I'm new to Davis, Wiki, and the ARC (new Grad student). But after reading the comments on "skinny nerds", it's sad to see that people are so discouraging toward new lifters. I was a "skinny nerd" when I started college and the only reason I remained a nerd was because of the stress relief from regular lifting at the gym. Although re-racking weights should be looked down upon, you can't make a clear assessment on whether a person is working out hard or not by the simple size of their weight. They could totally be going through a toning phase in their training.
Overall, I do agree that the Arc weight-room is somewhat of an unfriendly place for beginners...this should change... —phicoi
2008-03-19 18:38:31 The ARC really is poorly designed. For some reason they felt the need to create a giant, open two level lobby and then make a weight room that is comically small for the 25k+ people who can use the ARC. Don't bother trying to lift with any seriousness at anything but the most random times of day/night or you just won't be able to get what you want done. The ARC does a lot right (indoor basketball courts, indoor track, racquetball courts, a wide variety and large number of cardio machines, etc) but their weight room is garbage. A second weight room with nothing but free weights and racks/cages where people who want to work out without dodging guys showing off in the mirror for the ladies on the treadmills would have been nice. —RyanL
2008-04-03 22:05:24 The service at the ARC is failing me... I purchased a locker for two quarters when approaching the end of the first quarter I checked *on a whim* to see if they kept their records straight (since they've screwed my locker before). Not surprisingly, I had a reservation for all of winter quarter, and a separate reservation for January 1 - January 1. That was supposed to be my second quarter. I spoke to someone about what to do about it since they "did not have the power to rent out the locker because it was already claimed in the system" and told me to come back during spring break to re-reserve it for another quarter (after I made sure no one would clean it out before that). I came back on March 26th to find out the locker expired on the 16th and that they rented it TOO SOMEONE ELSE on the 17th! They gave out my locker's combo to someone else with my clothes, shoes, and equipment. Their solution? Make me wait an hour, prove my stuff was the stuff in the locker, and then move me.
Not to mention: after reserving a racquetball court a week later, I showed up to find that someone upstairs made a "clinical error" and accidentally reserved basketball court 4 instead of racquetball court 4 for the sports club. When I spoke to a supervisor, he basically said, "Looks like someone screwed up. You don't have a court and nothing's available." —MichaelAWoods
2008-05-08 00:48:38 The ARC is an extremely unfriendly place for faculty. In the past, faculty were not even allowed to use the place on a day-use basis. Even now, this remains the case for visiting scholars. The ARC refuses to honor the $75 certificates issued under the UC Wellness Program, which amounts to a kind of a UC-orchestrated scam. I had so many unpleasant experiences with this place that I finally arranged a meeting with the assistant director, Coulson Thomas, who explained that student fees pay for the ARC, and that students are the "customers" that the "management" has been tasked to serve. Some people do welcome faculty, he said, others do not, but the policy now is to let faculty members join (unlike the UCD Medical Center Student Fitness Center in Sacramento, he added). Mr. Thomas said that my past problems with the facility — their not letting my wife enter, even with me, when she neglected to bring an ID; their not letting me enter when I returned from a sabbatical and had an "old style" ID card; etc. — can be explained by the need to have strictly-enforced policies that protect paying members from the threat of violence or criminal activity by non-members (you should see how threatening my wife is). It's all about Risk Management, he explained repeatedly. Faculty and staff may be tolerated at the ARC, but we definitely are not welcomed. —phillip.rogaway
2008-05-24 19:45:14 I graduated in 06 and miss being a student because I loved using the arc. I love the group fitness classes especially yoga. —littlelemur
2008-06-03 11:36:56 A letter I just sent to the 'powers that be' at the ARC:
I'm writing to express my disappointment that the ARC has decided to begin charging $1.00 a day for use of shower towels. First, this is an outrageous charge: the ARC website boasts that: "An ARC annual membership provides access to the premier fitness facility in the region for less than $1 per day." For someone who makes use of the facility and the showers 5-6 days a week, the towel fee has just doubled the potential cost of my membership! This is ridiculous! (Especially considering the towels are essentially sand paper!) For what, some non-existent outrageous increase in the cost of laundry detergent? Towel services at a fitness gym are a common service that significantly contributes to the convenience of the facility. It makes it possible to work out in the morning, shower and then go to work on campus. No one wants to carry around a wet and used towel all day!
My fiance and I both have student memberships and were planning on continuing our membership for the summer session, something that is paid out of our pocket rather than included in our University fees. With the new policy change, I seriously doubt that we will continue to utilize the facility for the summer and will patronize one of the locally owned facilities; if we have to pay to use it, then we should be getting our money's worth- and yes, that should include towel service.
I've noticed that the ARC is considering installing exercise bikes with an integrated video game experience; I have used the bikes, and I can say that while they may be 'cool', I'd take a free towel service over a pair of $5,000 exercise bike any day (which is 5-10 times the cost of the standard bikes that the ARC currently has that work just fine). I'm sure that this would more than pay for laundry detergent and the cost of maintaining a towel service.
Something to keep in mind: if the goal of the ARC is increase Fitness and Wellness in the student community, then anything that affects the convenience of utilizing the facility will have an inverse effect on its utility and effectiveness. For many people, working out requires overcoming psychological barriers and any excuse that makes the process less convenient or pleasurable will simply make overcoming these barriers more difficult.
Other complaints:
The men's locker room is in need of a thorough and serious cleaning- there is mildew in the showers and on the shower curtains. This seems to be typical towards the end of the quarter for some reason- which indicates to me that the locker rooms are not receiving the adequate cleaning services that they should.
2008-06-04 13:31:08 If the towel issue bothers you that much, than just bring your own damn towel and leave it in your locker and change it every couple of days. They are probably charging for towels because of inconsiderate idiots like you throw them in the garbage cans or take them home because you are too cheap to buy your own towels.
You should be lucky to have a nice facility to work out in. I remember the days of the Rec Hall where all we had was a small area behind piece of shit bleachers to work out in. If the cost and cleanliness of the facility pisses you off enough to write a worthless comment like that, then go pay for a membership somewhere else. No one is forcing you to go to the ARC and work out.
Maybe instead of getting into a "roid Rage" about the situation, try going through the channels and see if that gets you somwhere first. —Arclover
He pays for the operation of the ARC via his student fees. That gives him every right to send a polite and constructive letter to the people who operate it. If his comment on this wiki pisses you off enough to write a worthless comment like that, then go make a free wiki account somewhere else. —blairgoss
2008-06-09 16:35:42 Your a moron! That letter was anything but constructive. Mommy and Daddy must want you to stay in school because they hate having you at home. Go save the planet. —Arclover
2008-06-10 15:10:31 Not the most mature way of dealing with this situation, Arclover. Blairgoss is completely right: this dude is paying for the cost of maintaining the ARC via student fees, and he has every right to complain about a dubious policy change. —sososharp
2008-06-10 15:36:19 I suspect that there will be many such cutbacks to student services and amenities over the next few years, given that the state is in a financial crisis, and there was a 10% across the board funding cut (from what I've heard.)
So student fees do not cover use of the ARC over the summer? How much is it to use it? —IDoNotExist
2008-06-10 16:31:40 Anyone else have something intelligent to say about this? It seems that that Idonotexist is the only one that understands that this budget is going to screw all of us college students one way or another. "Stop resisting or you'll get tazered!" —Arclover
2008-06-10 17:30:42 Huh?
California, along with most other states, go through cycles of budget surplus and shortfall. State funded universities are often a target of fiscal cutbacks. One reason may be that the rate of voter participation among the age group that comprises the vast majority of college age students is extremely low. A legislator or governor has little to risk by reducing your funding if you won't go out and vote for their opponent (or for them) no matter what they do. You can help to change this by getting out and voting in future elections.
As for the current crisis, many states based their budgets on the assumption that they would get an unusually high income through property taxes, as a result of the housing bubble. They spent based on current income levels, and failed to save money for economic downturns, such as the current one. As a result, when a dropoff in sources of tax revenue occurred, they suddenly had no money. You are feeling the result of that. If you want to change this, support candidates who promote fiscally responsible spending in the legislature of whatever state you vote in. That applies to the country too - spending trillions of dollars on wars that don't contribute much to the economy without a corresponding increase in tax revenue has put the economy into terrible shape and devalued the dollar. (That means that you can't buy as many towels for your dollar.) If you don't like the current situation, vote for candidates who are unlikely to spend excessively without increasing taxes to fund their spending. The two always go together. Spending and income must match, or you run into trouble.
And remember...never go anywhere without your towel. —IDoNotExist
- Haha, love Hitchhikers' references...
2008-06-10 18:37:41 In reference to the ARC Budget, as part of the Campus Recreation budget, it is funded through student fees determined by the Student Fees and Facilities Advisory Committee. It's construction was funded through the passage of the FACE Initiative, which also funded the development of the SRRC and the Schaal Aquatic Center. Quarterly fees are determined by the UCD-based advisory committee, which includes student representatives. There is a slight increase in campus-based fees for next year, a portion of which will be going toward the ARC. Any increase in cost of services is not related to the state budget crisis, but likely has more to do with the increasing cost of labor or energy. Charging for towels seems reasonable. If someone is regularly using ARC shower towels, it would be more environmentally sustainable to rent a locker and bring their own towel.
2008-06-10 18:58:18 I stand corrected (and towel whipped!) about the funding for the ARC. To my knowledge, it is affecting many other parts of the campus, however. For example, my understanding is that all UC employees are taking a uniform percentage pay cut.
Really, the ARC is probably the nicest athletic facility I've seen anywhere, at any school (or non-school). —IDoNotExist
2008-06-24 16:10:27 Agree that the men's locker room needs serious cleaning! —calvinz
2008-07-13 20:28:54 One thing I find odd is that the weight room, with all of its state-of-the-art gadgetry, doesn't have simple equipment for those of us that primarily want to make functional strength gains rather than just aesthetic ones. Particularly, it would be nice to have some rubberized barbell (bumper) plates and a platform where one can do the Olympic lifts and other exercises such as the deadlift and combination lifts and be able to drop the bar. Also there are hollow plates used in this kind of training that will get the bar at a uniform height off the ground without having to load 45lb. plates. Athletes have access to this equipment, but sadly we regular folks must be content with "getting ripped" rather than actually maximizing performance. Some kettlebells and weighted clubs would also be nice, but I'm not holding my breath. —MatthewPearson
2008-07-19 20:51:20 I agree with you Matthewpearson. However you must realize that bumper plates are pretty expensive and i dont know if the Arc weight room has the space for a lifting plateform. It would be nice if the Arc would go out and buy some bumper plates and set up a olympic station but I doubt they will go out of their way to do so. —Frogman
2008-09-04 23:20:16 it'd be nice if people would stop curling in the squat rack —fredchen