Pottruck attendance mirrors class schedules

The post-New Year laziness is setting in.

Students are sweeping sneakers aside to make room for textbooks, tucking their spandex into drawers and leaving their water bottles unfilled.

According to records kept by Penn Recreation, Pottruck Health and Fitness Center typically sees a drop in average daily attendance by approximately 100 to 200 people between January and Attendance is measured based on Penn Card swipes at the gym's front desk upon entry to the facility.

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Consistent frequenters of the gym tend to notice increases in attendance when students return from breaks, School of Arts and Sciences graduate student and winner of this year’s Mr. Penn bodybuilding title, David Lewis said.  

Dental student and Pottruck regular Evan Rurak noted that students trade in their dumbbells for flashcards as midterms and finals approach.

“You need something that drives you beyond just looking good,” Rurak said. “Unless you have something that’s really intrinsic and rooted into you, it’s going to be hard to stick to it.”

Engineering senior and weight lifting aficionado Omari Maxwell observed that most of the people who engage in the post-New Years rush tend to stay away from the barbells where his training is centered and gravitate towards the dumbbells and cables.

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For those who do have that motivation, a sort of community is formed.

“A lot of my good friends come from the gym here,” Lewis said. “We are all like-minded people.”

“The gym is kind of my social place,” Rurak added. “When you’re spending three hours in this place everyday, it’s probably like [getting to know people] anywhere else.”

And for those of us who don’t, there’s always next semester.

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