At the beginning of 2020, Xavier University relocated their Recreation Center to be in the Health United Building on campus as part of their affiliation with TriHealth. This affiliation is built around becoming leaders in collegiate health, as well as promoting the eight dimensions of well-being.
“We wanted to create a one stop shop for all things related to well-being for our students, faculty and staff,” said Leslie Dulle, the director of Recreational Sports at Xavier, located in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The refresh of the recreation department includes twice the square footage, three fitness studios and new fitness equipment to meet everyone’s needs, including patrons with disabilities or accessibility issues.
“We purchased six Marpo Fitness VMX rope trainers that are located throughout the facility,” said Dulle. “This piece can serve all populations as the seat can be removed to create easy access for someone in a wheelchair. It provides opportunities to increase strength, as well as a fantastic cardio workout.”
Additionally, the facility is outfitted with two StairMaster HIIT upper body ergometers with wheelchair ramps, and a Nautilus Dual Stack Freedom Trainer machine with adaptive hand grips and a large range of motion for arm pieces.
Overall, when choosing fitness equipment, Dulle elaborated variety was a big piece of her vision because she wanted patrons to have options for different wants and needs. “We worked with designFITNESS, G&G Fitness Equipment and Matrix for all of our equipment,” she said. “The students have treadmills, Helix upright and recumbents, ellipticals, striders, arc trainers, and a wide variety of upright and recumbent bikes including the Expresso Bike line. We chose Hammer Strength, Matrix selectorized and the Nautilus Torque Rack for our weight floor and purchased the Marpo Fitness Functional Tire Trainer — which is a huge hit.”
An additional feature added to the fitness equipment is the use of Ecofit, an automated asset management software that allows you to view the health of any piece of fitness equipment that moves, regardless of the vendor. Other software used by the department includes CSI Software, Inc., the facility’s software management system. “We chose to stay with CSI as I am happy with their reporting issue,” said Dulle.
While having collaboration opportunities, a variety of fitness equipment and software to keep track of it all, Dulle elaborated the new location is one of the biggest benefits to the relocation as Recreational Sports is now more central to campus. “The spaces are open and allow a lot of movement and exercise space for all members of the Xavier community,” she said. “We are beyond excited about our new opportunities and are enjoying watching them come to fruition.”
