In the past, late afternoon trips to the Ramsey Student Center during fall or spring semester have been an undertaking strictly for the brave.

Students, with towels in hand, are frequently forced to jockey for position amongst droves of their sweaty peers for a spot on one of the ever popular ellipticals or bench presses, or to simply enter the Strength and Conditioning room.

For students such as Kristin Ballard, such scenes were more than enough to frighten would-be gym goer’s.

“I think that the crowds and always having to wait to get on an elliptical scares a lot of people off,” said Ballard, a senior from Atlanta majoring in public relations.

Starting this fall, however, the Recreational Sports Department hopes that such deterrents become a thing of the past, as the Ramsey Center is set to unveil its newest addition: the 10,000 square foot Strength and Conditioning Room II.

“We are not simply duplicating what’s in our current S&C room,” said Mitch Gartenberg, Director of the Department of Recreational Sports and the Ramsey Center. “We have been taking feedback from faculty and students and finding there are some machines people didn’t like and some they really did like.”

The new room, which is being constructed in the room formerly housing the gymnastics training facility, will be geared toward circuit training and cardio, whereas the current room will have more of a power lifting focus, said Gartenberg.

The $1.8-million addition will feature cardio machines equipped with touch screen capabilities and will also utilize light harvesting technology, allowing the center to cut down on costs by taking advantage of natural light let in through the room’s ample windows, Gartenberg said.

Gartenberg hopes the renovations will make a serious dent in some of the late afternoon crowding problems that have plagued Ramsey.

“We’re spending around $650,000 on equipment to cut down that line and hopefully serve many more people,” Gartenberg said.

In building to new workout room, the Recreational Sports Dept. has put a lot of thought into making the new room more spacious and aesthetically pleasing, Gartenberg said.

“I honestly think students will feel better about their gym experience, not just because there is more cardio equipment, but because there is simply more space and it looks better,” Gartenberg said.

The construction of S&C II has set off a domino effect of renovations and improvements around Ramsey that Gartenberg hopes students will take full advantage of in the fall.

“It’s really an opportunity to serve more students and faculty, cut down on the lines in S&C I, and to improve the overall workout experience,” Gartenberg said.

As part of this mission, the Rec Sports Department decided to build a ceiling above S&C II, freeing up another 10,000 square feet on the floor above for what will be called Studios D and E, said Gartenberg.

Studio D will serve as a large multi-purpose room to house some of the larger exercise groups such as yoga and bodypump, while Studio E will provide a much larger home for the Ramsey Center’s spin classes, allowing the department to double the size of the cycling program, Gartenberg said.

With cycling classes moving upstairs, the room that held these classes will be equipped with a ring for sparring and transformed into a home for Ramsey’s rapidly growing boxing program.

The Ramsey center will be closed from Aug. 3-7 for regularly-scheduled maintenance and building repairs, with S&C II scheduled to open its doors to patrons for the first time on Aug. 10, a full week before fall classes are set to begin.