In the past year, over 283,000 people visited the on-campus fitness center, according to campus recreation. The weeks immediately following winter break are the most crowded, according to the report.

First-year Rory Butler plans his workouts around crowded times. “I definitely go later at night during the most crowded weeks of the year,” he said. When Butler goes to the fitness center during crowded times, he said he will often leave if the crowds are too big. “When I do go during those peak times, I won’t even get my workout in since it will be way too crowded.”

First-year Hannah Taylor routinely goes to the UVM fitness center. However, she noticed a decrease in the number of times she has been going this semester. “I definitely went a lot more during the first semester,” Taylor said. One of the first things to fill up at the fitness center is the indoor track, Taylor said. “The indoor track gets really full, especially the bottom floor” she said.

Olivia Wolfe said she has also built her schedule around some of the busiest times of the day at the fitness center. “Like 4 to 7 [p.m.], that’s when there are the most people,” Wolfe said.

Senior Ryan Vaughan said he has purchased a local gym membership to get away from the large crowds on campus, as well as to use higher quality machines that UVM does not offer. “I got my outside memberships for a couple reasons,” Vaughan said. “One of the reasons is sort of the value,” he said. “There’s much more value in terms of machines for only twenty dollars a month. They have equipment that is just 2 years old.”

As the year winds down, UVM students can expect crowds to be at average levels, except for the week of exams.  Last year during the last three weeks of classes, visits peaked at 7,378, according to the UVM campus recreation report.

However, last year, visits at the fitness center decreased each week prior to final exams. During the week of April 28 last year, there were 6,677 total visits and during the final week of the semester there were just 4,034.

This trend can be attributed to both the weather getting nicer and students moving their exercise outside, as well as people studying for exams.