A $72,000 contribution received by the Kinesiology and Health Sciences department may literally help shed a little bit of light on the cardio weight training room in Yosemite 107.

The funds to improve the aesthetics of the training room are coming from a pool of money the university budgets for such projects. The Kinesiology department had to build a case that the room needed a makeover by submitting a proposal to facilities managment.

“The minor capital outlay proposal is a way of taking an existing facility and improving it,” said Kinesiology and Health Science Department Chair Fred Baldini.

The condition of the room and its equipment have been criticized by students, alumni and staff for its dim lighting and dingy, aging exercise machines.

But, Baldini said, the machines are still useful.

“The machines are very good teaching stations? they are very usable from a teaching standpoint,” Baldini said.

The room hosts weight training classes during the day and open sessions in the evening.

“The room is not intended to be an exercise facility, it is a teaching lab,” Baldini said.

The money will be used to improve the ventilation system, install new lighting, paint the room, patch the walls and install mirrors.

“You?ll walk in and it will look like an exercise room,” Baldini said.

One professor said that making improvements to the room has been challenging given the financial constraints of the department.

“We need to update that facility, no doubt about it, but people need to understand that because of limited funds and complications, it?s not easily done,” said Bill Kutzer, Sac State professor of Physical Education. “The $72,000 will take us a long way to getting that room right.”

After the room itself is improved, the department plans to bring in updated equipment. Sac State Instructor and Strength Training Coach Greg Johnson hopes that improvements made to the weight room will encourage students to workout.

“The students have to be intrinsically motivated to workout when facilities aren?t state of the art,” Johnson said.

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