Expansion in the facilities at the College Avenue Gym may result in some muscle expansion in the student body.
With more than $20,000 worth of equipment recently donated to the College Avenue Gym, the facility is now prepared to accommodate students who want to pursue competitive weightlifting, said Dave DiFabio, a fitness coordinator at the College Avenue Gym.
Joseph DeLago, who owns WerkSan USA, the official barbell of the U.S. Weightlifting Team, donated the new equipment, including three new Olympic weightlifting platforms, barbells, weights, clips and new flooring for the mixed martial arts room, DiFabio said.
With the new equipment, Rutgers College junior Joe Catalano said he now has the resources he needs to restart the Rutgers Weightlifting Club, though the organization's reinstatement is more of a new beginning rather than a restart, Catalano said.
"I basically started from scratch," Catalano said. "From a technical standpoint, we're reinstating it rather than starting it from scratch. But I rewrote the mission statement, I met with everyone, wrote the budget, recruited people and basically designed the program as if it was something new."
Catalano, who has lifted competitively since his first year in college, said he was inspired to restart the club out of frustration that the Power Gym's hours were not conducive to his school schedule, forcing him to have to go home every weekend to train.
In the past, the weightlifting equipment and boxing bags were housed in the same room, Catalano said, so when he did work out in the Power Gym, the mixed martial arts classes were often distracting.
"I can't stand the noise from that speed ball when I'm trying to work out," Catalano said. "[Lifting] is kind of like golf. You're really focused for a short period of time, you know, 100 percent effort for a second or two."
But because the new equipment takes up so much space, the punching and speed bags have been moved next door to the Rutgers Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts Gym, said Louuis Award, an assistant fitness coordinator for the College Avenue Gym.
Catalano is still in the process of making the club official with Student Life, he said. And while workout schedules and budget approval are being set, he said he has more than enough interest to start the club, especially with the new equipment.
But the weightlifting program is not the only program benefiting from DeLago's donation, said Stacy Trukowski, the associate director of Recreation.
The gym has seen increased interest in its facilities this year, so much so that last week, Recreational Services and Health Services hosted "Numbers" at the College Avenue Gym, the first annual health fair offering students free body mass index tests, cholesterol screenings and blood pressure tests.
But it all goes back to DeLago's donation, Catalano said.
"[DeLago] loves the sport, and he loves to see it grow," Catalano said. "He's really committed to weightlifting and seeing it progress. I'm sure he's so happy, not only because we have this room that's now full of good athletes, but that it's going to help facilitate a program that will get more people knowing more about the sport."
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