Gillett Wellness Center — Local services in Bemidji

Price edit: I have since because an online student of BSU and despite living in Bemidji and still being a student, because I am not charged the athletics fee of $27.51, I am expected to pay the entire community fee of $675/yr to use the facility. I feel this is extremely unreasonable, as an actively enrolled student.

The Gillett Wellness Center is a gym, of sorts, on the Bemidji State University campus. This center has a pool, yoga/dance room, free weight/CrossFit type room, weight machine room, extensive line of cardio machines, kettle bells and medicine balls, indoor track, tennis and racket ball courts, and a rock climbing wall. The facility is quite large and rarely feels crowded.

Locker rooms, showers, bathrooms, and facilities are kept fairly clean, considering this is a college facility. There are several paid and free fitness classes to take at the center as well.

Some caveats include - limited parking - if you aren't willing to shell out nearly $200 for a parking pass, you will need to use one of the ten or so parking meters - $0.25 per half hour. Alternatively, you can press your luck trying to find nearby street parking.

Because it is a community oriented facility, there are often events hosted here, and school children are occasionally bussed in for field trips. They have a fairly subatantial free-weight room as well.

For college students, this facility is free to use. If you are a day visitor, you will find yourself paying around $8 for a day pass, or $4 for just the pool. They do have memberships available, but are fairly exhorbitant. Most people will find themselves paying either $70/month or $675/year. You get access to the whole facility, but that price is a small fortune.

I would definitely recommend this facility to any BSU students if you don't want to waste money for another gym. I would also recommend this facility if you are seeking unique amenities namely the ,courts, rock wall, and pool. If you are just seeking a good gym for cardio and weightlifting, you are better off with anytime fitness or snap, if the price isn't an issue.

Edit: I did discover that even for current/active BSU students, there is an additional $25/month fee for the summer months. I was a bit disheartened by this, especially as a current summer term student. The typical fee isn't included in tuition, but the monthly fee of much higher than students pay in fees for spring and...

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS DYSFUNCTIONAL STATE UNIVERSITY GYM. Or even on this school — if they treat basic facilities like this, how can students trust them to properly manage our education? This state university gym doesn't even have a standard indoor cycling (spin) bike. The only option is an upright bike, which is completely inadequate and doesn't provide a proper cycling workout. For a campus facility that students are forced to pay for, this is unacceptable. What makes this even more insulting is that student athletes get access to a completely different, well-equipped facility with all the latest equipment, while regular students who pay the same mandatory gym fees are stuck with outdated, inadequate equipment. This creates a clear two-tier system where some students get premium facilities while others get scraps. Spin bikes don't cost that much, yet the gym fee is mandatory for every student. This raises a serious question: where exactly is our money going? When most other state universities have this basic equipment for ALL students, there's no excuse for BSU to treat regular students like second-class citizens. Maybe this really does need to be escalated to the Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. What makes this even more infuriating is that because this is a state-run gym, students can't get their mandatory gym fees refunded — we're essentially trapped paying for substandard facilities while athletes get the royal treatment. I've asked politely multiple times for proper spin bikes to be added, but apparently regular student requests mean nothing to this administration. Why am I even wasting my time and emotion writing this comment just to get a basic spinning bike added? This should be a no-brainer for any decent gym facility, but here I am having to fight for the bare minimum. Save your money and find a real gym off-campus. At least there you'll get what you pay for instead of funding athlete facilities you...

The gym itself is nice, you have your options for sports, an indoor track, cardio machines, and weight lifting rooms. My only grievance is parking. Parking lots aren't public on campus and you will get ticketed if you don't have a permit, which looking at their website is $285 a semester (not including the summer).

So if you're not a student and thought the Rec's prices for membership were good, don't forget to take into account parking permits. I did the math and going to this gym (as a third party/non student) would cost me around $100 a month. If you want to save money and not get ticketed, I would recommend street parking.

But for the fact BSU doesn't offer free parking or better discounts for parking permits to people who already pay hundreds of dollars just to go to the Rec, I will likely go somewhere else more affordable that actually offers parking for no...