Vanderbilt Recreation & Wellness Center — Local services in Nashville-Davidson

I’ve held a membership at four D1 gyms in the past, and this is hands-down the worst one I’ve been a part of.

The equipment is pretty dated. Free weights have chips, rust, etc. you can never find a pair of working clips. If the gym is full it can even be tough to track down simple things like 5lb plates. Many of the machines dont have free movement, e.g. the lat pulldown has no horizontal give. Newer equipment doesn’t generally force your body through a motion like these older machines do. It looks like there was is a TRX system at one point but it has been covered on the ceiling. Lots of things are simply missing, not working, or need replacement (see photos of tv and water fountain). The locker room looks like its out of the 60s and there is no jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, etc.

Their rules and hours flip-flopped continuously through the pandemic - sometimes you had to wear a mask and would be hunted down from across the gym, other times you didnt need a mask. Sometimes you could have guests, other times you couldnt. The hours of operation and open areas have also been a complete crapshoot. Some days you would show up in the middle of the day and it would be closed. Management would justify this by saying “check the website constantly”, as if the onus is on me to hunt down the shifting hours for the gym that i am unfortunately being forced to pay for as a part of my tuition.

If you are a full time student during the year, you still need to buy a summer membership separately. This is in contrast to the policies of many other universities.

You can certainly get the workout you need here but the aura and management are both off-putting. For whatever reason there is also sometimes a worker sitting in a desk in the middle of the lifting area on their cell phone (see photo). Overall a very odd gym that is certainly not worth purchasing a membership to if you...

The gym is adequate, and has the equipment you need for a full workout. Sometimes there aren’t enough squat racks and benches during the busiest hours, but that should be expected. I would give the rec a 4 star review but for the pool fiasco. I have been a graduate student at Vanderbilt since Fall 2021. In Fall 2021, the pool was open, but limited by COVID. Since the Spring 2022 semester, the pool has been closed indefinitely. Upper management’s response to this situation has been, at best, disorganized and non-responsive. They have not provided even a rough timeline of when the pool will be fixed or what issues are being fixed. This isn’t an indictment of the front desk student workers who I’ve talked to–they probably don’t know anything about the pool because management either doesn’t care about the pool, has no idea what to do with the pool, or both. Vanderbilt charges $611 per academic year in (mandatory) student facility fees which include costs for a pool I probably won’t be able to use before I graduate. There are no other pools on campus, and nearby pools require a membership or day pass purchase and don’t have enough open swimming blocks anyway. Overall, while I’m disappointed that I have been unable to swim consistently, I’m more frustrated by management inaction in response to this situation. If you’re a lifter or a runner, this is a fine gym, but if you like to swim, I would not recommend...

This comment is for those whom are looking to do WEIGHT LIFTING. DO NOT COME HERE. Please find another gym. 1st dumbells are in no particular order, you have 17.5s right next to 60s(see photo). 2nd the adjustable cable don’t tell you the weight your lifting, instead you have to look at a index for it(see photo). 3rd barely any attachments for the adjustable cables, very minimal and never to be found instead scattered all on the floor. 4th the actual cable machines are very dated not allowing you to align your arm or leg paths the way they should be(e.g. on shoulder press the elbows should be tucked 45 degrees but the machine doesn’t adjust forward/backwards leaving your elbows straight to your side causing shoulder pain). 5th get use to getting on the floor to see what switch corresponds with the weight because from the seats you can’t tell. 6th they expect you to wipe the machines but 3/4 wipe stations were empty. 6th barely and plates expect...