Navigating the sub culture of the Plex

You are in a panic. You've scrutinized your outfit, you've checked yourself out in the mirror about a million times, and you've just realized how sweaty your hands are. For some reason these feelings bring you back to those early adolescent nights right before that dreaded middle school dance. Once you push those feelings and memories aside, however, you've gotten yourself ready to walk into the Flynn Recreation Complex.

"There's just this pressure of fitting in," says Noemi Esparza, CSOM '08. "I see those girls on the elliptical for hours- not minutes, hours- and then those 30 minutes that I spent on the treadmill seem useless." The Plex is supposed to be a sanctuary for those who want to stay fit and healthy; however, it has become a place of competition. There is a mentality that if there is someone doing 45 minutes on the bike, you need to do at least an hour. That's not the only stigma in place at the Plex. The pressure to do well is outweighed by the pressure to look good while working out. "Whenever I go to the Plex, I have to make sure I look somewhat put together," Kelsey Brindley A&S '09 says. "If not, my guy friends that see me there will be like, 'Oh man, you look kind of sweaty.'"

Each area has a different atmosphere. When you walk up the stairs to the top of the Plex there is a certain hierarchy that exists. Each machine has a specific station. The ellipticals are the rock stars of the machine world; girls line up to get their turn. At a close second are the treadmills; not as cool as the ellipticals, but they could probably get you a VIP backstage pass. Then come the bikes and, at the very bottom, are those looming Stairmasters: the scalpers outside the arena, trying to sell you nosebleed seats for the price of front row.

The weightlifters on the bottom floor are a completely different story. "Well, how would you feel if you're the only girl down there, lifting your dinky 10 pound weights, standing next to some sweaty red-faced guy lifting more than your body weight?" says Cristina Revetria, A&S '08. This is a place where you have to fend for yourself. "You have to fight for the benches," Brindley says. "The guys take over and the girls kind of have to state their claim. The only time you leave the bench is when you're done." This competitive atmosphere causes many of the Plex-goers to second-guess their initial reasons for going to work out. "It just feels like this big competition once you walk into the Plex, like everyone is watching you and keeping track of how long you've stayed," said a student who wished to remain nameless. "I either feel like I'm being watched or I'm being judged." This is the atmosphere that most BC students experience.

But what happens when everyone leaves in May and you can use any machine without waiting an hour in line for it?

"During the summer, it is open to the public, so there are more older people here," Brindley says. "There aren't as many people working out and it has more of a laidback atmosphere."

The Plex becomes a different space when it is not crowded with a bunch of over-worked-out Superfans. You can take advantage of the array of empty machines and all the services available at the Plex.

Brindley talks about being able to work with the personal trainers, a mostly unknown Plex service. "They give you a work-out plan and then let you work with it for a while. After that, you go back to them and they see how well it worked for you."

The summer doldrums come to an end just as the first group of students pull up to campus. The first weeks of the semester at the Plex are notorious for their crowds.

The more experienced Plexers know that this surge will not last and simply wait it out, choosing to return to the Plex only after the less devoted trade their workouts for something less productive like midday naps.

But even after the beginning of the semester drop-off, the Plex remains popular for the nation's third fittest university. It has even become part of the BC vernacular; nowhere else will you hear someone say that they are off to go 'plexing' and see people nod their heads in approval.

The wait for an elliptical may seem endless and the building has been called temporary for the last 30 years, but where else can you take belly dancing and hone your people watching skills for free?