[joint post] a guide to mit gyms by Gloria Z. '26

intro

Gloria: Contrary to popular belief, MIT students actually do exercise! We lift, run, dance and generally touch grass. One feature of MIT student life is that every dorm comes equipped with its own gym, which residents can tap into 24/7. Since the Zesiger Center⁠01 the primary gym for students, affectionately known as the Z and Wang Fitness Center⁠02 another institute gym, located on campus proper have limited hours, those looking to squeeze in a quick 2AM lift often turn to their in-building fitness facilities instead. Each dorm gym has its own pros, cons, and personal quirks, and there’s something there to suit any and every workout routine. We’ve visited and lifted in (almost) all of them and chronicled/tier-listed them below for your convenience :).

Kano: Boston is an active city, and the gyms reflect it. Students get complimentary access to campus gyms, so it’s easier to take part. In addition to the confinement of hours like Gloria noted, campus gyms can also get quite busy. As someone who has worked the front desk for them, I’ve seen that space can be limited. So, dorm gyms come quite in handy!

the tier list 

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institute gyms

We didn’t write detailed reviews of the institute gyms because they are just objectively the best. They have the most equipment, are thoroughly cleaned daily, and are huge.

Z Center

Located in west campus, where most student dorms are, so the Z’s facilities are by far the most used.

so big and clean

you can see the corner of the pool!

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Wang Fitness Center

Located in east campus,⁠03 not to be confused with the homonymous dorm. this is instead referring to a region of campus attached to Stata, so very convenient for those living in East Campus⁠04 now referring to the dorm and grad housing.

so many cardio machines!

soul cycle 😍

mmm so much dancing to be done here

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dorm gyms

Burton-Conner

the Equinox of MIT dorm gyms

GOOD: The BC gym is new and clean (post-remodel!), with everything you could want for your workout: three squat racks, an assisted pull up machine, a cable station, various leg and arm machines, and a good amount of cardio equipment (treadmills, erging machines, bike). It also has a large dance/yoga room attached, with wraparound mirrors.

LESS GOOD: If we have to nitpick, the gym doesn’t have mirrors in front of the squat racks, which could be useful for checking form.

pretty spacious :)

S: New House

small but mighty

GOOD: The New House gym is smaller in surface area but highly functional. It has one rack, some benches and free weights, a cable station, and some miscellaneous other machines and cardio equipment. It also has a speaker system you can connect your phone to to blast your music overhead, and a water fountain with nice cold water.

LESS GOOD: There isn’t a huge variety of targeted machines, so this gym is better suited for free weight workouts. Because of the small surface area, it feels quite full when more than 3 or 4 people are using it at a time. And–the gym has floor-to-ceiling windows facing the street down dorm row, meaning everyone walking by has a crystal-clear view into it at night.

look at that comforting burgundy flooring

A: MacGregor

channeling dungeon chic

GOOD: This is one of the largest dorm gyms in terms of pure surface area. It comes equipped with a rack, plenty of free weights, and various machines.

CONS: As the subtitle suggests, the gym is a little… scrappy in terms of its equipment. Not all of the plates match, and many of them are the raw metal kind, not the rubber-coated ones. But this isn’t necessarily a con–I feel like the gym’s vibes are very conducive to locking in and pretending that you’re battling demons in order to get a better pump.

this pic really captures the vibes

A: Simmons⁠05 nicknamed Gymmons

two glorious floors, many windows

GOOD: The Simmons gym has the essentials. It’s split across 2 floors: bottom for cardio and top for weightlifting, connected via a metal spiral staircase. For cardio, there are 2 treadmills, 2 ellipticals, and 3 stationary bikes. For weightlifting, there are 2 power cages, 1 cable station, 1 bench press, and an array of dumbbells. There are miscellaneous items like a punching bag, bosu ball, and foam roller. The windows tie the gym together well because you always get bright, natural lighting, unlike most dorms that have theirs located in the basement. 

LESS GOOD: It’s located on the 8th and 9th floors, so it can only be used in certain hours due to noise to nearby rooms. Additionally, the high floor makes it so that we can’t drop weights. There are no targeted machines, so weightlifting focus here is mostly on free weights.

many windows to look out of while you work out

punching bag and padded area for stretching, yoga, etc.

spiral staircase between the two floors of the gym!

more cardio

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B: New Vassar

neat and clean

GOOD: This gym is clean, has pretty nice and new equipment, and has a water fountain inside. It also has huge windows and nice natural light.

LESS GOOD: The dorm is not that big and could definitely use some more machines. It also faces right onto the road, so you can make eye contact with everyone walking past.

i think this gym has very neutral vibes

some more stuff (cable machine !!)

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B: McCormick

a tiny baby in the sky

GOOD: The view is AWESOME, perhaps the best, because it is on the rooftop. You get a panoramic view of the city, with, of course, great lighting. It’s mostly cardio and has some light weights: ellipticals, stationary bikes, treadmills, yoga balls, and some weights. 

LESS GOOD: Because it is on the top floor, the gym doesn’t have a power rack or any other “heavy” forms of lifting equipment. The location also make it such that it can get really loud on windy days.

this view at sunset 😍

C: Next House

new house if it was aged like 5 years

GOOD: The Next House gym has a pretty good suite of equipment, including a couple benches, a rack, and some machines. It’s also got one of those climbing grip training boards, which is kinda fun, and enough mirrors.

LESS GOOD: This gym is pretty small, so everything’s quite close together. It also feels a little musty, though maybe that’s just me (Gloria).

wow!

the other half of the gym

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C: Baker House

modest brick gym

GOOD: It has great upper lighting. There are a few essential machines: treadmills, ellipticals, stairmaster, calf press, cable machines, and an array of dumbbells. 

LESS GOOD: It’s small and cramped. While it has several good machines, the lack of space makes it hard to do much beyond them.

screenshot taken from an old i3 video

more weights and machines!

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D: East Campus⁠06 this dorm is under renovation, so this is definitely out of date. the new gym will be live in a year. sorry for the lack of good photos—would’ve grabbed some had it been open

channeling dungeon grunge (grungeon)

GOOD: If you’re looking for a dystopia survivor-core gym, this is it. Located in the basement, filled with old pipes and loose weights, this gym elicits a particular “bunker” vibe. It’s under renovation right now, so I (Kano) can only tell you what I recall: there’s a calf press machine, power rack, leg press machine, bench press, stationary bike, and an array of dumbbells. 

LESS GOOD: There isn’t much stuff. The gym musty, rusty smell is real. The pipes were also low, so I couldn’t do jumping exercises without hitting them or standing in particular sections of the room (ex. jumping jacks). Feels like a sauna—not much ventilation.

what the sign says

kano found this image we literally don't have anything else

again we did not have anything else

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D: Maseeh

technically a gym

GOOD: The Maseeh gym is almost always empty, so you can sit on your phone as long as you want between sets without feeling embarrassed.

LESS GOOD: This gym is equipped with exactly one rack, one bench, and one set of free weights, along with a few cardio machines. It’s also located right next to the ping pong and pool tables, so sometimes your workout or run is punctuated by the click and conversation of gameplay.

live love basement gym

E: Random

four pieces of equipment

GOOD: The gym is set up with free weights, a weight machine, a treadmill, and an exercise bike. There’s also a mini trampoline! So, two weightlifting machines and two cardio machines. This gym meets the bare minimum, but it at least meets it.

LESS GOOD: It is very small and crowded. Good for when you want to work out in the dorm in a jiffy, but worth going out to larger, campus gyms if you’re looking for more specialty equipment.

last and unfortunately least

our gym preferences

Gloria: As for our personal gym preferences, my top choice is almost always the Z. I really like having a slew of specialized machines to choose from, and I like working out in an environment with lots of other people focused on their own lifts. I find that when I work out in more secluded environments (like the Maseeh gym), it’s so easy to just sit on my phone or get distracted; being around others in a dedicated gym vibe keeps me locked in. The Z is also extremely close to Maseeh, where I live (it’s literally a straight line across the field). The one downside is that it can get extremely crowded at peak hours, so I generally try to go either between 10AM-1PM or from 10-11PM. If the Z is closed, I’ll either ask one of my BC friends to tap me into their gym or make do with what we have in Maseeh.

In the summer after my freshman year, however, I was working a UROP at the Media Lab, so I mainly used the nearby Wang Fitness Center instead. Since it was summer, it was mainly populated by grad students, and I did enjoy that the Wang center had a really large and generally empty dance/yoga room, where I could stretch or (attempt to) do calisthenics.

Kano: My gym location has depended on where I’ve lived. Though my routine has remained pretty constant: I prefer to go in the mornings, like 7-8am, because the machines are always available, and it’s harder for me to make excuses to not go. At night, when caught up with problem sets or projects or something, I found myself deprioritizing my workouts. I guess it also helps that I’m more of a morning person. I also get an energy burst after gym time, so it’s nice to start off rather than end my day with that. I lift most days. But, if I really didn’t feel like thinking about my workout, then I would let myself do a 30 min run instead.

For a few years, I did power rack and cardio stuff, so most gyms were fine for me. In freshman and sophomore year, I lived at East Campus, so I defaulted to the Wang Fitness Center and used the dorm gym when I was in a time crunch or when we were snowed in. During summer after freshman year, I lived at pika and frequented the Z by biking over. In junior year, I lived at Simmons and defaulted to the dorm gym. 

These days, I’m using more targeted machines, so I’ll be headed to the institute gyms more often. I’m still at Simmons for my senior year, so I’ll continue using the dorm gym with some visits to the Z/Wang for specialty machines, as needed.

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We wished a guide like this existed when we were starting off at MIT, so we hope you found this guide useful! Happy gymming. 💪