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• Best Place to Work Out: Activities and Recreation Center (ARC)

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At first glance, the ARC’s updated furniture and nifty Courtside Café make it look more like an airport than a gym. The ARC is so big, though, that even multiple visits wouldn’t cover all that it has to offer, and that’s the point. The ARC is CU’s Best Place to Work Out because of the huge variety of workout options it offers.

At 340,000 square feet, the ARC is one of the largest campus recreation centers in the country. The building is composed of four floors, each offering something different. On one, there’s a track so large that five laps is equivalent to a mile. As a comparison, the same distance at CRCE would require nine laps. Multiple floors offer different cardio and weight machines. The huge weight room is home to nine Olympic benches.

“There are so many machines here, you’ll work out muscles you never knew you had,” Wahab Alshahin said, a manager at the ARC. In addition to the abundance of machines, the ARC also houses a three-story climbing wall, 13 basketball courts, 12 racquetball courts and seven huge multipurpose rooms, one of which recently held a 200-person wedding. There are squash courts, ping pong tables and Wii Fit games. There are club sports and group fitness classes.

After working out, people can grab a bite to eat at the Courtside Café, which serves breakfast food, soups, salads, toasted subs, smoothies and protein shakes.

“A lot of people get protein shakes after working out, but we do get a lot of people who just come in for food,” Jordan Mooney said.

The update from IMPE to ARC cost $54 million, but the access to so many opportunities shows where that money went. At the ARC, any workout is possible. If you want to explore martial arts or pick up squash, they can. The ARC is completely modern, with equipment to spare. There really is something for everyone.