The Leicester '36 and Jean '37 Brown Fitness Center inside the Manchester College Physical Education and Recreation Center received a major overhaul in late March thanks to the Manchester College Visionary Grant program. 

Brown Fitness Center opened in May of 1998 as part of the PERC expansion that included an auxiliary gym, fitness center and office space. "The goal of the upgrade was to incorporate the needs of the student body and needs of our student athletes to remain a contender in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference," said strength and conditioning coach Ron Planz. 

Manchester overhauled its cardiovascular section of the fitness center, adding new elliptical, stationary bikes and treadmills. Three new 42" flat-panel televisions help break up the dreaded 30-minute sessions, allowing students, faculty and staff to enjoy MC's cable television stations. The new cardio machines house headphone jacks that allow users to tune into the audio of any of the three television sets.

The incline and flat bench stations have all been replaced with four multi-functioning Smith Racks, which allow users to do flat bench, incline bench, squat, clean, dips and pull-ups all in one place. The Smith Racks include a wooden platform with rubber edges to provide safety precautions for a variety of lifts.

The old Paramount circuit training stations have been replaced with a new sleek and space-saving Paramount cable design that allows users to do a variety of isolated lifts ranging from chest flies, abdominal/oblique lifts, leg press, leg curls, leg extensions, lat press, bicep and tricep curls and much more. 

For more information about Brown Fitness Center, or if you're a community member interested in obtaining a membership, contact the PERC office at 260-982-5390 or e-mail Tami Hoagland.

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