Sonny Werblin Recreation Center

Rutgers is massive and massively cheap. I love working out but the gym is so small I quite simply can’t. I went once and waited about 15 mins for a bench, went to go get new weights with my water bottle on the bench and someone moved it and started working out. I was gone 30 seconds at best? Very toxic environment and takes the fun out of working out I used to have. Now I can’t workout and am taking my roid rage out in this review. The racquetball and one table tennis table is nice though.

I had a very disappointing experience. The establishment showed a lack of concern for its guests by making everyone wait in a long line outside in 90-degree heat. This was not only uncomfortable but felt unsafe. Furthermore, the security guard on duty was incredibly unprofessional and hostile, yelling at guests and creating a tense atmosphere. Due to the poor crowd management and the unacceptable behavior of the staff, I cannot recommend this place.

For swimming meet, you have purchase spectators ticket! I don’t think it’s standard and any other places do that. Like Princeton, much better facility and no charge for parents. I think all parents should oppose. On top of that, you have to stand outside in line until they let you in.

Great facility but... Why are we being charged $11 to watch our kids compete in two races? Most facilities don't charge - as a matter of fact I believe this is the only one? Come on Rutgers, you can do better! I'd appreciate a response. Thank you.

Please be more thorough with the cleaning of the swimming pool. The blocks are covered in green, slippery mold. That's not acceptable at all.

Beautiful pool! The facility has a 50m pool that is 6ft deep in the shallow end and 17ft deep in the deep end. The pool also has configurable bulkheads and diving platforms ranging from 1m to 10m. Overall, pool was nice.

Great pool with ample parking and sitting. Security can be hit or miss

Has a little bit of everything. If it isn't crowded, definitely a good place to work out. Staff are can be helpful, but overall just an uninspiring gym. You would expect a Big10 school with good funding to invest in more than 4 benches and 2 squat racks for the thousands of people that live on campus. Building is 90% swimming pool, so the one little room on the side with all the lifting equipment can easily get overcrowded. Hours are also awful - open later and close earlier than most gyms. Yet this is one of the better gyms at Rutgers. Shame.

I'm at Rutgers year round as a graduate student working on Busch Campus. When I have time to work on my fitness, it's usually at the Sonny Werblin Recreation Center. This building is kind of strangely built. They have the main door to the gym all the way around the opposite side of the building from the parking lot. This is really annoying when it's rainy or cold or snowy and you have to walk around the needlessly long poorly designed path. The parking lot itself is way too tiny, especially when they open the gym up to high school swim meets and other special events. The way it's designed is also poor, since the positioning of the isles creates a bunch of blind turns. I've seen a few accidents here over the past few years. Once you're inside, they also insist on swiping your RUID badge when you walk in, which can get irritating. They have an Olympic sized pool which looks pretty nice. The general gym weight equipment area is way too small for the number of students/staff that are on this campus. They have rooms for spinning and racquetball as well. There are a bunch of classes you can take at the gym. They are quite cheap for Rutgers staff/students but it's sort of insulting that they aren't put into the tuition in the first place. Most of the classes are enjoyable though. I especially like the spin classes and RUFIT (which is kind of a mixed stations work out class). I just wish they had more classes later in the evening. The gym closes at 9pm and there are larger stretches of the year where it isn't open at all for breaks an things. The scheduling is inconsistent and always changing which can get confusing sometimes.

If you are a Rutgers students, please I cannot emphasize this enough, take advantage of the facilities in the campus.....you are paying for it, so milk it while you are still here. That being said, there are only two gyms in Rutgers-New Brunswick that have pools, which are Cook/Douglass and Busch campus, but Busch campus has an additional Olympic size pool and a kitty pool if you just want to float and chill out in the water like a furry pacific sea otter. There is also diving platforms, but I believe those are used for the sport teams and novelty events during the school year. I only recommendation is to you go to the pools early, because they fill out quick, so know what time do they open. The gym is decent and the well organized given it space. There are treadmills on the right of the entrance to the gym, free weights and bars in front view from the entrance, the back is usually the machines and bikes, and the far left of the entrance are free mats to stretch out from a workout. Fair warning, they reserve treadmills so ask the staff if the mills are being reserved during the time you are on. Across the gym there is a room, where a lot classes are being held. Some classes are yoga, zumba, and other expected exercise programs for a price depending on the class. There is many other area in the center like the basketball court and racquetball room on the other side of the center and outside provides sand of volleyball in the summer. Like what the other reviews have said, the parking for the center is kind of far from the center, but it is self-explanatory since the main transportation to the gym is usually the Rutgers buses. The stop of the center is significantly closer than the parking.

BEST fitness center at Rutgers if you're serious about lifting and strength training! The atmosphere is much better. On the otherhand, the gym can get a bit crowded at time.

As an overall recreation center this is a great place to be. The staff is really nice and the upkeep of every facility is very professional. There are a lot of things to do such as play basketball, swim in an Olympic sized pool, take fitness classes, and work out in the fitness center. The fitness center gets crowded at times but if you download the uPace app you can avoid crowds by reserving machines and seeing how many people are there. The dumbbells are a little outdated and broken, but they're set to get an update in the Fall of 2016. You will never get bored here

This is probably the best gym at Rutgers NB. Facilities include Olympic sized pool and diving board, standard sized pool, basketball court that you can play volleyball or badminton on, racquetball rooms (also for badminton), a room full of bikes for the spin classes, a room with generic workout equipment like ellipticals, treadmills, weights, etc. There are other rooms where workout classes are held (buy a flex pass if you want in). Also has locker rooms (men and women designated). Not five starts because the entrance is totally opposite of the parking lot.

As a recreation center, werblin is great. The fitness room however is far too small for the amount of people who use it. Machines are barely ever open.

a well equipped gym but the weight room / cardio machine area is often ridiculously crowded in the evenings. 4 quite nice indoor swimming pools with high dive and olympic, but since they are nice and this is a major university they are often closed for swim meets on weekends. The locker rooms are often quite dirty and need much more frequent cleaning. A quite wide variety of fitness classes available. indoor Basketball and raquetball courts. personal training and massage available. if you are a student or full time rutgers employee the gym is free so of course it makes since to use it, if you are a local or alumnus and want to pay to go, the positive side is that this gym offers all the major facilities and you will have access to thefacitltieis various other Rutgers gyms in the New Brunswick 5 campus zone, which between them have basically everything you could reasonably expect to find in a gym.. the negative side is the crowds at peak times, the weight room is not very spacious given the amount of equipment there and does not have much redudancy in the equipment so it can be very hard to get access to the equipment you want to use in busy periods (evenings). college students are not early risers, so the morning is a better time to come. another disadvantage in comparison to a private gym is that when classes are not in session for spring and winter breaks, summer, and other periods the gym will have highly reduced hours or be closed entirely for several days at a time, whereas numerous private gyms in the general New Brunswick/Piscataway/Edison area are open much more consistently, some even open part of the day on major holidays like Thanksgiving. The rec center also shuts down on football game days. Because watching Rutgers lose is apparently important )