ARC @ UBC Life Building

Positive experience: If you like smith machine this is the place for you

Negative experience: A leaky fountain has been growing black mold on the wall, and it's been left like l that for years at this point

Positive experience: Great gym but limited opening hours, especially if you like early workouts on weekends.

Negative experience: Dont bother getting a membership. You cant even access the gym because all doors leading to the gym are locked .

Negative experience: Worst gym I've ever been to. 1 star is a gift. I am traveling to UBC for business and bought a day pass through the hotel (Gage). I was held at the counter for nearly 30 minutes because the manager wanted to "see the pass". He originally told the student at the desk that he'd be there in "5 minutes" but 20 minutes later, she had to call him again. When he finally decided to show up, he looked at my pass and started complaining about the "Aquatic Center re-using last years' pass and editing it," which had nothing to do with me. He finally blessed me to go workout. Mind you, I arrived at 7:30pm and the gym closed at 9:00pm, so I got about 60 mins of gym time for $12CAD. The equipment was well-worn, the weights were sadly mismatched, equipment was broken, and the gym was overcrowded, all making it very difficult to get a real workout in. I've seen High School gyms with better equipment. UBC, do better.

Negative experience: Rude and unfriendly staff. They would rather prioritize people waiting in line behind for other inquiries rather than people returning locker keys waiting rightfully in line, despite the later literally taking 2 seconds. Staff that was works Saturday mornings are especially rude

Positive experience: Unless you go before 11am, you will spend half of your time waiting to use ANYTHING

Positive experience: It’s good to work out in but it gets very busy

Negative experience: I wish they would extend their hours a bit which could prevent the lines that form to get into the gym. I also wish they would rearrange the cardio equipment because rarely is there more than a couple people using them. It could be better to replace a couple tread mills with another squat rack. I just can't wait until the new gym is built.

Negative experience: Unhelpful staff with passive aggressive attitude. When THEY made the mistake of clearing out all the stuff in my locker even though I had renewed it, they acted like it was my fault. Luckily they redirected me to the SRC where my stuff was being held, but still… they were not trying to be helpful at first.

Positive experience: muy barato y bueno para estudiantes pero se llena mucho, si puedes pagarte otro hazlo por que la verdad si somos muchos usando el pequeño gym a todas horas además de que unas cuantas maquinsd extras no le vendrían mal.

Positive experience: TL;DR - Has some glaring issues but overall not a bad gym. Good variety of weights/machines. Cheap price and convenient location for students makes up for most of its issues. Weights & Machines: 4 bench presses, 2 squat racks, and 2 extra bars for deadlifts/whatever else. 1 smith machine. 7 free-weight benches. Fixed-weight barbells from 20-110lbs and an okay amount of dumbbells. Good amount of isolation machines and a TON of cardio machines (I have never waited for one of these). If your routine includes more free-weight lifts then you might want to check the Birdcoop out instead. Price: $40 per term (4 months) for a UBC gyms membership if you're a student, however if you include the $80/term AMS recreation fee then it comes out to $120/term ($30/month). The closest comparison is Fitness World in Kitsilano which charges about $22/month, however if you're a student you still get more value out of the UBC gyms membership since you're going to be paying the AMS fee no matter what (yes this is a scumbag move by UBC but what can you do). Staff: Pretty terrible, machines are often broken and won't be fixed for weeks. They will often forget to unlock the entrance in the morning. Also, the gym can get pretty dirty/disorganized during the day yet I always see them sitting around doing nothing. I can't blame them too much though because they're super underpaid. People: Lots of beginners here. If you want a more veteran gym with more culture and regular faces check out the Birdcoop. If you come at the same time every day you'll still see some recurring faces here so it's not bad. On the flipside, sometimes a group of first-years will come in and hog a machine for 30 minutes while trying to one-up eachother's PRs so that can be annoying. Busy-ness: This is by far the worst part about this gym. Any time from 9AM to 8PM during the school year there will be a line of at least 20 people waiting to get in, and once you're inside you'll routinely find yourself waiting 5-10 minutes for each machine. If you go in the early morning (6AM~8AM) it is quite empty and nice however, and it also dies down a decent amount an hour or two before closing. Also, during the summer term the gym is super empty at all times which is great.

Negative experience: Got my student card stolen and none of them are willing to spend a single second trying to look for it. Disappointing to say the least.

Fantastic experience: I love going here! My favorite place to workout on campus

Positive experience: Lots of equipment, staff are very helpful and accommodating to new customers. Vibe is good and I found everyone to be respectful of others and the equipment in the space.

Negative experience: Staff are very helpful and great. But UBC different build a large enough gym for the number of students they have. It's also missing a variety of useful equipment.

Fantastic experience: Crowded but nice ambience and equipments

Positive experience: i like this place too many people tho so i cant love this place

Negative experience: Terrible gym, way to small, bad choice of equipment, staff limit capacity despite the gym being empty. Don't go here.

Positive experience: It’s very busy during the school terms

Negative experience: Never picks up the phone.

Positive experience: Good gym. But big rush.

Negative experience: UBC does not care about student wellness. This is the smallest gym I have been to in any university. What an embarrassment to Canada.

Positive experience: Too crowded but worth it.

Positive experience: gets the job done. I do wish there were dumbell sizes below 2.5 though. not that crowded! find the good times to go fellas early morning or lunch time works pretty well.

Fantastic experience: The stairs take the life out of me.

Positive experience: Good gym, but gets very busy at peak times

Fantastic experience: Cheapest gym membership on campus, more beginner friendly than SRC but less weight selection with a focus more on isolation machines, usually quite busy aside from afternoon.

Positive experience: Meh

Fantastic experience: Extremely friendly staff! Best place for workout

Positive experience: Manageable in distancing. Disinfected all equipment when done the scheduled time.

Positive experience: Great gym! I've frequented the ARC for the last 6 months and it's probably the best option for students anywhere near UBC. Membership for students is 35$/ 4 months, and it's valid at the Birdcoop right across from the LIFE building too. During busy times (~12-2) it's very likely you'll have to wait to use a treadmill, but most other equipment is readily available and people are always open to 'work in' (just ask). The change rooms are fantastic; specifically the Universal section. There's always individual stalls available for you to change in peace and not worry about stepping on someone's shoes or losing your stuff. You can rent a FREE locker for up to 3 hours if you hand them a piece of government ID. Big enough to fit your school bag and jacket/gym duffel.

Positive experience: Nice gym but gets really packed. Would recommend around 1pm

Positive experience: Crowded

Positive experience: Great amenities and great prices for students! It does get quite busy though, especially in the afternoon. Oftentimes, you would have to wait for equipment.

Negative experience: smallest gym of any university I've been at. 54 (men's) lockers & 3 (men's) showers for a university of 70,000‽ mostly outdated machines, with only one of any exercise. Gym is full by 7 am. you'll get a better workout waiting in line at McDonald's than in this overcrowded, low-ceiling, windowless, oubliette!

Positive experience: Good gym, but not many squat racks.

Fantastic experience: I had always been a visitor of the Birdcoop at UBC until this one opened. Pros: Equipment is new and everything is maintained properly, by staff and people alike. Mostly student crowd and most people here are respectful with wiping machines after use. It is more machine focused if that is your thing, so it doesn't replace coop for me. Cons: The dumbbells max out at 80 pounds, and that there is no incline bench for barbell, so we can only do dumbbell incline. And, music is loud, so I can still hear it past my earphones. No windows might make it feel stuffy, especially when it is super crowded in Sept/ Jan. Overall, for student pricing, its a steal.

Fantastic experience: Ubc ARC place very good and Excellent good for your fitness. It's a gym different kind stuff there to do exercise .Students and staff are welcome. People are respectful to you.

Positive experience: Great selection of equipment. Some equipment broken. Very busy, gets cramped fast. Friendly staff.

Fantastic experience: Great facilities! Lots of showers, and free locker rentals.

Positive experience: Nice and clean

Positive experience: Staff are friendly, but its too crowded

Fantastic experience: Equipments are relatively new compare to the Bird Coop. There's barely anyone there if you go before 8AM.

Positive experience: Just as crowded as birdcoop but has kettlebells

Fantastic experience: Yup clean fresh

Fantastic experience: I've enjoyed my classes with them. Impressed woth the professionalism of my instructors. Great proce for students too. Highly recommended.

Positive experience: Do you even lift bro?

Fantastic experience: UBC really needed a second gym and there you have it. Gets pretty crowded in the peak hours but the equipment is good.

Fantastic experience: Friendly staff and all my friends go there, so it’s a win-win.

Positive experience: Really nice gym and new equipment and relative clean. The cashiers and red-shirt staff are quite friendly....only when they r not chatting with each other. Otherwise, they can be quite rude, i.e. just tossing the locker key at you

Positive experience: Good gym, takes care of equipment, needs to expand free weight rack.

Negative experience: It's a pretty looking gym and very spacious, but unless you go early morning or late at night, it is very hard to work out. With the amount of traffic the gym gets, they easily need to double the amount of free weights, and there are almost more people waiting for a bench or cable machine than are using them. Stick to cardio or bodyweight exercises in this gym, because there is more than enough empty floor space for everyone.

Positive experience: Excellent gym facilities on the campus. Plenty of cardio as well as weight lighting machines. Lockers and showers are available too.

Fantastic experience: Good good

Positive experience: Nice to place to spend time, a bit crowded at times

Fantastic experience: A bit busy but solo nice

Positive experience: Great new gym! Really spacious and has a lot of new equipment! There are only a few things that the old bird coop has that the ARC doesn't, though... but it's a great place to workout!

Fantastic experience: Busy but cheap and good gyms. If you're here for an exam good luck!

Positive experience: Free drop-in sessions from day to day, and a tightly packed gym during class off hours

Positive experience: I only go there to play basketball and it is a good place to play overall. But Friday night it is going to be super crowded. The floor used to be slippery but it is recently painted and much better now. No AC, so in summer it is super hot inside...

Positive experience: Really awesome gym - doesn't lack anything, just not big enough for all the students that use it

Negative experience: Exams taken here are really hard. Would not recommend.

Fantastic experience: win math200！

Negative experience: BUSY gym, even at 6:30AM it's still pretty crammed. They don't have a maximum capasity and only 2 squat racks and a couple cable machines. Plus the place is over ran by frat boys. My high school had a better gym.

Fantastic experience: I think there is something for everyone here. Make sure to come checkout free week and the online schedule as it is easy to miss out on some great opportunities. Facilities are clean and well maintained. Most staff are pretty helpful.

Positive experience: The SRC is used for so many different things: There's a studio for yoga and fitness classes, dojo for martial arts, Bird Coop as a fitness facility, gymnasium that divides into 3 for rec sports or events or exam writing. This is your home base for fitness and rec sports. Check out the drop-in and event schedules or ask the staff at the front desk.

Positive experience: This is a great gym but it is way too small. It's really hard to get the equipment you want when you want it. The rock climbing cave is a pretty sweet option.

Positive experience: Really nice