By Patrick St. Michel The Daily Northwestern

As McCormick sophomore Jim Smallwood walked toward the weight room at SPAC, he said he had a simple reason for preferring the North Campus gym to Blomquist Recreation Center.

“They don’t have as many weights (as SPAC),” he said.

To convince students like Smallwood that Blomquist is up to speed, directors of the gym are bulking up – on electronics.

NU is buying three, 37-inch flat-screen televisions for patrons to watch while they exercise.

The TVs should be installed by next week, said Ryan Coleman, assistant director of intramural sports and facilities.

Coleman said he hopes the TVs will spotlight the South Campus recreation center.

“We wanted to put more attention on Blomquist,” Coleman said. “We want to spruce the place up.”

Audio from the TVs will be transmitted on a radio frequency, which students can access with a Walkman or similar device, said Peter Parcell, manager of both Blomquist and Patten Gymnasium.

Neither Patten nor SPAC will receive TVs because the sets will be more useful in Blomquist, Parcell said.

“The equipment is all spread out (at SPAC),” he said. “There is no centralized space.”

While some students like Smallwood said they will continue to frequent other gyms, Parcell said he is optimistic that the move will boost patronage at Blomquist.

April Lancaster, a Music graduate student, said the new televisions will be a welcome addition to the gym.

“I think it’s a good idea,” she said while working out on a leg machine at Blomquist. “It’s not a great gym.”

But she added that the money used to buy the TVs could have been better spent at SPAC because “more students would enjoy it there.”

Still Lancaster said she probably won’t be tuning in to the new TVs.

“I just listen to my iPod anyway,” she said.

Reach Patrick St. Michel at [email protected].