In the basement of Hinman College’s Hughes Hall, there is a mysterious free gym that opens only during night-time hours.

Funded by the Hinman College Council, the gym provides free weights, pull-up bars, medicine balls and an elliptical machine.

For students who don’t want to venture across campus to the East Gym, the Hughes Gym, opened from 8 p.m. to midnight Sunday through Friday while resident assistants are on duty, provides the basics for simple workouts.

“Especially for people in Hinman, it’s very convenient to use the Hughes Gym instead of walking down to the East Gym,” said Drew Wolin, a committee chairman for the Hughes Gym along with five other members of the Hinman College Council. “Though the gym does not offer classes or have many exercise machines, it does offer an opportunity to get in shape with no extra cost.”

Wolin said the gym is not restricted to use by Hughes’ residents, although they are given priority because the max capacity is 11 students.

Wolin, a senior double-majoring in financial economics and math, first learned about the gym by word-of-mouth when he was a freshman. Wolin has continued to use the gym because of its accessibility and the provisional amenities often provided by other work-out facilities. The committee has been a part of HCC since the gym’s creation — a date that could not be provided by any student or faculty administrators.

For some students, the gym lacks appeal.

“The Hughes Gym sucks,” said Frankie Marquez, a sophomore double-majoring in biology and chemistry.

Marquez, who lived in Hinman’s Cleveland Hall last year, said he never used the gym because he was “unimpressed” with the facility. He opted instead for a Planet Fitness membership, which offers limited-time student discounts in the beginning of the fall semester.

Michelle Haro, an undeclared sophomore who lives in Hughes, said she prefers purchasing a membership at FitSpace.

“I’ve been going to the East Gym ever since it opened,” Haro said. “It’s still pretty convenient and it has everything I need, but it is $100 a semester.”

Haro has lived in Hinman for two years and said she has never been to the Hughes Gym, but she said she would go if the gym had treadmills.

Jasmine Carrig, a junior majoring in English, said the idea of having gyms in every community would be beneficial.

“I think it’s a great idea to have community gyms because it provides an option for those who only want to go occasionally and don’t want to pay for a membership,” Carrig said. “It’s also very convenient because people don’t have to go very far.”

Hinman College Faculty Master Al Vos said he did not know when the gym opened.

“I don’t know when it was created, or the specific reason, other than the obvious fact that it gave Hinman students a place where they could work on fitness,” Vos wrote in an email to Pipe Dream.