Caitlin MacDonald circles the weight room in the basement of the ARC every Tuesday afternoon with a clipboard in her hands. While MacDonald’s job as facility assistant is to mark the total number of people in the room, she can’t help but note the considerable number of sweaty men in shorts, picking up free weights and bench-pressing more than her weight.

On a good day, every hour that MacDonald takes her rounds she might see two women mixed in with around 100 men.

“They call it ‘the meat pit,’” she said.

The testosterone zone, the man zone and the bro zone are a few other informal nicknames the room has acquired due to the drastically higher number of men than women who work out in the weight room.

“It’s not a really welcoming environment for women,” said Luke Cuculis, a graduate student who works out in the room several times a week.

Cuculis said the general demeanor of the room and judgmental eyes are enough to keep most women out of the room. But he said he’s impressed with the bravery of the five or six women he does see during his routine hour and a half workout.

Steven Petruzzello, associate professor of kinesiology and community health, said fear of evaluation by others and intimidation is one reason you don’t see many women lifting heavy weights.

Another reason is the misperception that lifting weights will make women look bulky, muscle bound and unattractive, he said.

“Which is unfortunate because it’s probably the best thing (women) could do for themselves in terms of a workout, is to lift weights,” Petruzzello said.

Petruzzello said there is less to gain from muscle toning activities. However, lifting will increase metabolism and make weight control easier.

While weight training may be a more effective way to get in shape, according to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2004 only 17.5 percent of women ages 18-34 incorporated strength training into their workout at least twice a week.

Petruzzello believes this low number directly correlates to the way the media portrays women lifting weights with overly tanned and dehydrated body builders.

“Women are much less likely to get the increased size,” he said. “They will get more toned and stronger, but they will get muscle that is hungrier in that it will consume more energy and will help with weight control, more than running for 45 minutes on the treadmill.”

Rose Cirrincione, a personal trainer at the Activities and Recreation Center, said  despite initial reactions from her female clients, who worry about getting bulky, weight training is a key component to all of the workouts she designs.

“I do curls with 20-pound weights,” she said. “I do squats. I do all of these manly type things, but I don’t think a single person would call me ripped or buff or unfeminine in any way.”

She said one of her biggest pet peeves is to see women do crunches or 10-pound bicep curls with the equipment upstairs by the treadmills because they heard they should do more reps and less weight in order to get toned.

“Your body gets used to whatever weight you are using,” Cirrincione said. “If you have been using 5-pound curls for the last five months, you are not getting exercise.”

Cirrincione said misperceptions about how to tone your body tend to come from Pinterest or magazines that detail quick and easy workouts.

According to a Pinterest post made by Prevention.com, a workout from the website titled “Shrink a size in 14 days” says with just a 2-to-5 pound dumbbell, an 8-to-10 pound dumbbell and a chair, women can shed up to 12 pounds or 22 inches in two weeks.

The website details a two week workout that involves mainly power walking and abdominal exercises.

Cirrincione said one of the main places she hears women go to try quick fixes for their belly fat is Cosmopolitan.

In one article titled, “How to get fit and fast (like the celebrities do),” it says doing moves like the “booty booster” and “the cheerleader,” which either use low-intensity dumbbells or no equipment at all, are all you need to get as toned as Anne Hathaway.

While Cirrincione said it is great to mix up your workout, she fears many women believe the outrageous promises these articles make.

“There is a big misconception that you can snap your fingers and get this awesome body by doing these exercises,” Cirrincione said.

Cirrincione advises her clients to use weight training to focus on four key areas of the body: the gluteus muscles, the hamstring, the quadriceps and the back. These large muscles have a higher metabolic rate and will help burn more calories than small muscles such as the abdominals, she said.

According to Livestrong.com, the most beneficial exercises in strength training for women are squats and shoulder raises, push-ups, walking lunges with bicep curls and step-ups with shoulder presses.

Brian Baxter, lead assistant director of fitness operations at the ARC, said after management noticed women weren’t using the weights in the basement, light weights were installed on the second floor of the ARC to provide an opportunity for them to strength train in a different environment.

However, Baxter admitted that women still need heavier weights than the ones installed, in order to see the toning results they are looking for.

“Women would be surprised at how strong they are,” he said. “They would get great benefits from squatting and bench-pressing, and should spend less time on bicep curls.”

Lauren Jason, senior in Media, said she incorporates many of these strength training exercises into her workout. However, while she may be confident with the free weights under 20 pounds, she said she would feel out of place with men watching her mishandle the equipment in the weight room.

“I wouldn’t go alone,” she said. “If you’ve never been, you don’t want to not know how to use the machines and wander around.”

Chad Combs, manager of Charter Fitness in Urbana, said a lack of education on how to use the weight machines might be one reason women tend to opt for the elliptical or light toning exercises.

“A lot of women are intimidated by the gym, intimidated by the machine. They are even intimidated by the people,” he said.

Combs said he believes this is why there are roughly 60 women to 40 men who seek out personal trainers at Charter Fitness.

Because of the myths that surround weight training, Cirrincione said she always teaches her clients how to do the movements of the exercises in the personal training studio before taking them to the “testosterone zone,” as she calls it.

“To a woman it is incredibly intimidating,” she said. “There is not really a friendly and accepting environment. A lot of guys are like, ‘Oh, this is the man zone.’”

As opposed to the tall, open ceilings on the second floor, Baxter said the low ceilings and cramped space for equipment makes the basement weight room feel enclosing and intimidating.

Justin Wirt, graduate student, said he thinks it may be too late to fix the gender disparity in the weight room.

“This is the most segregated gym I’ve ever been to,” he said “It only makes the problem worse because (women) don’t come down here. So when they finally do, guys are weird about it.”

But, Planet Fitness, a franchise started in 2012, is one gym that is using the misconceptions and gym insecurities to its advantage.

By advertising a “Judgement Free Zone” in its commercials that keeps out the body builders who “lift things up and put them down,” the company claims there is no need to worry about “gymtimidation.”

This type of gym may offer women a more comfortable outlet to lift bigger weights without the fear of bulky-armed evaluation by their side.

While intimidation is still prevalent in “the bro zone,” Cirrincione said she will continue to take her clients to the basement despite gender boundaries, in order to show the importance of weight training for the female body.

“Women should absolutely not over look weight training,” she said. “It is something that is absolutely vital to us.”

Corinne can be reached at [email protected] and @corinne_susan.