Wilson Recreation Center

Great gym available to everybody in the Duke and local community.
Students, undergrad or grad, can swipe into the gym, but if you are an outside visitor you may have to pay an entry fee and be swiped in by a student.
Popular features on the three levels of the gym include the rock climbing wall, Taishoff aquatic pavilion with the Olympic sized pool, the elliptical area, the weight room, a downstairs spin area and finally the group fitness classes. My favorites are high intensity interval training and Zumba, crowded but you get a good workout.
Tends to be most busy around the afternoon around 5 pm, but the gym opens at 7 and closes at 11 so there are plenty of other times to come.

Best gym ever. Big and has almost everything. A swimming pool, weights and lots of running machines. Very nice place to work out. Avoid the 5−7pm slot when it’s the busiest. Also, enjoy the climbing wall.

It’s not the best university gym I’ve been a member of (shout out to Penn State’s out of this world’s Rec Hall), but it’s definitely got its perks.
Perks:
1) Climbing Wall (I need to find a new partner)
2) Cool equipment not often seen (Jacob’s Ladder, stair climber — in addition to typical stairmaster)
3) Nice lighting & high ceilings
4) Good smoothies from in-​gym shop
5) Nice selection of classes with good instructors (but wayyyy packed, be prepared to sweat on and be sweated on)
I dislike working out and I’m not athletic, but Wilson Gym makes exercising to combat my decreasing metabolism somewhat less torturous. Along one wall you’ve got several large flatscreens that usually show the blood-​pumping channels of CNN, local news, and ESPN (someone please please change these channels). However, you can only see these awesome TVs from a select range of cardio machines.
The bad thing is that they quickly run out of sanitary wipes and the female locker rooms often are out of paper towels, soap, and just not cleaned enough. However, in the gym itself the gym-​goers are pretty good about cleaning up after themselves and good about not hogging stuff.
I’ve visited Brodie Gym on the East Campus and I have to say Wilson is far far superior. I’ve also heard Wilson’s indoor pool is pretty nice, but haven’t checked it out myself. There’s also an indoor track on the 4^th floor on those days the treadmills are all full.
Duke staff pay around $ 15/​month for access to both Wilson & Brodie. Pretty good deal, no complaints from me! And while it can get really busy, there’s always some piece of equipment free if you’re willing to do new things.