I’m not crazy about health clubs, but I belong to one anyhow. It’s only a block from my office in Downtown Chicago, so I use it on my lunch hour two or three times a week. During summer months it’s also a handy place for showering after riding my bike to work.
I joined while rehabbing from knee and leg injuries over the past couple of years. On lunch hours I use the rowing machine, exercise bikes, a few weight machines and occasionally a treadmill. But they are bo-ring! I view health club membership as a poor substitute for running rather than as my primary means of staying in shape.
It’s not the physical activity, but the tedium of using the machines that turns me off. About 25 to 30 minutes is all I can stand on a treadmill or exercise bike. Same for the rowing machine. There’s a bank of TV screens facing the machines, but it’s impossible to hear the speakers, so some TVs are set with printed captions so viewers can follow the “action.” But mid-day TV fare is grim?#34;happy talk news with features on food, reruns of a former prime-time drama series, financial markets and sports oriented programming featuring reruns of pro football or basketball games (interrupted, of course, by endless commercials). If there was something of interest that I could actually follow with captions, I could probably stand the machines for a longer time.
River Forest’s Bob White, a veteran of the OWies who has also been contending with knee problems for a couple of years, invested in a high-end elliptical exercise machine which, he admits “ain’t running,” but still gives him a good workout at home. He keeps his mind occupied by listening to iPod music or reading. But some machines like treadmills or rowing machines simply don’t enable you to read since you’re moving too much. And the scenery is pretty static as you stare at the opposite wall, so maybe there are some who can just sort of shut off their minds.
A couple of Olympics ago I recall that the woman who won the American marathon trials lived in Alaska, and did much of her winter mileage indoors. On a treadmill! The mental discipline to put in that much time and mileage on a treadmill just amazes me. I don’t recall whether she wore earphones, listening to music or audio books for all those hours.
Some years ago a friend who isn’t much interested in physical activity received a health club membership from his wife, who hoped it would inspire him to get off his butt and get in better shape. After a few weeks he happily reported that it was great?#34;all he had to do was stand and watch the lycra-clad cuties in the aerobics class. He said he was soon breathing hard with beads of perspiration popping out on his forehead. Needless to say his membership was short-lived. And so much for the health club scenery.
Running, for my money, is still number one for overall fitness, calories burned and mental satisfaction. The process of simply stepping outdoors and running for several miles gives a variety of scenery. If you’re running with others, there’s conversation, too.
Nothing against health clubs, but actively using them takes a certain amount of dedication?#34;like paying the fees, and actually showing up?#34;which not that many Americans seem willing to do. A graphic example is the CTA and other transit systems now ordering buses and rapid transit cars with bigger seats to accommodate ever wider Americans. So keep running if you can. Or even join a health club.
Paul Oppenheim is a member of the Oak Park Runners Club.