lack of multiple stations for weightlifting, but
there is a plan to put them in place, Mr. Pearlstein
said.
Michelle Horrigan, co-director, said the club's
personnel includes personal trainers and fitness
instructors who are always roaming around help-
ing. At peak hours, three or four are on the floor.
Ms. Horrigan agreed with Mr. Pearlstein that
one of the main attractions of the health club is its
friendliness.
"It's home!" a member yells out, hearing our con-
versation.
I work my hamstrings on a Cybex, then move
over to an Icarion machine for my chest and rear
deltoids. Matt, a staffer, came over to ask if he
could help me design a fitness program for myself.
I wasn't quite ready yet, but we chatted.
Matt told me he worked at Powerhouse before
coming over to the JCC, a much nicer place, he
said, explaining that the other place tends to at-
-tract muscle addicts. I hopped on the Precor again.
I love that machine.
Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2 p.m.
As usual, the desk staff was friendly. I counted
on that, since my pass expired a day earlier. No
problem, the employee said. "Are you going to be-
come a member?" I said yes. "Have a good work-
out," she chirped.
Again, there were very few people in the locker
room — construction guys were walking around,
so people were using the downstairs locker room.
I ducked into a massage room, one of four, and
changed.
I stopped by the lounge on the floor between the
weight and fitness centers. Nobody was there, but
the TV was on. A soap opera, I think.
I tried to open the door leading to the solarium.
It was locked. What's a solarium?
Working my inner thighs on an Icarian machine,
I strained to hear a conversation between two old-
er gentlemen a few machines over. I realized they
were speaking Yiddish.
Moving over to a Trotter, I couldn't help but
overhear a conversation between three doctors.
One called the men's showers "disgusting." An-
other talked peevishly about aggressive fund rais-
ing by the Allied Jewish Campaign, which led to
a discussion of tax shelters.
I wandered to the spacious aerobics studio,
which juts off the fitness center. Very impressive.
Lots of classes, and good teachers — I remember
them from Fitnesse.
I finished my routine by doing some repetitions
on a few machines:I showered downstairs — noth-
ing dirty about the locker rooms or showers, for
that matter.
Again, it was easy to pack up and go. That's im-
portant to me in a club because I don't like spend-
ing time getting to and from my car and to and
from the club from the locker room.
And I wasn't lying when I told the desk person
that I plan to join. I liked the facilities — both
the machines and the room to move — and ap-
preciated the unpretentiousness of the place. And
while people I talked to felt there are too few
younger members, I liked the mix. It was com-
fortable.
Dr. Alan Feldman
works out at
Maple-Drake.
❑
Above: Walking partners Sam
Lerman, Sy Binke and Jerry
Greenberg.
Lett: Isobel Fenton: A JCC
swimmer.
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