Siddity In The City

Fitty: Two

Day 4--The honeymoon is ending: Yesterday I did cardio at Synergy (74th and Broadway, next to the Beacon Theater; 1,2,3,9 to 72nd St.), resistance at NYSC (2130 Broadway, at 80th St., 1 or 9 to 79th St.) Today, the reversal. Went to Synergy to put their weight machines to the test. I was familiar with several since they were the exact models I'd used in college four years ago. Still, the selection was very small, and unlike the Cybex machines at NYSC, which feature useful color illustrations and written directions, few of the Synergy machines come with handy instructions. I have to keep telling myself $700 per year in savings is worth a smaller, darker, useful instruction-free space. Gah. This is my last free visit, and I hope that this thrifty thought will stay with me as I use the trial pass at NYSC for the rest of the week. After about 45 minutes I move on to NYSC for cardio. The cardio equipment at NYSC isn't any better; there's just more of it, overlooking Broadway, featuring TV/cassette/CD players. Still, I do find myself seduced by the luxury here. I am an American, after all, and I think wanting "bigger, better, more" is hardwired in our DNA. I work out comfortably for a half hour, and then, just because it's there, I make use of the resistance equipment that was lacking at Synergy. I wonder whether I will miss the steam room and sauna feature if I sign with Synergy (just a few showers and toilets here--oh, and a tanning center, but I don't need that, now do I?). But I need a steam room about as much as I need a tanning booth. I remember a glimpse of plumply saggy, naked pale flesh in the steam room on my tour the previous day, and suddenly, a sauna and steam room are not only redundant, they're icky. If I keep visiting the NYSC, I think I might be swayed. It's so bright in there. And they have that XpressLine thing, the one where you go through eight stations in 22 minutes. And it's not that I can't afford it; I can. I just don't want to pay that much. I think of all the things I can do with the money saved: get a personal trainer at Synergy to explain the damned machines; Hollywood-starlet tooth whitening; a mini-vacation; pay off student loans a month early; and so on. What to do? Advice? Anybody got good gym tips? Am I missing some wonderful, inexpensive gym somewhere? Oh, and five gym visits in two days. Owee. I might need a small team of assistants, complete with massage certification and Tin Man-style oil cans (filled with opiates), to get me out of bed tomorrow.

posted by Sid @ 10/20/2004 11:20:00 PM