As Co-Owner of City Fitness Gym, Cleveland Park’s
neighborhood gym, I take issue with the statement “Gyms suggest a lack of
structure, intensity and discipline” in the article Sweat Equity in the
December 3, 2015 Style section.
Workouts should have structure – the right variety of
fitness classes, personal trainers, and tailored workouts provide that in a gym
setting. Workouts should provide intensity – and that means different things to
different participants, some want to feel the burn and scream, others find pain
to be long-lasting and negative. Workouts do need discipline to be effective –
trainers provide that for some; group fitness classes bring a social
accountability to others.
The Council of the District of Columbia gave us a Resolution
as the Longest-Standing Woman owned Fitness business in the District. We have been in the fitness business for 33
years. We have survived all the fitness trends and continue in our commitment
to improve the health and fitness of the community. We did not accomplish this
longevity by promoting an elitist attitude, unrealistic physical appearance or
a cult like atmosphere with short-term “Killer Workouts” that promise quick
results and end in long-term overuse injury from unbalanced programming. Maybe
our unique position of being a neighborhood “boutique” gym allows us to offer
more attention and promotes adherence.
The article suggests that
the Type-A personality is new to DC and that what they seek more stress and
pressure. Type-A’s have been here from the beginning. Some thrive off of more
stress, but many crave a haven from the storm. When 9-11 occurred, when the
Wall Street collapse occurred, when other large stressors have affected our
community, our attendance has gone up. What activities were busier? Yoga, group
strength, and other mind-body modalities. People did not seek torture, they
wanted nurturing and peace. We have many members, Type-A’s and not, who have
been exercising in our friendly community for 25-30 years who could not have
made it to their Silver years healthy and strong if they focused only on
High-Intensity Training Trends.
Don’t get me started on some of the statements or words in
this article that I found offensive: HURTS LIKE HELL. HURTS SO GOOD.
POUNDING. BODY-NUMBING. HATE IT
OR HATE IT YOGA. MISERABLE. INSTURMENTS OF TORTURE. S & M. FIRE. SCREAMING, FIENDS, BLACK OUT, OBSESSION. These words
belong in the article below RUN, HIDE, FIGHT. AND GET USED TO IT, about 355
mass shootings this year in the United States. This is an interesting
juxtaposing of articles to say the least. This attitude is not a recipe for
longevity but a set up for exercise burnout.
There is nothing new under
the sun. What many of these programs have done is to rename and amp up already
existing exercise practices. You can take Pilates and yoga, combine them (which
has been done for decades) and “Power” market them with a new name…and they are
still Pilates and yoga, but not necessarily safer or better. Add a celebrity
smile to your marketing and suddenly you have a sensation. Kudos to their
marketing teams, but one wonders if their safety guidelines and teacher
training can properly keep up with the demand.
An interesting article to write might be the evolution of
group exercise and what it does for people. In my 52 years, I have been in a
Sports Illustrated workout video, I brought Ashtanga Yoga into the DC gym
market, I have taught step, strength, slide, hi/lo, circuit classes, interval
training, Pilates and now pole dancing. I get the need for variety and challenge
the mind and the body. Our gym offers a huge variety of classes and types of
trainers to provide that variety and structure to our clientele. We encourage
everyone to work on all fitness components – cardio-respiratory, body
composition, muscular strength, endurance, and flexibility. We also encourage
balance – physical and mental. I personally use the Medicine Wheel as a guide
for wholeness and wellness and we use these same principles to guide our
members.
I end this with words that I feel would benefit the Type-A,
work-obsessed people of this city and world at large:
BALANCED
GROUNDED
EMPOWERED
STRONG
FLEXIBLE
ENERGITIC
HAPPY
GRACEFUL
CONNECTED
PEACEFUL
How we journey there may be the most interesting story of
all.
Lucinda LaRee
Co-Owner City Fitness Gym
