Okay, so I was pretty proud of myself this time away from home on business. Time and time again, I've pledged to hit the treadmill before heading out to my meetings. Or before my head hits the pillow at night. But my trip to Indianapolis this week was a red letter trip: it was the first time I actually made good on my workout pledge. Perhaps I was feeling more restless than usual; perhaps it was the excitement over my trips to Meijer (see previous post). But regardless of the impetus, I hit that gym two times over the course of 2 1/2 days, and I am giving myself a high five for that (screw the middle school "no contact" rule).
I do have a HOWEVER, however. And that is this: what is the deal with the cheap ass equipment in there? The first day wasn't a big problem. I marched all of the way through "Friends" on the Lifestyle elliptical trainer. I think the machines went on strike for the second day, though. I couldn't get the elliptical trainer computer to stay on (it's only worth it if I can count calories burned - even if there's no way that is accurate). So I reluctantly switched to the one treadmill in the joint. My warm up at 4 miles/hr. was no sweat. But when I decided to go for a little jog, it was like an earthquake. My blackberry was bouncing all over the place, as was my room key (which actually jumped off the resting ledge on the instrument panel), and each step I took sounded like Godzilla (even with my iPod on in the background). So my question is, who is the target consumer for these cheap ass treadmills? I am 5'4", and well under 150 pounds, not to mention the fact that my little "jog" was, at its fastest, 6 miles/hr. And this is the kind of ruckus I caused? I shudder to think what a 200 pound man could do. I bet I could feel the vibrations all the way up in my room.
And speaking of gyms (the ones with the decent treadmills), why is it that they can charge all of that money per month and yet can't afford to lend me a towel that covers my ass?
It's all a mystery to me . . .
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In my work travels, I too have noticed that these Hampton Inns, Holiday Inns, etc. all have treadmills that rattle and bikes with seats falling off. I'm thinking maybe they buy their equipment from a used exercise machine warehouse or something.
ReplyDeleteYeah - they must get their equipment refurbished or something. I did have a nice treadmill at a Marriott, I think, and it had a TV on it so I could either look straight onto the instrument panel at the TV or I could look up and see the same thing...odd to be splurging on a treadmill with a tv when you had three tvs already.
ReplyDeleteThose gym towels aren't for covering your ass - it's for guys to slap eachother's butts in the locker room.