Ultimate Chic Gym 1/12/12

Cold, but lovely morning in Dallas, Texas. I am practicing the scheme going to the gym before school. My preferred gym for that is Lifetime Athletic Premier Place. It is minutes from school and I call it Ultimate Chic Gym. It is in a fancy part of Dallas neighborhood, a few miles away from Former President George W. Bush's Dallas residence. In fact, my school is building his Presidential library!

Dallas is full of young professionals and that is the clientele. Most of the conversation I overhear sounds like they are real estate agents and lawyers. One time I heard that there was a basketball game going and somebody got in trouble. A cardiologist was right there and resuscitate on the spot! It feels like high-end spa, rather than health club and almost too luxurious for me.

I walked in after so long, as I only visit during school time and notice that there is a little card telling about LTF mobile application and a stash of mini-tissues to take. So I said hi to the lady at the counter and took one each. There are cleaning staff walking around and the place is sparkling clean. They remind me of maids that show up in Mexican soap opera, conscientious, courteous and moving all the time. In the locker room, sleek music with urban feeling is played instead of regular LTF feed. It is equipped with make-up remover, cotton cosmetic pads, Q tips and disposable shavers. The counter has comfy chair with hair dryer, deodorant and hair spray within reach. Locker area has a nice cove, at least that is what I call, good-size personal area with all this with a big mirror. The locker room houses, jacuzzi, dry sauna and steam room. It has a little machine to dry bathing suits and plastic bag dispenser not to mention scale. In the shower area, there is shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and shaving cream. In the sink area, there is hand soap, hand lotion, and even mouthwash. Well, I sure pay the price, but if there are excuses to get me IN the gym, opposed to OUT of the gym, I am all for it. All LTF gyms provide bath towels and hand towels. I know it is rather too much, but hey, with all the stuff I carry around, I can reduce some load in the gym bag.

But the ultimate of ultimate is what you see pictured above, cool eucalyptus towels found in cardio area! Yeah, yeah, I almost forgot, the purpose of my visit is to check out cardio machines. I see Octane elliptical machines right in front of a series of TV. What looks better is Precor Adaptive Motion Trainer with individualized cardio theater screen. I see Arc Trainer also with cardio theater. I pass the ultimate workout towels and go outside of the cardio studio. First thing I see is a dedicated spinning studio! Then I noticed HUGE rowing machines for the first time. Then I observe two Powerplate machines that we can only use by working with personal trainers. Hummm. Then there are a couple of cardio machines that only uses arm by Technogym and a spinner bike on the floor!

Maybe I was feeling more social than usual after seeing this lady who always goes to the Stairmaster with a pretty red bag. I said hi to two elderly ladies who I used to use treadimill for walking side by side. I spotted a young professional-looking, fit guy reading from a binder with no earphones on Adaptive Motion Trainer. I asked if he liked it better than other versions and he said it gives bigger range of motion and better workout. With cardio theater, I can check out cool commercials and news broadcaster to yell at, so I decided to use it. I had to use only legs once in a while because the whole body workout actually brought up to zone 3 range. At the end of the workout, I thanked the guy, wished him a good day and grabbed the ultimate towel and fill the Team T&K water bottle from the iced water dispenser that looks like coming from hotel buffet table. I happily complete the workout, come out clean from the gym and spot this shoe shining station. Sometimes I say hi to these guys and now I notice they are also wearing LTF uniforms. If there is only one thing I have to mention, maybe because this was not built originally as LTF facilities, unlike others, it is not 24-hours. Maybe they keep it that way, so I don’t end up living there!