volume

so, at present i'm a member of three different gyms with countless locations combined. which means that not only do i have one available on nearly every corner of the city, but that i get the opportunity to experience quite a range of equipment and amenities at each.

there was a time when i thought this was the last thing i'd ever want to do. i had my gym, my home base so to speak, and i knew where everything was and how to use it. i knew the trainers, group instructors, day care workers, front desk personnel, and many of the regulars. but now i actually love the variety and ability to truly pick and choose how i want to work out. ansley is better for arms. atlantic station is better for chest. snellville is best for cardio. and so on.

at the end of this month, i'll be letting go of my home gym. it's the only membership that gives me only one gym to visit and the only things i go there for any more are the donkey calf machine and a spin class, when i can fit it in. i thought i'd be sad to let that go, but honestly i haven't been. i haven't thought about it at all.

until today that is.

ever since i joined the largest of the three gym chains, i've been boggled by the tvs they have in their 'cardio studio'. the equipment in these gyms for the most part is modern and well maintained. and everywhere you look there are attempts to be contemporary, from sky lights to bright accent colors to hand sanitizer stations conveniently placed. so, imagine my surprise when i first stepped up onto a stair mill and looked pleadingly at the television for a distraction from the pain only to notice a small sign that said, "87.9 FM". and on the tv next to it, "87.7 FM". and so on, down the line.

i looked up and down the rows and scanned the other sweaty cardio queens, checking their heads and eyes. yes, they all had headphones. and ten out of ten had them plugged into their ipods, or equivalent mp3 players.

i scratched my head in confusion. oh well, at least there will be closed captioning when the commercials end i assumed. um no. they only had it turned on on one of the twelve tvs, and it was so far away i couldn't make out the picture, let alone the words.

still puzzled i looked down at my iphone, doubling as an ipod. then i had an idea. i know the commercials after all! "there's an app for that!"

but no. there's not. there's not an app that will let you tune into a local radio station. personally, i think this gym chain should wake up from the dark ages and launch one that would at least let you tune into their tvs. but, who asked me.

so, for the past six months or more i've resigned myself to my playlists and pandora and making crude and flirtatious gestures at haley across the gym . but then over the weekend, i remembered a sony sports walkman i'd purchased a few years ago to use for running. i'd wanted to listen to a morning radio show and bought it exclusively for that.

i searched and found it hidden in the back of a kitchen cabinet, replaced the batteries and stowed it in my gym bag. today i pulled up to my gym right when oprah was kicking off and excitedly toted my radio walkman to the cardio suite. i tuned in to 87.9 and looked up at the screen with expectation. i haven't watched oprah in years!

she was talking to adam lambert, of american idol. or so it appeared. i could hear the conversation faintly, under the boom of the football announcer on the ESPN station being broadcast on 87.7 and in between the commentary of the CNN desk reporter being broadcast on 88.1.

umm.

some gyms have individual tv screens in each piece of equipment. but these gyms have televisions that remind me of the silent pictures i studied in my college film class. or the fm radio i had as a child on which i'd ever so carefully set the antenna and dial, praying to only pick up one station.

at that moment, i really and truly missed my home gym. it's a privately owned gym. though part of a larger organization, it's a franchise run location and the owners are actually fitness freaks; less concerned with the right color scheme and the coolest $6 smoothie, and more concerned with equipment that makes sense.

i'm still cancelling my membership. and i'm drafting a letter to the people who care regarding the cardio suite that was apparently lifted out of the 90's.

d: turn the volume up! it's meant to be a distraction, after all.
b: i'm putting in many, many hours of cardio a week. the way i used to. the way i love.
g: a gym on every corner. what else would i do with my time?