110 degrees magazine - Index

110 degrees magazine - magazine_08 - Index

BY DONALD HUNTINGTON I PHOTOS BY RUSSELL BYRNE
Fit
GETTING EAST COUNTY
THE EAST COUNTY PHYSICAL FITNESS SUB-CULTURE HAS RADICALLY
REDEFINED ITSELF OVER THE PAST FOUR YEARS THROUGH THE DRAMATIC
FASHION IN WHICH IN SHAPE AND CLUB ONE HEALTH CLUBS HAVE RAISED
THE HEALTH CLUB BAR.
The East County has undergone tremendous changes during the
four years that 110° Magazine has been in business. None of the
changes have been more dramatic than those made by our three
new health clubs.
In 2002 the only health club I knew of was located in a renovated
Brentwood super market. Now the area features three magnificent
temples raised to the service of physical well-being.
Brentwood’s Club One, the first premier-quality health club,
appeared on the East County scene four years ago. This was shortly
followed by In Shape City last year and then by Antioch’s In Shape
Sport this year.
All three clubs are magnificent! For example, walking into
Antioch’s In Shape Sport Club for the first time is an assault on the
senses. The elegant design of the place, with its 30-foot high volume
ceilings, balconies, mirrors, and lounge areas — all illuminated by a
system of track, panel, and sconce lighting — sends the deliberate
24 www.110mag.com January/February 2008
message to members and visitors, “This is a good place to be, and a
good place to keep coming back to.”
It’s a message that all three facilities are working hard to send. In
each case the clubs are aimed at serving their members while allowing
the members themselves to choose the content of that service.
Full-size basketball courts, racquet-ball courts, swimming pools for
both lap-swimming and lessons, aerobic areas, spa areas, rock-climbing
walls, cycling areas, children’s clubs, health-food services, and a
bewildering collection of nautilus-type equipment and free weight
rooms can meet whatever exercise requirements members may have.
I’m a good example of the changes that are taking place in
renewed concern for becoming physically fit. For years I quoted Mark
Twain’s admission. “I take no exercise except for eating and drinking
because I could never see the advantage of being tired.”
I tried to heed Plato’s warning that “Attention to health is life's
greatest hindrance.”