One of my new years’ plans is to get, at long last, into some sort of shape (other than blob). 

To that end, and with the generous assistance of one of my company’s benefit features, I signed my family up in the YMCA last month.  I’ve been hitting the gym every other day for the past four weeks. 

And I’ve been doing some comparing and contrasting.  Like White Castles and Taco Bells, YMCAs in the suburbs and the city are very, very different.

Depending on the time of day and which kids I’m hauling, I’ll go to any of four or five different YMCAs.  Woodbury and Shoreview are huge, and very new, and with ample space and activity for kids.  (The downtown Y is also big and new, although not very kid-friendly).  If it’s just me (or my daughter and I), though – which is about half the time – I go to the Midway Y.  Unlike the others, the Midway Y is older; it may date from the fifties, and certainly no later than the mid-sixties.  It is immaculately kept-up, of course, but you can tell it’s an older place.

And it’s got two things about it (besides its pretty excellent weight room and close-to-Mitch location) via which it beats the tar out of its suburban cousins:

1. A steam room.  Not sure when steam rooms fell out of favor, but the newer “Y”s never have them.  During the last cold snap – and moreso during my little round of the crud last week – the steam room was a life saver.  And it’s not an anemic little damp-sauna, like Bally, nosirreebob.  It works up a head of steam worthy of Cool Hand Luke, enough to conceal half of the Ventura Administration.  Gloriousl.
2. More importantly yet, the locker rooms.  Most YMCAs have three; Men, Women, and Family (for people who are bringing kids younger than five).  Few things are quite as miserable as sharing a locker room with the screaming, screeching, snotnosed, Ritalin-guzzling little spoiled brats that the endless rows of minivans scoop from the dreary, beige suburban wastes and disgorge into the gym every evening.  On the other hand, the Midway Y has five lockers; family, plus two for boys and girls 6-18, and the most glorious luxury of all, two for men and women over 18.  Sweet escape.  It’d only be slightly more luxurious if they issued smoking jackets and allowed cigars.

That is all.

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 at 4:48 am and is filed under mitch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.