online edition - PRO Sports Club

pro sports club
president’s message
Better
Than
Nothing
Recently, I participated in one of Karen Relkoff’s excellent
6:15 a.m. Circuit Training classes. If you haven’t tried Circuit
Training, it’s a fantastic way to get both your cardio and strength
exercise in an hour. After I finished the class, I was walking
down the hallway towards the locker room when I encountered
a very fit, 30-something female member. She asked how my
workout was. I said I’d just gone to Circuit Training (feeling
pretty good that I’d completed this great workout at age 65) and
asked, “What have you been doing this morning?” She replied,
“Well, I just swam and ran on the treadmill. Now I’m going to
run (3 miles) down to PRO Sports Club Willows Road and go
to a class.” Phew! I thought the Circuit Training class was fairly
rigorous for me, and she’s doing all that this morning?
Then I remembered my own words, from a President’s Message
in 2006.
As President of PRO Sports Club, I’m fortunate to spend a lot
of time in a great environment, surrounded by people pursuing
their health, fitness, and sports goals. When I was playing
college and professional tennis, I had the luxury of devoting
many hours to an activity I loved, which also kept me in great
physical condition. In the early days of the club, 30 years ago, I
spent as much time on the court teaching tennis as I did taking
care of administrative duties. In those days, after spending five
to six hours daily on the court, I found that I got plenty of
exercise without having to create the time to do it. As time has
passed and our club has grown, no matter when I choose to play
tennis or squash, or exercise in the Fitness Center, there’s often
something else that needs my attention. It’s definitely harder to
make focused time for exercise. Even though I’m already here,
there’s a temptation to say, “I only have 25 minutes to exercise,
I’ll just skip it.”
To combat this temptation, I have coined a phrase to motivate
myself when time is scarce for exercise. I call it the “better than
nothing” workout. Fifteen or 20 minutes of cardio combined
with 10 minutes of weights and a little stretching is definitely
better than nothing when time is scarce. One set of tennis or
one game of squash is definitely better than nothing when your
time is limited. When I’m finished, with even a brief exercise
period, I know that it’s definitely better than nothing because I
feel so much better.
The next time you say to yourself, “I don’t have time for a
decent workout,” you might remind yourself that even a short
workout is worthwhile. At PRO Sports Club, we do our best
to provide enough equipment and facilities so that you can
minimize any time waiting to do your favorite activity or use
your favorite machine.
The next time you’re asked the question, “How was your
workout?” you might find yourself saying, “It was better than
nothing.” But remember, all of those “better than nothing”
workouts can really add up!
DICK KNIGHT
PRO Sports Club President