Mile 39 - Heaven has a pool-sized jacuzzi

Tonight I fell in love with a treadmill and a pool-sized jacuzzi. I'll start from the beginning.

Tonight my friend Sharon graciously invited me to be her guest at the Virgin Active gym in Islington,where she is a member. This isn't your regular YMCA community gym facility. With membership prices holding steady in the 60 to 80 pound range, we're talking big time. It reminds me of the super gyms in Texas but smaller as it's London and real estate is expensive.

The machines are high-end - wonderfully bulky and ready to be pounded. The treadmill was not quite my dream machine, as it didn't have a TV attached. Nevertheless, it was a relief to finally run without worrying if I'm going to get hit by a car or run into a poll. Both of which have almost happened.

The treadmill as a machine is brilliant. You get on, set your pace and go. Without a care in the world. Oh how I miss the treadmill.

After cardio and a much needed abdominal workout, we head back to the locker room to change into our swim clothes for the much anticipated spa time.

Normally when I attend gym, I'm the girl who walks in the front door fully dressed in workout gear, then walks straight to the floor, hops on a machine, then 45 mins to an hour later, walks back out the front door - sweating and panting. Not today!Today I decided to embrace gym culture with a full-on locker room immersion experience. Well not entirely full-on, as I did actually show-up fully dressed in my work out clothes.

Regardless of that minor detail, the ladies locker room at Virgin Active Islington. Let's see, how shall I put this? Well, to start, the mirrors are more like beauty stations, each equipped with moisturizer and hair dryer. The lockers are large with wood panelling. Dim warm light, so everyone kind of looks like they have a tan. Showers with curtains. Toilets. You know the deal. Exactly what you would envision a posh gym locker room to look like.

Speaking of vision. As expected, bodies bodies everywhere. Honestly, what is proper locker room etiquette? Do you look down? Do you look up? Do you look straight at the naked girl walking towards you from the shower to her locker? I have to admit, if I may, being able to walk around naked is actually quite refreshing. Not that I walked around naked, or half naked for that matter-  BUT the idea of it is still refreshing.  And if I were to return, I think I'd give it a go,  maybe just an extra few seconds.

Anyway, we changed into our swim clothes then headed to the spa. Ahhhhhh...the spa. Heaven has chlorine and jets, is all I have to say. The spa in this gym is spectacular. Invigorating. Heaven.

You walk in to a room with what looks like a pool -the size you'd have in your backyard. But this pool is actually an enormous jacuzzi  sectioned off depending on where you want the jets to hit your body.

photo courtesy of the Virgin Active website.

But before you head to the pool sized jacuzzi , you must start with a shower to wash off the sweat from your workout. First stop,shower station, where you choose which facility you would like to use to wash your body. 1. the tropical rain shower. 2. the basic shower head shower. Or 3. stand under a bucket and pull a lever dumping a wooden bucket full of water down your body shower. Number 3 is quite strange. It kind of reminds me of either a torture devise or an erotic tool used in western movies to signify the beginning of a love scene.



example courtesy of a stock image website.

Right, after you shower off the sweat from the workout, you head over to the sauna. I for one can only handle a few minutes in the sauna. It feels too much like a hot Texas summer day. At one point I actually started to get hungry for a BBQ sandwich and a beer. Time to go.

photo courtesy of Virgin Active website.


Next, you walk into the steam room where you basically suffocate for as long as possible while trying to remind yourself that this is actually good for you. 30 seconds before actual death, you leave the steam room, head back to the shower station where you presumably dump a wooden bucket full of water over your body, then onward to the pool sized jacuzzi!

I. Love. Pool-sized Jacuzzi. I felt like a kid in the neighborhood pool. Splashing around, arms flailing, water sprouting from my mouth. OK, no water sprouting from my mouth. But I thought about it. Perfection.

After 30 minutes of adult pool time, we head back to the locker room for yes, another shower. Sadly, the locker room showers do not come equipped with the wooden bucket shower option. Darn.

I love the gym. So very relaxing and lovely. Makes me want to give up food in place of gym membership!