- We're doing "Worth It Gym" today
I know just the perfect person to co-host this episode
The only problem is she doesn't like
to be on camera that much.
So we're going to surprise her at her house
so that she can't say no.
Hello!
- Hey!
- I know you had plans today
but I was wondering if you could join me
on a Worth It adventure.
- I don't know, I'm pregnant it seems weird.
- We got two co-hosts today and you have a home gym
don't you?
- I do!
- Can we start there?
- I do like showing it off so yes.
- Yeah, let's go!
- [Kate] I have a rower.
(ding)
- [Steven] Whoa.
- [Kate] I have a jump box.
- [Both] Yay!
- [Kate] I got this nice kettle bell.
A pull up bar.
- [Steven] Does your baby workout with you in here?
- Yeah, she likes it.
- [Steven] You're coming right?
You're good to go?
- Okay, I guess, yeah.
- [Steven] Alright, there we go Kate.
That's what she does.
- I do, I do like that.
- [Steven] I'm not just punching a pregnant woman.
Today on Worth It Lifestyle
we're going to be trying three gyms
at three drastically different price points
to find out which one is the most worth it at its price.
- You sound profesh at that.
- That's actually when you say "Worth It"
- Do I say it now?
- Well, you can say it now.
- Worth it! - Yeah
I've heard legends of you being pregnant
and working out.
- Sometimes when I was breastfeeding Flynn
I'd wake up a little before five, pump, work out
and then go to work all day.
- When you said pump, I thought you were going to say
pump iron.
- Oh, two types of pumping.
A double pump morning.
(both laugh)
- I will not be pumping anything other than weights.
(Upbeat music)
- My name is Tony Callhoun.
We're at AC4 Fitness.
We're a neighborhood gym.
We've been doing this for about six years.
We focus on taking care of that which you've been given,
whether that applies to your body and your health
or whether it applies to the planet.
We try to be a little green.
Maybe materials like this flooring or technology
like ReRev which is cardio equipment that
produces electricity.
We want to be a leader in that regard in our industry
and you know hopefully our members can take pride
in being a part of that journey.
- I like the idea of like, not just taking care
of yourself but the community and the planet
all at the same time.
I'd like to hear more about how
the green equipment works.
- [Connor] There's a lot of things that we've tried to make
the gym very green.
The rubber that you're standing on is made out of
recycled material.
This fan that we have is the same as
having 36 small fans around the gym.
It's very energy efficient.
The lockers are made out of recycled materials.
- [Steven] Functional, clean, and it's recycled.
What more can you ask for?
- Yeah.
- I don't need gold lockers.
- I don't know, you're kind of a fancy guy.
- A little bit.
(laughing)
- There's Eco-Water downstairs to make sure
that you guys don't have plastic bottles
you can reuse your water bottle every time you come.
- [Kate] Wow. More than 53 thousand water bottles
and this has only been in for 18 months.
I do like that they give it at room temperature
because I'm a room temperature person.
- [Steven] Me too! - Yeah!
(bottle clinking)
- Now that's high pH.
So what is this?
What's going on?
- This is a treadmill that doesn't plug into the wall
to get power, it plugs into the wall to give power back
to the building.
So when you're on it you're running, you're actually
producing power like a big generator and the belt
is kind of weighted.
So it's a great workout.
- Eco-Mill, give power and gain quads.
- [Connor] What we have here is the ReRev system,
when you're on the elliptical it's actually producing
power.
- [Steven] So are all of these 10 ellipticals
producing power for the building?
- [Connor] Yes.
- Let's try to get it up there.
- Ready to get up?
- Okay, yeah, let's max this thing out.
(upbeat music)
- [Kate] We did it!
We gave a little power back while we were here.
- [Ian] These are medical grade beds.
You're typically going to find these guys
at a chiropractor's office.
They use heated water jets under the rubber divider here
to give you a heated jet massage.
- I do like it.
- [Steven] I wonder if you're baby is loving it right now.
(Kate laughs)
- Well, you gotta try it.
- So I just lie down?
- [Ian] We're going to go ahead and resume that massage.
- Oh, whoa, oh, you know what that...
(laughs)
- [Laughing) You're so ticklish.
- I don't know why my butt is so ticklish.
- Wow. Steven fact!
(everyone laughs)
- That hydro massager.
I don't know what happened, okay.
My body.
- You even let the whole experience wash over you.
- I don't know if I would do it again.
- That is something I can't get in my own home gym.
- Gym fact!
Most gyms sell more memberships than they can
actually hold inside the gym.
They count on people not showing up at the gym.
- That's a real glass half empty perspective.
- Yeah.
We're going back to Los Angeles and we're going
to meet at Downtown LA for a gym called
the, Los Angeles Athletic Club.
- Sounds fancy.
- It is fancy, how'd you know?
(Upbeat music)
- I'm Cory Hathaway, I'm the assistant general manager
of Los Angeles Athletic Club.
It's a 12 story, 125,000 sq foot facility.
Part of the purpose of the club when this building was
built was to train Olympic athletes.
Our members helped bring the 1932 Olympics to LA.
- So, what you're saying is if I get a membership here
I can become an olympian as well.
- It'll definitely get you closer.
We showcase a lot of sports here.
Swimming, basketball, squash, racquetball, handball.
- If a gym has a basketball court, sign me up.
(laughs)
- [Cory] We have two pools.
One right above us is actually the first pool
built above ground west of the Mississippi.
- [Kate] That's so rare to see gyms that have
all this history and backstory.
Do people come here a lot just to hang out?
Like, it feels like there's so many things you could do.
- Some members will join with fitness in mind and then
will maybe get sidetracked by some of the other floors.
(Smooth music)
- [Steven] Want to play some squash?
- Um, I don't know how, but okay.
- I don't either.
- Alright.
- Oop. - Wait.
Wait, it doesn't bounce.
- [Kate] Is this really how this ball is?
(Upbeat music)
Wow!
- This is my happy place.
This is my favorite part of any gym.
- [Kate] This is a rare gym thing.
I've never seen a basketball court in a gym.
Not in Los Angeles
- [Steven] Yeah because there's just not enough space in LA.
This is crazy, there's actually room around,
there's padding here for when you go in too hard.
This is awesome.
- [Kate] Uh-huh.
(upbeat music)
Wow!
- [Steven] I know, I'm happy.
(Intense music)
- [Kate] Oh, it's counting my reps for me.
What!
- [Steven] Whoa, and it, Oh I see,
it tells you how far you go.
- [Kate] What, that's great.
- Want me to do some bench presses?
- There's no weights on there.
- I know, but it's still 45 pounds Annie.
(Intense music)
I'm going to put this away.
(laughing)
- The last floor of athletics is what we would call
more of the relaxation locker room, lounge, spa.
- This is very classy.
Is this a hot tub?
- [Steven] That's a hot tub!
In the locker room.
- That's crazy.
- [Steven] Ooo. - Wow!
- Showers.
- [Kate] Guess I'm going to have a bathtub experience.
- [Steven] What, what is this?
It's like a meadow.
Is this a sauna?
What is this?
- [Kate] I think so.
I feel like you could pay for just the locker room
and really get your money's worth.
- Yeah.
(Laughing)
What, where are we?
- [Kate] I feel like I entered a secret society.
(Smooth music)
I probably shouldn't touch this stuff, it all looks
very old.
- [Steven] This is not a locker room anymore,
this is your home.
(Kate laughs)
- I mean, it's like 10 times the size of my home, right.
- That's it for the LA AC.
Next place, New York City.
- I don't see how it can get better, I really don't.
- We made it to New York!
- Oh, how lovely.
(both laugh)
- Puddles!
Rain!
We were just in the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
- [Kate] Uh huh.
- It's pretty great.
- It was a club, so if you don't want to workout
there's a lot of other stuff to do.
Gym fact!
- The word gymnasium comes from the Greek word that
literally means school for naked exercise.
- Oh, that's more exciting than I thought it was gonna be.
You throw naked in there and now it's a party.
(Steven laughs)
- Alright, so we're in New York because we're going to
the final gym here.
It's called, La Palestra.
- That doesn't sound like a gym at all.
- You know how you're pregnant and everything so,
- I'm aware.
- So I understand that there's like a stress test
so I didn't want to put you through that.
So today, Ill be doing that.
- Thank you, that's nice.
- You're welcome!
(Classical Music)
- [Pat] Welcome to La Palestra guys.
I'm Pat Manocchia, I'm the founder.
This place is our first facility opened in 1994
so this will be our 24th year here.
- Wow. - Yeah.
- Congrats. - Thanks.
When we built it, there were really two industries right
there was the medical industry and the fitness business.
And they didn't really get along so well.
We're both trying to do the same thing,
which is take care of people.
And I thought, I want these resources in one place.
So we built this place.
What you're going to do today is go through what
our process is.
Evaluate, assess, review, program,
oversee, and reevaluate.
We take orthopedic data, we take behavioral data,
nutritional data, and then you do an exercise
physiology test.
And we assess that data, meaning we look
at it then we review it.
Then we'll design a program based off of those test results
and the program will have to do with what
you're weakest at.
We have two types of facilities,
there are these which are the residential facilities
that we designed, that people in the building
get to utilize.
Now, they don't have to go through the entire
process, they may just want to come down and bowl
or use the treadmill.
Which is fine with us.
- [Steven] Whoa! - Yay!
- [Pat] We think that activity is activity.
We're not snobbish about what that activity is.
In here, in this place, you're all in, so you're
going to do the whole thing today.
- [Steven] Wow.
(ding)
- [Pat] So the first thing we do with anybody
who comes in and what you're going through today
is an evaluation.
And when we say evaluate that means collect data.
- Come on in Steven.
- So you guys are gonna go through different processes
but just for the matter of today because we'll only
have today to do this, we're gonna focus on you
and what you're going through.
- My role in the evaluation is to just find out basic
medical information about you.
- Let's do it.
- And you're young and healthy so if you have any problems,
I will be surprised.
- [pAT] So the first thing you would do is
you would see our medical team.
The reason we do that first is to see if there's any
underlying medical issues that you need to really
take care of before we start doing an exercise program.
- I had a major issue with my IT band,
it just like, always kept stiffening up and hurting
to the point where like, I just couldn't run for
like, weeks at a time.
- [Pat] So then after that you would see a nutritionist
who's an ordained dietitian named Dawn Poirier.
- Give me a day in the life of eating for you.
What is a typical breakfast?
- Oh my gosh.
Okay, I have to give you context, I do a food show
for the internet.
(Kate laughs)
- Okay.
- Where I eat, for an example we'd do an episode on steak
and I'll eat three steaks in one day.
- Wow.
- [Pat] Then you would see our orthopedic team.
You're going to be seeing Dr. Destefano.
- There's a little limitation in right rotation and
some of the supportive musculature of the neck
that goes into the shoulder is tight.
- [Pat] Then you're going to sit with some of
our behavioral team.
Either a psychologist or a social worker.
- Can you delineate goals that you would want
to accomplish here?
- I don't know how to work out given my travel schedule
so, figuring out something that works for me and
keeps me motivated.
- Okay.
- I'm always on the road and I eat whatever's available.
Just anything. I'll eat anything.
- That's hard to do.
- Yeah.
- Then after that you're going to see Paul Knapic
he's one of our exercise specialist and
he's the guy that will do all of your strength testing.
- You're gonna grab this dowel.
Now straighten the arms as best as you can.
Now you're gonna perform five deep squats.
- Oh, that's a deep squat.
Okay, I think I get it now.
- [Paul] Four more times.
And five.
Good, switch legs.
You're going to take your right arm and left leg
and extend out, pause at the top, come back to the center
and then you're going to alternate.
Good.
Now let's move on to the strength test on the other side.
Drive it up.
One, two, three, good.
I'm gonna fill out your sheet with your numbers
that's pretty much it.
You're done.
- That wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.
- So, here we are after all the rigamarole,
now what you have in front of you is a folder
with you in it.
- That's my name, right there.
I've never seen something written about me
that has, you know, this many pages of things about me
and then you got this, my program.
- And that's for the next 12 weeks and there's a series
of goals which are stated by a unit of methods on
how we're going to go about doing those things.
- So, you're doing this for every person that
walks into the gym.
- Everyone does this process, yes.
It's a program centric model, it's not a trainer
centric model, it's not what I feel like doing
to you today.
It's what the data says you need to do.
- Based on the results of that, you will go to
a test which is relevant to what you need to be doing.
So, for example I know that you ran cross country so
running is something you've done before.
So we're going to do a gain analysis on you today.
That's basically a videotaped assessment of
how you actually move.
- [Steven] So you're going to physically record us,
and we're going to watch ourselves run.
- Yep. And then we're going to take you off that
and we're going to do some drills to try and
increase your perception of how you're running
and what running is.
What moves you?
- I take my feet and I walk.
- This watch doesn't have a lot of muscles.
What just moved it?
- Gravity.
- Right.
In order to move you have to fall.
Where's your weight?
- [Steven] All on my arms right here.
- On your arms, that's it.
So, what they're trying to do is utilize that falling
because you're falling very fast.
- [Steven] I do not like the looks of this.
- Right, you want to be able to get yourself
to the falling position as opposed to breaking,
stopping, pushing up, falling down.
Quick, quick, quick.
Don't lean so much, stay up, stay up.
Other foot, back to me.
Quick, don't put them down.
Up, up, up, up.
That's it.
There you go, do you feel that?
- It is like the definition of hitting your strides.
- Yes, excellent.
(clapping)
Stop.
Let's go, come on back on the treadmill.
From there we're going to come back and
look at you again after we do some drills with you.
And see if you picked it up.
- This is harder than school.
- Yeah, yeah.
- [Pat] That's it.
Straight up.
I want to see the bottom of your shoe behind.
That's it.
Shorten your gate.
Make more strides and quicker.
Okay, take it down.
(exhales)
So now we're in the screening room which was originally
a bank vault.
We have lectures in here, we do things like
we're going to do here, we do analysis.
- I don't really like being
an on-screen personality,
and now I have to watch myself, really.
(laughs)
- There's a before and after which is good so.
This is the before.
So, tell me what you see.
What do you notice?
- It feels kind of heavy.
- Yeah, like stiff. - Like heavy run, yeah.
- Okay, let's do this, let's look.
That's your center of mass relative to your support.
- [Steven] Oh man.
- What direction are you moving in there?
- It looks like I'm going backwards there.
- Right, so for this to move forward
you want to land here.
So, you're landing in a position where you're
already moving forward.
- So, essentially I'm working twice as hard
to go half a distance.
- Yes.
So now, let's look at you after we trained.
- Ah, ah yeah. - Wow.
- You see the difference in the position.
- Yeah.
I never looked at the mechanics of my body before,
now that I think about it, it's like something
you should be doing before you run.
Because then you can make small adjustments,
small adjustments.
- Yeah.
- [Pat] Okay, when you started landing.
See how much effort there is in the land?
You can see also you're landing with the heel.
- [Kate] Yeah. - Right.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- [Pat] Yeah, that's better right there.
- I see. - Whoa.
- [Pat] To be successful with this,
you have to be committed to it.
What we're looking for are barriers.
People will come in and say, I just want to
get rid of this.
To me, that's like watching a foreign film.
You know, the subtitle of that says,
"I don't feel very good about myself"
Looks do not satisfy you.
How you feel satisfies you.
What you can do satisfies you.
So we try to focus on work and focus on process
and empower people and then they do that
and they're like okay now give me the pull up bar.
Let me go.
- I feel like I've been motivated.
I feel like a new fresh baby.
Which gym was the most worth it to you at its price?
- I'm gonna go with, La Palestra
Which blows my mind because I don't want to be the person
to choose the most expensive of something,
but I'm a little older than you.
So, I gotta think about like how to keep exercising
for like, the next 20 years, you know?
And not always going super hard.
- That's fair.
I loved all the gyms.
What can compare to LA AC?
Like, It's massive. - Yeah.
- [Steven] But, I think I'm gonna go with AC4 Fitness.
Because of the value.
It's such a good deal.
- [Kate] I never thought that I could workout
but also be green at the same time.
- Alex what's your worth it winner?
- [Alex] La Palestra.
- What?
(laughs)
There's a fancy boy behind the camera.
Thank you, I know I forced you to do this video, Kate.
- I did get forced into this video.
- I think you did great.
And I think you are the perfect and the only person,
who would've made this episode worth it.
Aye!
(laughs)
- Thanks buddy that's so nice.
- Oh, no problem.
Can you spot me actually?
- [Kate] Yeah.
- [Steven] I feel like I might die.
This video is just going to expose that I am not
the strongest person...
In the world.
I guess that was already evident though.
You can just tell.