Cardio Cinema Comes to Athletic Club

“A local health club is staying on the leading edge of national trends, recently remodeling a little-used room and a racquetball court into a Cardio Cinema. Heather Greathouse, office manager at Clarksville Athletic Club, says the Cardio Cinema came about from watching how the clubs' members used the fitness machines available to them. Clarksville Athletic Club has a multi-level cardio room, and most of the treadmills, exercise bikes and elliptical machines are equipped with their own televisions. Still, some members were gravitating toward an out-of-the-way, seldom-used room where old exercise equipment was stored, available for use by those who preferred features of the old machines. ‘It's kind of how this room got started, from our equipment graveyard,’ Greathouse says. ‘We noticed people were still using it even though we had nice new machines in the other room. We asked them why, and they were either new members or people who were shy and wanted to exercise where they wouldn't be seen.’ CAC administrators decided to give shy people — and the rest of its members — a major upgrade. They built a 2,000-square-foot tiered movie theater with an 18 1/2-foot screen. In it are 16 new treadmills, six new elliptical machines and two exercise bikes. Charles Moreland, CAC member for eight years, says he is delighted that his health club regularly puts money and time into renovations, but even he was impressed by the ambition of turning seldom-used spaces into a movie theater. ‘The cinema is the newest idea, a creative idea. There are only about five of them in the country,’ he says. ‘It's a terrific way for those of us who are so inclined to extend our workout periods.’”

http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20081217/LIFESTYLE/812170301