| rev:text
| - personal trainer without the mesh tank-top
the center-point of a koko gym is an all-in-one weight machine ... through a series of pulleys and levers, one stack of weights gives you your entire workout ... leg curls, bench press, lat pull-down, etc...
the first time you go you take a strength test and a series of range-of-motion to let the system know what you're physically capable of. from there you follow a (swiveling as you need) computer screen that shows you the exact speed you should lift -- you mimic a rising and falling box on a screen. demo videos show you exactly how to do each procedure, along with bullet-point things to be sure of.
if you've ever played around with a wii fit, it's like that on steroids. master-able in five minutes.
any given weight lifting session will be almost exactly 30 minutes, and believe me, the time just flies by ... you spend all your time watching the computer screen. the system keeps track of what you've done and the next time you visit, moves you along to the next logical set of lifting.
there are also two ellipticals and three tread mills. no computer screens here, MP3 players and headphones guide you through any level of difficulty you'd like for a 15 minute session.
the reviews of others for this particular koko are spot-on ... the staff are great, the club is super-clean in an otherwise faceless henderson strip mall.
and there is one HUGE advantage that no one else has mentioned here ... you get an access key, and thanks to the wonder that IS las vegas, you can go 24 hours a day ... so if you wander in at 02:00 on a wednesday morning, the lights are all on, the music is playing, and it's just you in the club. it makes me feel like king of the world. it's luxurious and it's awesome.
after start-up fees (many of which can be dodged by getting the groupon), it's $80 a month. sounds pricey when you compare it to some of the 24 hour joints -- and it kind of is. but if you were to use a personal trainer, which go for $50/hour plus PER SESSION, it would be $600 a month for three sessions a week!
i simply love the fact that the second i sit my ass down on that machine i'm on auto-pilot ... i think about NOTHING but the computer screen in front of me and the weight set repetitions that somehow seem PERFECTLY adjusted to my fatigue level.
i'm 53 and i'm a writer. i think of exercise exactly like writing -- it's not something i like to do, it's something i like having done. before koko i've done very little weight lifting in my life ... i was never sure exactly what to do, and i didn't feel like "performing" in front of other people at the gyym.
but i HAVE done a ton of cardio-pulmonary in my life (e.g. ridden my bike across america, swam from alcatraz twice). i've also always carried an extra 20-40 pounds over my "ideal" weight (i've never really cared ... i've never "dieted"). whenever i've heard wedge shaped people talk about how great-it-is-to-be-alive-oh-what-a-beautiful-morning, i just wanted to punch them. (and probably would, except they lift weights and i don't). i've never had that feeling.
until now.
it's not an exaggeration to say koko has changed my life. it is, easily, the best money i've ever spent on ME.
i thought and thought about this review before i wrote it ... i was going to rate this place 4*s because of some quibbles i have, but for the raw effect it has on my life, crossed with the true amount of "right" i believe the underlying system has, i just couldn't.
but that doesn't mean i won't mention them ...
THINGS THAT COULD BE IMPROVED
* koko's too far away. i know, i know, it's not their fault, but all of vegas's kokos are concentrated in a blot down in henderson and i live in summerlin. it's a haul to go there ... as much as i enjoy koko, i don't enjoy the drive. (i suspect it may be part of the franchising rules.)
* there's a mild emphasis on over-training. it's actually worse at "normal" health clubs, but there is a leader board in the club that tells you who has been lifting the most weigth and working out the most. no one at koko has ever mentioned grossly diminishing return of doing more than two weight lifting sessions to me.
* there are no showers. i understand why they do this -and i wouldn't want to pay more to have them- but the cardio sessions can be intense at the very highest levels.
* 15 minutes isn't QUITE enough for a cardio session. they're deep into tabata philosophy and that's fine., but i'd like the option of (pre-defined) longer and more even sessions.
i'd say koko's not for everyone ... maybe just normal people and computer geeks ... if it sounds interesting, go to the main koko website and get a free session -- better yet, get the groupon ... it's dirt cheap and will give you a real feel for it.
everyone can talk and talk about koko, but you don't really get it until you sit at a machine ... and you'll known fairly straight-away if it's for you or not.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)