Elite Workouts

For Top Pols and CEOs, It's Not So Much How You Exercise, but Where.

TV OR NOT TV?: FOUR SEASONS CARDIO MACHINES EACH HAVE A TV, VCR, RADIO AND CD PLAYER.

Sure, working out is good for both body and mind. But it can be good for business, too, and it doesn't necessarily have to be conducted in the boardroom. Here's a survey of the area's most upscale and exclusive places to sweat, many of which cater to business professionals and local notables.

THE FOUR SEASONS FITNESS CLUB & SPA
Bottled water and your morning newspaper of choice, placed on your favorite cardio machine as soon as you arrive. Chilled towels for post-workout refreshment. Freshly squeezed fruit juices, along with bottled water, coffee, Gatorade, Crystal Light, soda and fresh fruit, available at any time at no extra charge. Complimentary overnight shoeshine and laundry service (so your workout clothes await, neatly folded, in your personal locker). This is no ordinary workout facility - this is the Four Seasons Fitness Club, by far the most luxurious (and most expensive) health club in the Washington area.

Members include business leaders, entrepreneurs, politicians, cabinet members, lobbyists, socialites and journalists, with a few wealthy Georgetown University students thrown in. Word is, notables like Bob Woodward, C. Boyden Gray and Bobby Haft grace the membership list. And no wonder - if you can afford the ultra-hefty price tag, don't think Georgetown is inconvenient, and you like to be pampered, join. Nowhere else will you find such individualized service in such a deluxe, luxurious atmosphere.

Beautiful locker rooms house a eucalyptus-scented steam room, a sauna, plush terry-cloth robes, great showers and individualized vanities stocked with everything you need (paper pads and pens, cotton swabs, lint rollers and more). But past the pampering is a serious fitness club (and spa) that offers top-notch weight machines, free weights, personal trainers and cardio machines that each have an individual Sony Trinitron TV with VCR, a radio and a CD player. Movies and CDs are available behind the desk, and complimentary headphones (a much appreciated feature found only at the Four Seasons) are nicely laid out on a tray - just grab a set and plug in. On the lower level of the compact but comfortable three-floor complex is a pleasant small lap pool, a whirlpool and a special soundproof "quiet room" for one, where you can escape work and everything else and enjoy some solitude and an incredible leather massage chair (you won't want to get up, especially given the fact that you're equipped with a soothing sound machine, TV, stereo and beverages galore).

But just as important as the facility and exercise equipment is who else is working out around you. "Networking is a huge part of what goes on here," says hotel Public Relations Director Tricia Messerschmitt. "Members often join because of who else is a member." Some gather in a cushy lounge area in the morning to catch up, enjoying a variety of papers, magazines, large-screen TV with remote and that complimentary coffee, juice and fruit. Other members strike business deals. One entrepreneurial twenty-something landed several million dollars of seed money for his Internet startup (back when that kind of thing was booming) from a wealthy member he met while sweating on the treadmill.

And then there's that above-and-beyond service. Recently, a club member on his way to a business meeting found a tear in his suit. No problem - he took a detour and pulled into the Four Seasons, which scrambled to mend the tear in record time.

PRIVATE SOCIAL CLUBS
Elegant and exclusive meets old Washington in private social clubs such as the University Club and the Metropolitan Club, where individuals must be proposed for membership by a current member and then seconded by another member before the admission process can commence. Yes, both of these clubs offer athletic facilities, and prominent politicians, journalists, ambassadors and more can be seen working out in style at them.

At the University Club (often called simply the U. Club), attorneys weigh heavily on the membership list, which also includes Supreme Court justices, members of Congress, past and present cabinet members and past presidents (Taft, Wilson, Hoover, Nixon and George W. Bush were members). Inside the club, a stately elegance pervades. While these social clubs have fitness facilities, the rules are different than at typical fitness clubs. Dress codes usually apply, for example, outside of the athletic area.

Most U. Club members pay an additional (and optional) athletics fee on top of regular dues that allows use of the basement athletic center. Down the stairs, you'll find squash courts (one International and two North American), a cramped exercise room packed tightly with decent cardio equipment and weight machines and a 25-by-60-foot indoor lap pool. You'll also see a case filled with squash tournament trophies and the Sports Lounge, a no-frills eating spot where members often grab a quick lunch after their workout. While there's no doubt that you've got what you need to work up a decent sweat, a certain shabbiness pervades (the exercise room carpeting seems old, the foam ceiling tiles are somewhat stained, and locker room shower curtains hang unevenly). Beside the indoor pool stands a small old upright whirlpool, reminiscent of an early-model above-ground backyard pool.

The University Club recognizes that its athletic facilities need updating and has established a task force to investigate the project. On the list of priorities is a new aerobics and yoga classroom, expansion of the fitness center and an updated women's locker room. Because women were not initially admitted as members to the University Club, their locker room was built as something of an afterthought. Nor were women admitted to the even more exclusive and conservative Metropolitan Club. As a result, both clubs offer a women's locker room that is not on par with the men's. At the University Club, women only have access to a single shower stall steam room and the whirlpool out by the lap pool, while the men's locker room is equipped with a sauna, steam room and private whirlpool.

At the University Club, members rave about the club's downtown convenience and personal trainers who are committed to giving top-notch individual service. Former Speaker of the House Tom Foley experienced this when he shed a remarkable 95 pounds - primarily by working with a U. Club trainer. Foley, dressed in sweats, rode his bike to the club from his Georgetown home weekday mornings, arriving at 6:00 am. He'd pump weights and work out for three hours and was picked up at 9:00 am by his limo driver, who brought Foley a pressed suit, packed his bike in the trunk and then whisked him to the Hill for work. Foley's picture graces the wall (beside other notables who worked out at the club), dubbed "athlete of the year" for 1992.

But athletics isn't the primary focus at social clubs. The University Club offers an elegant dining room and a more casual eatery and bar (packed at lunch). Other bonuses at the University Club include a stately library, a business center, a billiard room (which becomes the club watering hole come evening), a poker room, overnight guest rooms and more. There's even the Humidor Lounge, a room equipped with a smoke-eating ventilation system that constantly cleans the air (cigars are sold at the lobby's reception desk). And rather than an extensive list of typical fitness classes that might be found at a health club (indoor group cycling and Tae Kwondo classes are offered), the University Club offers 30 "clubs within the club" in which members can get to know one another based on interests. Think outdoor sporting activities, hobbies, current events, intellectual pursuits and good-natured fun. Take the Port, Cigars and Politics club, for example, which puts on evening gatherings that resemble the McLaughlin Group talk show (CNN's Roger Cossack likes to attend), complete with moderator and a couple of panelists from the left and right.

The Metropolitan Club, which declined to provide any information for this story (perhaps it would be indiscreet to brag), has been called the grandest of Washington's private clubs. Its facilities - athletic and otherwise - are comparable in many ways to those of the University Club. Sometimes described as stuffy, the Metropolitan Club is definitely a bastion for the wealthy and powerful, a place where journalists pump their fellow members for sources, attorneys entertain clients, and lobbyists befriend administration officials. Its location, just a couple of blocks from the White House, offers convenience for many. Squash, an indoor pool, Cybex weight equipment, cardio machines and more please club members. "Some very notable people work out there," said one gym regular at the Metropolitan Club - but he won't cough up the names for fear of being bounced out of the club. But here too, athletics is not the primary focus. Poker games, dining and entertaining guests are equally important.

THE SPORTS CLUB/LA
The new Sports Club/LA in the new Ritz-Carlton at 22nd and M Streets downtown has taken DC by storm. The incredible 100,000-square-foot facility, which opened in October 2000, offers a weight-training area that spans 10,000 square feet, top-of-the-line Hogan dumbbells, more than 100 cardiovascular machines with individual TVs (about 40 cable stations, but bring your own headphones), two group exercise studios and a REV Cycling class studio, four international squash courts, two full-sized basketball courts, an indoor lap pool and a separate pool for group water classes, a Pilates studio, and an incredible roster of 125 group exercise classes (everything you've heard of and more, including Candlelight Stretch, which uses real candles; Face Val-U, which is geared toward toning and tightening facial muscles; and L.A.C., a dance-based class to Latin, African and Caribbean rhythms).

NAKED AMBITION: MANY WASHINGTONIANS WANT TO WORK OUT (AND ENJOY THE SPA) ALONG WITH THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST. TRY SPORTS CLUB/LA, WHICH BOASTS A LONG LIST OF HIGH-PROFILE MEMBERS.

A hip techno ambiance prevails, thanks to details like large, flat touch-screen class schedule monitors that hang on several walls (press the name of a class you're interested in and you'll see a video clip of it along with a written description). Sleek stainless-steel bar stools surround the club's full-service bar and snazzy zebra-print carpeting livens up the comfy lounge area just steps away. The huge multilevel space, which also offers a spa, childcare and a café, is bright and cheery, thanks to giant windows that let in loads of natural light.

In terms of workout options, there's enough choice and variety to keep anyone from getting bored, but in case that's not enough, there's ample celebrity spotting. High-profile members include DC Mayor Anthony Williams (who comes in the morning with a security guard or two in tow), Wizards star Michael Jordan (who is renting an apartment at the Ritz and usually works out in strictly business mode, pumping weights with a personal trainer) and ABC's George Stephanopoulos (who's been seen locally poring over The Washington Post while riding one of the LifeCycle bikes). CNN's Larry King is a regular and other media and political members abound, including Post sports guru Michael Wilbon, historian Michael Beschloss, former Cabinet Secretary Bruce Babbitt, NBC4's Barbara Harrison and NBC's David Gregory, to name a few.

A large social element is also key to the Sports Club/LA, which throws happy hours and themed parties for all members. "Potential networking is big here, and we try and help members connect," says Corporate Membership Director Tamara Linderman.

With more than 100 corporate clients (more than 40 are law firms), including the Carlyle Group, Friedman Billings Ramsey, the NFL Players Association, Skadden Arps and Wilmer Cutler, that offer reduced membership fees to employees, it's no surprise that about 85 percent of the 4,000 current members are business professionals. Corporate functions and individual member parties celebrating birthdays and anniversaries also take place at the club, the most spectacular to date being a blowout bash for about 800 (held on the basketball courts) thrown by Friedman Billings Ramsey (the courts were totally transformed into a casino, complete with mood lighting, martini bars, sushi stations, plush velvet couches and chairs brought in just for the occasion, jugglers, palm readers, and, of course, roulette wheels and black-jack tables).

Critics say the Sports Club/LA is too big to be intimate and personal; others appreciate the fact that you'll see moms toting tots to childcare, gray-haired executives and everyone in between. It can feel anonymous and impersonal, but many don't mind (and some actually like the fact that they can do their own thing without well-intentioned but unwanted friendly questions from gym staff). Others might wish for more individual service (say, someone to spot you when lifting weights) without having to go for a personal trainer.

Want more exclusivity? The club's "executive membership" (limited to 350 men and 350 women, with a current wait list for men) offers extra perks and a smaller club within a club, and executive members enjoy a private locker room (just off the regular member locker rooms, where the sauna and steam rooms are located) with lounge seating, robes, complimentary fruit and juice, plus bonuses such as three hours of complimentary self-parking and overnight laundry service. It sounds similar to the Four Seasons but isn't as luxurious, intimate or exclusive. Even with the private lounge seating, the executive locker rooms don't seem that different from the standard ones (which are nice and spacious). But business relationships have been fostered in the men's executive lounge, where regulars can chat on the comfy couches.

TENLEY SPORT & HEALTH
With 29 clubs in the Greater Washington area, Sport & Health Clubs is the oldest and largest local health club company. The flagship location is Tenley Sport & Health, the priciest of the Sport & Health clubs and the one to get updated first (example: new Pilates studios are now at Tenley, and plans are in the works for Pilates to be added to other locations soon). It's also the most conservative, though feeling a bit run down these days, with a list of notable members that includes Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, former Clinton advisor Sandy Berger, CNN State Department Correspondent Andrea Koppel (Ted's daughter) and NBC's Claire Shipman.

The downside, of course, is that you might run into Mike Tyson. The brutal boxer has officially been a member of the place for years, though nobody at the gym has seen him around the place in quite some time.

The club opened in 1988 and has undergone several renovations since then, including the recent addition of 3,000 square feet of new space. It sports marble floors at its entrance along with brass railings, cherry hard wood paneling and leaded glass windows. In a way, this seems a bit like a poor man's (or woman's) Four Seasons, but the cardio equipment doesn't have individual TVs and you'll need a radio walkman to get individual sound. Recumbent bikes equipped with individual touchtone monitors allow you to watch TV (bring headphones), surf the Internet for stock quotes and check your email. The cardio and weight machines are plentiful, and two group exercise rooms are ample. Squash courts and an indoor track are a bonus.

The multilevel club boasts a sizable indoor pool and coed whirlpool, in addition to private whirlpools in the men's and women's locker rooms, as well as a steam room and sauna in each. At Tenley, the women actually have a larger locker room than the men, and female members seem to slightly outnumber the men at this club. You'll see stay-at-home moms who come during the day and lots of female attorneys (and other hardworking female professionals) who show up after work in need of a massage.

Rather than being centered in a business metropolis, Tenley Sport & Health is more neighborhood-based (although Fannie Mae and local media outlets close by provide a fair share of members). Club staffers who compare Tenley to other Sport & Health clubs call it "intense," recognizing the high-powered and stressful jobs of both male and female members.