New York - January 03, 2006

Pulling Your Weight

The Quickie

Raise your hand if you like working out!

Ah, no takers.

We feel your pain (and your flab). Exercise can get boring and anticlimactic. Trudge to gym. Go through motions. Leave unsatisfied.

Sounds like you need The Quickie — a workout based on a computerized weightlifting circuit that memorizes your program, tracks improvements, and fatigues your body in less than a half hour.

How can 28 minutes of anything qualify as a workout? It’s something the folks at Gravity gym like to call “training to failure,” friends. You work along a circuit of machines (trainers are on hand to help form and timing). You lift till your body screams uncle. The machines record it all and are ready to pick up the next time you come back. Between sessions you can track your progress and make neato graphs online.

No, you won’t need to join a new club. The $333 fee buys you twelve weeks of the program (and unlimited gym use).

Afraid you’re going to look too juiced up? That’s 1) a pansy excuse and 2) not likely. You’re only working it three times a week — just enough for you to whip through on your lunch break while still managing to tone and strengthen the sag.

That really hits the spot.

Available at Gravity Fitness and Spa, 119 West 56th Street, between Sixth & Seventh Avenues (212-708-7340 or parkermeridien.com).