Night Moves : Winding Up, Winding Down or Just Because They Like the Timing, a Few People Are Pumping Iron in the Wee Hours
Just when most people are lying in bed, using their TV remotes to snap off their sets after “Late Night With David Letterman,” a few dozen valley residents are putting on tank tops and sweat pants and heading for 24-hour gyms to pump iron into the early morning hours.
Some work out after midnight because, with work and school commitments, they have no other option. Others, who work in the entertainment industry, are trying to ease writer’s block, reduce late-night tension, or wind down from a performance. The rest are certified night people.
“I just like the intrigue of coming this late,” said Virginia Vines, a 19-year-old clerk at Ralph’s in Studio City.
In the San Fernando Valley, two gyms are open around the clock: the Nautilus Aerobics Plus facilities in Studio City and Northridge. Other private clubs--such as the Burbank Squash Club, which offers weightlifting equipment--give members keys for use of the facilities at odd hours.
Small Facility
The Northridge gym is one of the smallest in the Nautilus Aerobics Plus chain of 19 locations in Southern California. On one recent Thursday at 2 a.m., Michael Duffy had the entire facility to himself. Duffy, a 33-year-old Winnetka resident and a vice president with Software Toolworks, said he had been working as many as 12 hours a day and the early morning hour was the only time he could work out.
“There are no crowds and no excuses,” he said. “And with my sedentary job, in which I sit on my butt in front of a computer for so long, exercise is important to me.”
So important that Duffy is willing to cut his sleep to four hours a night to maintain a workout routine that may include six visits per week.
From 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., 21-year-old Ryan Grossbacker mans the desk at the Northridge gym. He said attendance averages about five for the early morning hours. He said members come in two shifts: 1 to 3 a.m. for those who stay up late; and 4 to 6 a.m. for those eager for an early start. The 3 to 4 a.m. hour is dubbed the twilight zone in which few, if any, show up.
The larger Studio City gym, a 20-minute drive away, is much busier with about two dozen members staking out territorial claims in a facility that includes 20 life-cycles, three sets of Nautilus equipment, a set of hydraulic-powered equipment, and more than three tons of free weights.
For H.B. Radke, 20, and his girlfriend, Kim Clemens, 19, both of Studio City, the gym’s 24-hour availability was the chief reason for joining. Radke co-owns Seventh Wave Productions, a small record label that turns out alternative dance music. He also commutes to Seattle to play trumpet in a swing band and composes music at whatever hour he happens to have available. As a composer, Radke found the early morning workout a boon to his writing.
“I have to complete 20 songs for my producer real soon and I just had a block,” he said, glancing up at a clock that indicated 1:30 a.m. “This is a good way to clear the mind. Writer’s block is really caused by stress. And lifting these things releases the tension.”
Radke had another incentive: “If everything goes according to plan, I’m going to be making videos before too long and I have to drop some weight.”
North Hollywood artist Dino works out late and sleeps in because he finds that late afternoon is more conducive time to work on his surreal paintings.
And Lili Haydn, 18, comes to the gym after sharing the stage with her mother, Lotus Weinstock, in the play “Molly and Maze” at the Eagle Theatre in Beverly Hills.
“Usually, I have to wind down after a performance, and this is better than eating and watching television.”
Haydn lives with her mother in North Hollywood and bucks parental censure for going to the gym so late.
“Mom doesn’t like the idea at all. This is a good area and all that, but still she feels I’m a young girl and safety is an important aspect this late at night.”
She Carries a Stun Gun
Haydn compensates by parking close to the gym and packing a stun gun in her purse.
Paul Coyle, 36, drives over the Hollywood Hills to the Studio City gym as part of an all-night routine that includes shopping at 24-hour supermarkets and banking at automatic tellers. A television writer for such shows as “Jake and the Fatman,” Coyle, a Hollywood resident, said he functions best at night and prefers to avoid the “meat market” social scene during the gym’s peak hours.
“I can’t stand this place when it’s crowded and all the machines are taken. Even at six in the morning, this place is really busy.”
Michael Inglese, a 20-year-old UCLA student and gas station attendant, feels the same. Pointing to the giant aerobics mat, Inglese smiles: “During the day, you got all the good-looking girls out there, and the guys over here checking them out. At night, there’s a different atmosphere.”
2 a.m. Workouts Are More Serious
At 2 a.m., he said, it’s less social. People are more determined to get on with the workout. And this suits the North Hollywood resident just fine. “I’m a quiet guy,” he said.
Some members caution that a late-night sojourn among the muscle machines does offer its own set of problems. Robert Mamet, 26, of Encino said he occasionally finds himself in a daze.
“Sometimes I’m only going through the motions,” he said.
But Mamet, a composer for commercials and low-budget films, said he relies on the workout to eventually snap him awake, a boon for someone who also writes music at odd hours of night.
Andrew Bowman, 26, of Hollywood, cuts through his daze with a large dose of caffeine and sugar.
“Before coming, I’d get a cup of coffee and a Danish or something. And then I’m wired the rest of the workout.
Strange Visitors
Bowman, a fund-raiser for the Pacific Group, noted that the post-midnight crowd does attract a few strange visitors at times: “People who are really out of it.” He wouldn’t elaborate. But Matt Coats, an electronics technician at Singer Librascope, also recalled some “weirdos” among the usually tame crowd of regulars.
“One guy came in a tux. He was intoxicated or on something. Pretty buzzed up. And he was walking around in the shower and locker rooms telling jokes. He looked safe so we just watched him and laughed. But it was really weird.”
Coats, 25, of Sylmar, is zealous about maintaining his workout routine, making the 1 a.m. drive to Studio City every Monday through Thursday. The Studio City gym, unlike the one in Northridge, closes at midnight on Friday and at 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. When the weight room at Studio City was also closed one Wednesday night for repairs, Coats and two others drove to Northridge to maintain their schedule.
Colin Reynolds, assistant manager of Nautilus Aerobics Plus in Studio City, said the facility used to be open 24 hours on weekends, like the one in Northridge.
“But we have a problem in this area. People go to the bars and start drinking and then come here to see who can lift the most weight. Drinking and weightlifting--that doesn’t work out too well. And they’re in here tripping and falling, hurting themselves and causing other problems. It wasn’t a chronic problem, but after the fifth time, we said: ‘Look, why don’t we stop this.”’