Las Vegas Weekly

May 6, 2010 · 12:41 PM

Ron Popeil and the palace of sweat

By Rick Lax

The Encore gym is fit for a king, or a Weekly writer.

That’s not a palace; it’s the lobby of the Encore gym and spa.

The weight machines inside are equally fancy; you can tell by their adjustment pins. Allow me to explain: Most leg extension machines have two adjustment pins (one for the seat back, one for the ankle bar). The leg extension machine at the Encore gym has six. I couldn’t even figure out what some of the pins adjusted.

S., my gym buddy for the day, used the treadmill and the bike. I got my cardio by bringing her one bottle of water after another. It’s amazing how much bottled water a girl can drink when it’s free and carried to her.

After the workout, I went to the spa, where I sat on the heated stone lounge chair and took an “experiential shower” (dripping water, new-age music, color-changing lights).

How much would it cost to get one of these things installed in my apartment? I wondered.

Probably more than my apartment itself, I realized.

On the way out of Encore, I ran into superstar pitchman Ron Popeil, inventor of the Chop-O-Matic, the Dial-O-Matic, the Pocket Fisherman, the Smokeless Ashtray, the Electric Food Dehydrator, and Showtime Rotisserie Grill.

Popeil told me about his upcoming dinner with Flavor Flav, about his friendship with Steve Wynn (who I saw at the Wynn earlier this week), and about his investment in CityCenter. He also listened patiently when I told him about the Ron Popeil infomercial parody I made back in college.

What a strange life I lead. Maybe next week I’ll go to the Aria gym and play racquetball with the ShamWow guy.

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