Charmaine Gordon And Synergy: The Perfect Fit

Charmaine Gordon could have spent her professional life practicing law. Pension and tax law, to be exact.

She certainly has the education -- Yale Law School. And the background -- the Department of Labor, where she wrote the regulations for the pension law passed in the 1970s. At one point, she even had a law office in Columbia.

There was a problem though. She didn't enjoy being a lawyer.

"I've always been a jock," says Gordon, who with her husband, Rodney, owns Synergy, Columbia's women-only health club.

In college, she was a cheerleader and played field hockey and basketball. When she worked at the Labor Department, she taught aerobics at lunch time.

As a health club owner, she still teaches aerobics and loves every minute of it. Her favorites classes are the ones for beginners.

"I like them because there are no expectations," she says. "When people succeed, it's such a joyful experience."

Gordon relishes her members' successes nearly as much as they do.

"I like fitness," she says. "I like health, exercise -- it's fun and wonderful. I think everyone should get the fever. That's my job, my goal."

At Synergy, the fever is spreading. In just under six years, Gordon has seen her club grow to more than 8,000 square feet and more than 800 members.

She thinks the club is successful partly because it's for women only.

"You don't have to worry here," she says. "You can just be yourself. If you're going to join a health club, it's important to go to the right place. If you feel uncomfortable, if you're not getting the support you need, you should go elsewhere."

Gordon says her members get "a lot of support, a lot of nurturing." But then, her club does, too.

Only The Best

If Synergy were a child -- a little girl, no doubt -- she would have the prettiest clothes and all the latest toys.

"I like doing different things," Gordon says, looking around at her club's newest equipment. "I like new and exciting things. Whatever's new, I like to give it a try."

That explains the Reebok Skywalker, which looks like a spaceship parked outside her office.

"Since the world is not made up of fit 25-year-olds, I try to find something for everybody," Gordon says. "There's less impact with the Skywalker than with a treadmill -- it's great for people with bad knees or bad ankles because your feet never leave the platform."

It also explains the Butt Blaster, which "isolates the one area women worry about more than anything else. If gravity has taken its toll, and things aren't where you want them to be, you should be on that machine."

Then there's the specially-made wooden aerobics floor. "I spent $31,000 on that floor," Gordon says. "That's the way I am. I don't like 'chintzy' -- I don't like things that aren't nice."

But her pride and joy is the new Microfit Machine, a device that weds a stationary bike, a bar for strength testing and calipers for measuring body fat to a computer.

As you exercise, the computer keeps track of things like blood pressure, resting heart rate, percentage of body fat, strength and flexibility. When you're finished, it presents you with a printout that tells you where you stand and what areas need work.

Gordon likes new members to use it before they begin their exercise programs.

"A lot of people start a program, and they don't know they're making progress. When they take the test again, they can see that they're improving their health. Their blood pressure is coming down, their percentage of body fat is coming down.

"What the scale says is the least important thing. If you weigh 250 pounds, and you look and feel good, it's okay to weigh that much."

Well maybe not that much. Gordon is sitting behind her desk holding a pen. She looks stern as she cites the latest Surgeon General's report that says obesity is the nation's number one health risk.

"Do you have to run a marathon? No. But you have to get off your butt and do something."

You also have to eat right. Which brings Gordon to her newest mission.

Life Without Diets

When it comes to women struggling to lose or maintain their weight, it's possible that Gordon has seen it all. Fasting. Diet pills. Deprivation. What she calls "fake food."

"I know people who have tried all of those things. As soon as they stop, the weight comes right back on," she says.

Recently, she began a program called Life Without Diets. The idea is to form support groups where women can learn about nutrition and encourage each other as they develop healthy eating habits for life.

The first group began by looking at nutrition and exercise and setting realistic, measurable goals. Then, everyone got a nutrition plan "with real food you can eat" Gordon says. "If you hate chicken, you're not going to get something that says to eat chicken five times a day."

Finding The Perfect Fit

Gordon grew up in White Plains, N.Y. and majored in Brazilian literature in college. There was one semester when she took all foreign languages and spoke no English.

"I like talking with people," she says. "I think the best way to do that is to speak their language."

After she graduated, she counseled convicts and ex-convicts in Yonkers. But she found the job frustrating, despite what she says was "one plus:" When one of her clients discovered the car radio he had stolen was hers, he gave it back immediately.

"You think you're going to save the world, but you're dealing with a different mentality," Gordon says. Finally Rod suggested Yale Law School since she likes to read and write.

That wasn't a perfect match either. She was more interested in the arts than the law. "But I said I was going to do it, and I did."

She graduated in 1979, five years after the pension law was passed.

"Pensions seemed like an interesting area," she says. So when Rod got a job in the Washington area, she went to work at the Department of Labor writing the regulations for the new law.

Eventually she started her own practice but closed her law office soon after she and Rod opened Synergy.

"I wasn't born to be a lawyer," she says. "Life's too short to do something you don't enjoy.

Beyond The Club

Like many county business people, Gordon does her share of community work. She's on the Friends of the Library Board and, with her members, raises money for local causes. Last year, she won a Chamber of Commerce Howard's Hero award for her fundraising efforts on behalf of AIDS research. This year's project is the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.

She also had an educational partnership with Howard High School and is looking forward to another one.

But Gordon's greatest satisfaction -- and joy -- comes from her members' accomplishments.

"I love my business, I love teaching, I love the people," she says.

Even more satisfying is seeing her members' health improve.

"Fitness is no longer a question of vanity," she says. "Do you want to live to play with your grandchildren? You have to use it or lose it."