Working out in Beijing

As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently signed up for a gym outside of campus at the University of Science and Technology in Beijing (UTSB) because the gym at BLCU was quoting a price that was nearly 300 RMB more expensive than the place I am at now, and they were not budging at all. Pricing on China is very dependent on 2 things: the number of people signing up together and the length of time you are going to get a membership for. People who signed up for a whole year could get memberships that are maybe 100 RMB more than the price for 5 to 6 months. They will not just divide a year's membership in half and give you a membership. Luckily, I ran into a guy named Guo who worked for the gym I am going to these days. I was able to negotiate with him to give me a 5 month membership for 500 RMB which was by far the cheapest I could get in the area, and the gym itself is massive. They have a huge swimming pool, basketball courts, badminton courts, ping pong courts, an outdoor track, and a weight training facility.

The weight training facility doesn't have as much equipment as an American gym but it definitely has enough to get a good workout in. A good thing about gyms in China is that a trainer is included in the gym membership and yesterday I got one to help me out with an ab workout. He made me do some very interesting exercises that I had not seen before, but I definitely felt the burn in my midsection. It seems like a lot the Chinese are like Americans with working out, as in there are very few people that come regularly. I am one of the very few foreigners that come to the gym and I definitely get some very curious stares, especially because I also one of the strongest people in the gym. Random Chinese guys come up to me and start asking me advice on how they can start lifting as much as I do. I remind them that it takes consistency and that I also started at the same weights they are currently lifting. One thing I have noticed is that the Chinese are very welcoming and open once they see that you are making an effort to speak to them in their language. Using English here doesn't get you very far in doing anything and preference is given to those who speak the language more fluently. It seems that everyday I am reminded of how little Chinese I know, even though I have studied it for the past 2 years, which is why I've been making an effort to talk to as many Chinese people as I can. We'll see how far it get as time goes on.