Spinning Class & The Gym

I joined a western-style gym that is located in the mall by our apartment (by the way, there are always lots of people in the mall but I never actually see people in the stores of the mall). The first time I went, I went to a spinning class with my roommate Megan. There is a tiny room permanently set for spinning class, with a good 40 bikes in a space that would normally hold about 25. The instructor is on a small stage in front of the class, and the room is rounded out with a disco ball, fog machine, and two huge speakers circa-1992. We got there 20 minutes early, and although there were only three people in the room, all but three bikes were taken (people just put their towels or water bottles on the bikes to claim them). The instructor walked in and you could tell he thought he was the most good looking Chinese man in all of Chengdu. He totally reminded me of Zoolander. As the class filled up, Megan and I were definitely the center of the show considering there were no other westerners in the gym. The hour-long class was definitely not the best workout I’ve ever had (the fact that my bike’s resistance did not work didn’t help) but I found myself literally laughing out loud a couple of times due to both the selection of music (Shania Twain and rap from 1995) and my Zoolander instructor. Another interesting thing about the class was that people would just get up and leave whenever they wanted. I feel like in the States there’s a mentality that in group classes you just stick it out because if you leave you’re a wimp, but here people would show their exhaustion and leave whenever they wanted to.

The second group class Megan and I tried out was a general aerobics class and it was my last attempt at the group classes. They don’t believe in personal space in this country, in public or at the gym. If we like 5-10 feet of personal space in the States, they believe in about 1-2 feet. I started out with a nice open space around me, and as more and more people came to the class, I ended up with four people practically on top of me. I was afraid I was going to hit or kick someone, they were so close. Luckily it didn’t happen.

One time I was doing the strength machines a woman started asking me questions (in English) about why I was there, where I live, etc. We chatted for minute and I put my headphones back in. After I got off the machine, she saw me walking to the next one then yelled at me for not stretching. She told me that I must relax my muscles after using each machine then made me stretch with her.

Two more interesting things about the gym: No one wears headphones or listens to an iPod when working out. People bring thermoses of hot water rather than bottles of cold water. There are about 20 trainers there at all times, and because there are not enough people to train they just hang out and sit around. Finally, people carry their cell phone around with them at all times and answer them/talk on them when on the treadmill and in the group classes.