Common Talk Weeklyshuang yu zhou kan
issue date

Gym crazy
January 7, 2004
By Ji Yongyong
Photos by Yao Fan

7:00 p.m Saturday, an hour when Xiaochen, an editor at the Xiamen Daily, would usually prefer to stay at home in front of the TV, watching his favourite comedy show. Instead, he staggers into a gym. In the changing room, he finds a fat man forlornly weighing himself; the other early birds wrestle with the weights machines look dauntingly fit and expert. Outside the changing room, several people are pumping iron, picking up barbells and flexing their muscles. “Keep pace, hold your breath”, a smiling instructor orders to an over-weight man on a running machine, sweat all over his face. A group of women are doing aerobics to music, led by a perfectly shaped girl.

The gym craze spread across this small island at the end of the last century, when private companies entered this rarely noticed field that previously only existed in star-rated hotels. The boom may look like a sign of great improvement in living standards and a sign of commercial triumph. I still remember an alluring advertising slogan in Esquire (时尚，先生风采), one of the most famous vogue magazines in China，that declared that going to the gym regularly is an essential part of middle class life style.

Who are likely to be gym-goers?

According to a survey, the dominant gym-goers are university students and those who go to work wearing suits and ties, or the so-called "white collar”, aged under 35. This group of people tend to be energetic and have enough time and money. More importantly, they are keen to adapt to a new life style.

Why do they go to the gym?

Fat: this maybe the most obvious explanation for the rise of the fitness boom. It has coincided with an epidemic bulge in waistlines in Xiamen, one of the richest islands in China. A large number of Xiamen people are gaining weight since their living standard has improved a lot. Maybe going to the gym can be explained as the logical consequence of gluttony! Going to the gym has become an effective way to lose weight and stay healthy.

Body shaping: For most gym-goers, the purpose of going to the gym is not to lose weight. They are already depressingly svelte. Most of them visit gyms to tone up, especially university students and young office workers. These people feel inadequate because of the standards by which they judge themselves are visions of perfection purveyed by movies and TV programs. As one trainer in Qianfeng gym confides, gym-goers are always self-consciously comparing themselves with their counterparts and the pictures of body-builders on the wall.

To refresh and energise: Scientific evidence has already proved that doing some exercise increases productivity. Office workers, especially those doing sedentary jobs, sit in an air-conditioned room all day long. They may become bored and tired after work. The gym is a good place for refreshing. With the big mirror around, you can enjoy your swelling biceps and flat tummy, stop overloading the brain, and just release built up tension by lifting iron.

Staying attractive: Don’t feel ashamed to admit that you go to the gym because you want to be the focus of people of the opposite sex. Whether we like to admit it or not, men and women always fall in love at first sight because of perfect body shapes. Perfect body shapes, increased productivity, attracting the opposite sex, why else should we go to the gym? Just see how Arnold Schwarzenegger became a governor. It is gym time!

Translation 难词解释

aerobics: 有氧运动
svelte: 苗条的
biceps: 二头肌
sedentary: 固定不动的

Where to go

Xiamen is full of gyms, ranging from the basic, cheaper gym to five-star fitness centres with state-of-the-art modern equipment. So there are places to go for every budget and every waistline! Most gyms employ trained staff who can help beginners with the equipment or help draw up a work-out programme for you. Classes such as aerobics, dance, yoga and Taiqi are often sceduled throughout the week.

Budget
Qianfeng (前锋，厦大附近的健身房) gym is near Xiamen University and most of its clients are students or people on a tighter budget. Membership fees are low.

Mid-range
City Trend(都市风健身俱乐部) is on the fourth floor of the Chengda supermarket and the second floor of Dihao Building. Very popular and caters to the middle-incomed.

Top-end
Datang （大唐世家的健身房）This gym is only for the wealthy! Start saving to enjoy these top class facilities.