I hate gyms in China.
There, I said it. And no, I’m not a lazy slob who can’t be bothered to get up off the couch and go lift a dumbbell over my head a couple times. I’m not against all gyms. In fact, I love gyms back home. I could go three, four times a week. But in China, even though I go to the gym when I can, I don’t enjoy it as much. And here’s why:
They hound you for your money
Imagine going into the gym, getting on the floor, picking up a few dumbbells and doing a couple of curls. You suddenly feel an odd sensation, almost as if you’re being watched. You look to your right and get spooked out a little because as it turns out, you were being watched, by not one, not two, but three personal trainers, all working for the gym, all having a quiet conversation amongst themselves, most likely about you. One of them comes up to you, corrects your form just a little, then makes a comment about how you’re gonna need a lot of training to fix your mistakes, and also tells you how weak you are for added measure.
You refuse their advances, saying that you’re okay, that you know what you’re doing. They remain adamant that you don’t, and also tell you how great their training services are and how if only you sign up now you can get an awesome discount. This goes on for about 20 minutes, and when they’re done, you don’t have time to finish your workout because you need to be somewhere else! You leave in a huff and come back the next day determined not to get interrupted and finish your workout on time. But as soon as you pick up that barbell, a gander of personal trainers flocks over to you and one of them begins a long-winded soliloquy about how you should totally take a three-month long training course with them and by the end of it you’ll be like, super strong, guaranteed.
Vultures, the lot of them!
I see this happening all the time, and it is particularly annoying after a long day at work as you just want to get in and get out because you don’t have all the time in the world.
So why do they hound you for your money?
Simply put, personal trainers in gyms in China don’t get paid very much. Their monthly salary might only be around 4000 RMB, which is barely 800 CAD (600 USD). For most big cities where these gyms are located, they would have to pinch pennies to survive, which is why most gyms in China provide discount dorm rooms for their staff to live in.
This business model is similar to major gyms in Western countries. Trainers make a small base salary, and they get “commission” the more sessions they train clients. However, I’ve noticed that personal trainers in gyms in China will be very persistent, doing as much as they can to take you on as their client. They will approach people as often as possible and won’t stop until they’ve convinced you to buy a couple of relatively expensive training sessions with them.
I’ve come to realize that this aggressive salesmanship is just an extension of the wider love affair with capitalism that China is currently in the midst of. I get it. Now that people have the opportunity to make money, they want to make lots of money as quick as they can. And I understand that, because of the sheer number of potential customers out there (China has over a billion people), business is competitive and people will try to do anything to quickly gain the upper hand. Most gyms will always have salespeople outside handing out flyers to passersby at all times of the year. But if members are constantly being nagged to sign up for classes, that might turn away beginner members who are now too annoyed to come back! I’m waiting for gyms in China to change their sales approach, but until that day comes, I’ll have to get used to doing leg extensions with a pair of eyes watching me. Unless I get a t-shirt that says “do not disturb” or “I already have a trainer” written in Chinese to make my message loud and clear.
They’re not any cheaper than a gym back home
I think I’ve gotten too used to paying less for things compared to back home (assuming you live in a Western country). Most things in China are in fact cheaper than they would be back home. You can get a nice portion of noodles or fried rice for about 3 USD, and a bus ride can cost you less than a quarter. But, probably due to the cost of importing gym equipment as well as renovations and upkeep, gyms cost about the same as a gym in a Western country, which would be great if we were making a Western salary, but unfortunately many of us are not.
Let’s do a quick comparison!
QUICK COMPARISON!
A decent gym in China (good equipment and facilities)
One-year membership: about 2500 RMB = about 500 CAD = about 379 USD
Planet Fitness (from Smart Asset, 2018 prices)
One-year membership: about 250 USD
Gold’s Gym (from Smart Asset, 2018 prices)
One-year membership: about 500 USD
Overall, membership prices for Chinese gyms are about average when compared to major gym chains back home. They aren’t as expensive as a gym like Gold’s but they’re also not as high-quality.
Personal training sessions are also about the same. If you hire a personal trainer in China, expect to pay around 400 RMB (about 60 USD per session). This is about average for a personal trainer back home, with the lowest being about 50 USD per session and going up to over 100 USD per session!
Nobody reracks the weights
Okay, so not everybody leaves their dumbbells, barbells, and other bells on the floor after they finish using them. But at nearly every gym in China I go to, no matter if it’s a big-name gym or a smaller independent one, the floor in front of the weight rack is littered with dumbbells and weight plates. Actually, this is where personal trainers shine because they are the ones constantly re-racking the weights and reminding gym goers to rerack their own weights.
Now again, I’d like to reiterate that not everyone does this, but there are a couple of reasons why I think this happens. First, going to the gym is a relatively new concept in China, and therefore a lot of unwritten rules and expectations have yet to be established as the “norm”. Gym etiquette is a work in progress, as evidenced by the fact that some people actually smoke in the shower rooms (yes, this happens, and people will also have a cigarette in between pickup basketball games, maybe to shrink their lungs back to normal size after intense aerobic activity). This is something that will only get better and better, and over time, maybe I’ll finally be able to find the weight I’m looking for on the rack instead of on the floor next to someone’s iPhone.
Maybe I’m overanalyzing this, but…
…there also may be something deeper going on here culturally. There is an idea in China that if a place does not belong to you, it is not your responsibility to keep it clean and tidy. For example, you will often see people in fast food restaurants not clean up their own trays, and in some cases, particularly in less developed urban areas, you will see people simply throw their trash on the street, all with the expectation that “someone else” (a street cleaner, for instance) will clean it up later. Though this “it’s not mine so why should I care” attitude is changing, it is still quite pervasive and can often spill over into other facets of life, the gym being an unfortunate victim.
That was my take on gyms in China! Do you agree or disagree? Let me know what you like/dislike about gyms in China in the comments below! And do us a solid and subscribe to Country and a Half for more China content!