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KiwiKeltic · Joined: 23 May 2014 Posts: 2 Location: New Zealand

Just wondering if it's normal for Universities in China to have a gym which teachers/students can use, as that's normally the case where I live. If not, how much does gym membership tend to cost a month, and how good are they?

Thanks

Guerciotti · Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 3:30 am Post subject:

If by 'gym' you mean a room with a bench press or, maybe a squat rack, leg press and an overhead lat pull machine, then the answer is no. A rack of various dumbbells? No.

They might tell you they have a gym. My first uni said they had a gym. When I arrived and asked about the gym, they pointed to the quarter mile track. I wish I was joking.

You might want to ask specific questions and send them pictures. There might be a gym nearby, but likely as not they may be unaware of it. Not many people lift here.

Bigger cities: easier to find, but you probably figured that. Costs anywhere from 30 RMB per month for a hole in the wall to around 250 RMB or more per month for a well-equipped gym.

Javelin of Radiance · Joined: 01 Jul 2009 Posts: 1187 Location: The West

I guess every school's a bit different. Our school has a pretty decent weight room, used it a couple of times but the opening hours aren't good for me so I stopped going. 20 visits for about 115 yuan.

JamesD · Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 4:13 am Post subject:

Check the 4 and 5 star hotels. Most of them have gym/pool facilities and monthly rates can be competitive. A few of them around here have annual memberships that are not much more than the local gyms. Normally much cleaner and better maintained than the local places.
If you know any 'corporate' type expats who live in serviced apartment complexes they may be able to add you to their health club guest list for a minimal fee.

doogsville · Joined: 17 Nov 2011 Posts: 924 Location: China

My uni's gym is terrible. It shuts at lunchtime, and when it's open it's often full of students taking gym class. When your looking for a commercial gym, try to find one that's been in business for a while. A few people I know in my city joined gyms and paid six months to a years membership up front, which seems to be the norm here in Zhuhai, only to find the gym closed after a couple of months due to lack of business. Of course, they got no refund.

Shroob · Joined: 02 Aug 2010 Posts: 1339

I agree with the above, if they do have a 'gym' it's usually an indoor basketball court. I suppose technically it's not wrong, but not a gym in the way most people think.

Gyms in China can be hit or miss in general. Be prepared to be watched like a hawk and have instructors try and correct your form (not always a bad thing but if you know what you're doing it's infuriating).

Javelin of Radiance · Joined: 01 Jul 2009 Posts: 1187 Location: The West

Toast · Joined: 08 Jun 2013 Posts: 428

My current school has one. Relatively decent too. FTs continuously asked if we could use it...."No only for students during school hours"....some of the others pushed it if we could use it in the evenings then. The reply was "No the school is worried someone will steal things." The university I'm changing to has one specifically designated for foreign teachers, which based on the contingent on tubsters I see coming and going from the teaching building doesn't get a whole lot of use.

I'd inquired about the prices at the local public gyms and was quoted between 400rmb per year and 400USD per year depending on the quality of the gym. Sometimes doesn't pay to scrimp *too* much when you're going to have a 150kg barbell balanced over your head.

I asked a Chinese friend if they knew decent gyms and they'd stated the same as Doogsville. "Never ever pay for too much in advance in China". Gyms, those "bulk pay 10 get two free" massage coupons etc. You've got exactly zero rights for recompense should the place financially shit the bed a month later.

Shroob · Joined: 02 Aug 2010 Posts: 1339

I've just remembered! The teaching building where I used to work had a 'gym'!

Could anyone use it? Nope. It was locked. We (the teachers) noticed it from a corridor looking down - I have to say the teaching building was like a municipal car park, on different stories all open to the elements. It had weights, treadmills, and cycle machines from what we could see.

Never was opened...

Also reminds me of the tennis courts the uni had built. Brand new courts, great surface, new nets etc. Could anyone use them? No. Big chain linked fence all around them. Why couldn't anyone use them? 'Because we don't want to damage it'. It was a year before I saw anyone actually using them.

Javelin of Radiance · Joined: 01 Jul 2009 Posts: 1187 Location: The West

I worked at one school that had an indoor pool, and for the first month there never saw it open whenever I was on campus. One day I brought my swim gear and I asked about using the pool, FAO made a call, PE teacher comes over, unlocks the door to the pool building and tells me to call him when I'm ready to leave. Used the pool for the next six months like that. Sometimes you've got to insist strongly if you want to use facilities, schools usually have some reason, stupid or otherwise, for not opening them up.

Bud Powell · Joined: 11 Jul 2013 Posts: 1736

At one college, the gym was a large makeshift building full of ping pong tables.

KiwiKeltic · Joined: 23 May 2014 Posts: 2 Location: New Zealand

I see, thanks for the replies. I guess if I want to guarantee access to a decent gym I should aim for a biggish city, also thanks for the tips on not paying for months in advance.

mw182006 · Joined: 10 Dec 2012 Posts: 310

My uni actually has 2. One has decent, fairly modern equipment and the other looks like it's stuck in the 1970s-80s. The exercise bikes are the kinds where you have to twist a knob to add resistance, and it even has those old gut-jiggler machines where you just stand on the platform and belt in.

Timer · Joined: 24 Oct 2010 Posts: 173 Location: China

First uni I worked at had a "gym" that looked like an underground dungeon. It was under the indoor basketball court, poorly lit, damp, drab, and had equipment that looked like it had been salvaged from an ancient sunken ship. There were some skinny guys in there practicing kicks and trying to lift whatever weights they managed to scrape together.

Second place had a much nicer gym that looked newer, but it was all machines and no free weights. I haven't bothered with the other places I've worked at.

I wouldn't get your hopes up too much. Expect to find a place outside of your university. With a uni teaching schedule you'll probably have free time during the day when no one would be at a gym so find a small, cheap one and go when you have the place to yourself.

LPKSA · Joined: 02 Mar 2014 Posts: 211

The Uni. in which I worked when I was in China had a gym, but they charged the teachers more than they charged the students to use it.

They also had a track which was taken over by the neighborhood locals, who had the key to it, and would use it in the morning, but they would lock out anyone else who wanted to run in the morning. Even if we (Uni. teachers/professors/students) had every right to use the track, we couldn't get in. Eventually we just ended up clipping the chain and using it anyway. When they used a more secure chain and lock, to lock us out, we just hopped the fence.