Job Discussion Forums

jfurgers · Joined: 18 Sep 2005 Posts: 442 Location: Mexico City

Anyone here living or have lived in DF know if there are any good gyms there and if so what's the cost? This could be related to teaching because without our health we couldn't teach, right?

Thanks.

M@tt · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 473 Location: here and there

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

ok, here's the lowdown on gyms in DF:

250-450 pesos/month gets you a membership in a privately owned ghetto gym with rusty equipment that barely works or has been soldered together multiple times, no collars for the olympic bars, unlabeled dumbbells, tile floors, bare walls, bad fluorescent lighting and some cardio equipment (which i never use so i can't comment, just use your imagination), clientele that is 98% mexican (many of them young people), and a filthy locker room that you should not enter barefoot. there are hundreds of these gyms all over the city, usually on the second or third floor of a building that was not designed to house a gym--hence the limited facilities.

800-1200 pesos/month will get you a nice gym, privately owned or maybe maybe part of a chain, which will basically be up to the standards of a decent gym in the US. clientele will be a mix of expats and mexican professionals.

1500-2500 pesos/month will get you into something comparable to gold's gym in the US (never mind that gold's in the US costs about one third the price). it will be extremely clean, all the equipment will be new, well maintained, imported from the US, and the music will remind you of shopping at the Gap in tenth grade. clientele will be expats and upper class mexicans, many of them with careers in television or music, at least half the men will be gay, there will be a full spa with a sauna, a dedicated pilates room, a cafe/bar that sells healthy food, and probably a pool. these gyms are all located in good neighborhoods.

all gyms in mexico come with trainers who don't know shit about weight training. just use them when you need a spot.
happy hunting!

samizinha · Joined: 12 May 2005 Posts: 174 Location: Vacalandia

I don�t know how much the trainer at my gym knows about weight training, but he used to be a coreographer for exotic dancers Shocked

jfurgers · Joined: 18 Sep 2005 Posts: 442 Location: Mexico City

Thanks for the info Matt. It sounds like I'll need to pay a lot if I want to use a good gym in DF. I hope I can make enough teaching ESL to pay for it. I'll be living with my wife and her parents who are really old.

So is it really possible to live in DF on an ESL salary and still have everything that you need?

gordogringo · Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Posts: 159 Location: Tijuana

Has anybody tried using a hotel gym?My gf goes to the Hotel Lucerna or Pueblo Amigo and pays a manager $5 to use the facilities including pool.If she brings friends with the three of them pay $12 total.They have to bring own towels and cannot use showers.No problem since our house is 5 min. away by taxi.I do not know if this is standard policy or the manager just likes to look at shapely Mexicanas in workout gear.But it may be a possibility.In Taiwan and Indonesia we used to workout for free at the five star hotels just by showing our business cards and saying we were teachers.I never have had a job with so many perks as the teaching job I had at a pre-school in Taiwan.Hmmm..........Taipei anybody?