Going to the gym in China – wearing a miniskirt!
Photo by HealthGauge
I went to the gym today with my boyfriend and even though that is quite the news, I used to almost hate working out, but there was something much more interesting in the gym than my red face. As it was a Sunday afternoon, there weren’t that many people on the gym that is located at the Guangzhou University in Higher Educational Mega Center.
I’ve heard about this kind of thing happening in the gym before, but hadn’t witnessed it myself before. So I almost didn’t believe my eyes when I saw this girl on a treadmill. Her body was like from the pages of a fashion magazine. She was wearing leggings, leather miniskirt, high-heel sneakers and a small top that didn’t cover her stomach. She was walking on a treadmill with a mobile phone on her hand!
So how do you actually work out in a leather miniskirt? For her working out seemed to mean walking slowly and showing her body off to the guys lifting the weights. The way she was walking, like on a runway, it was quite clear she wasn’t there to get sweaty.
Sure I have seen girls and guys working on their jeans and stuff, but leather miniskirt girl was totally something special. Have you encountered something as strange in a gym somewhere in the globe?
21 Comments
Ellen
Oh my!…. Well, there are different people in this world. I’m sure, such picture occurs elsewhere than only China… Yet I have to admit that it makes me sad that more and more girls in China are attaching too great importance to their looks and turn into barbie girls (or some other cartoon heroines). Foreign influence (especially from Korea) is definitely not doing good to the Chinese society and moral
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Chris_Waugh Reply:
November 19th, 2013 at 11:10 am
I’m sorry, but are you suggesting that before Reform and Opening Up, China had no ideals of beauty that were held up as models for Chinese women to aspire to? Young Chinese women were never taught about how beautiful 杨贵妃 or 西施 were? Young Chinese women have never been encouraged to be beautiful? I would agree that foreign influence has helped to change fashions, but I would be very surprised if it can be blamed for young women trying to model themselves to some kind of societal ideal.
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Sara Jaaksola Reply:
November 19th, 2013 at 10:06 pm
This reminds me of one Chinese girl from few years back. She was taller and skinnier than me, a lot skinnier, but she was worried as she was the “fattest” in her dorm room. It was sad to hear she thought so little of her self and paid too much attention on something superficial. And she didn’t even have anything to lose from!
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Kaiser Reply:
November 19th, 2013 at 11:33 pm
I agree that being obsessed with being skinny due to vain, superficial reasons is pathetic. Still, we shouldn’t forget that being overweight carries serious health risks such as diabetes and heart disease. So, people who exercise aren’t always conceited. I’d wager the girl you saw though is probably not at the gym to lower her cholesterol!
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Sara Jaaksola Reply:
November 22nd, 2013 at 4:07 pm
Of course working out is good for everyone, but everything should be done with balance.
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Kaiser
很久以前，我记得有一次一个姑娘在健身房穿着和你描述一样的衣服可是我记得的姑娘是胖得不得了。 我虽然很支持胖人去健身房减肥但是如果人那么胖的话，请别穿小裙子。
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Kaiser Reply:
November 19th, 2013 at 5:48 am
对于你的博文叫“在中国我既胖又美”，直到去美国以后你才知道谁是不是胖子！我爱我祖国可是我得承认一般的来说美国人是世界上最胖的人之一。别担心，你一点儿也不胖。
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Sara Jaaksola Reply:
November 19th, 2013 at 10:00 pm
胖的概念好像在不同国家就不一样了。对我来说，比较难习惯的是，在中国别人会直接的告诉你很胖。
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Sara Jaaksola Reply:
November 19th, 2013 at 10:04 pm
穿不合适的衣服运动不方便，很有可能没效。
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Nommoc
1) Great job on going to the gym. Keep it up! Like learning Chinese, workout is hard and first, but worth it!
2) Ignore the distractions at the gym. There are too many. Just get a good workout in and call it a day!
Exercise and working out is totally necessary for us learning Chinese, we need to sweat out the toxic air and relieve all the “studying Chinese” stress.
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Sara Jaaksola Reply:
November 20th, 2013 at 2:29 pm
Haha, nice point on relieving that study stress. I hope that I will get to a point where going to the gym is relieving stress, not creating it.
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chinaelevatorstories
The gym I’ve been going to doesn’t seem to have any of the people I’ve heard others describe seeing in Chinese gyms. Maybe it’s not fancy enough to attract these kinds of people? The machines are definitely not the newest ones, but they still work alright. Sometimes people try out machines for the first time (those who are about to buy a gym membership), but other than that, people do all wear outfits that work well for working out.
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Sara Jaaksola Reply:
November 22nd, 2013 at 4:08 pm
Well, the gym I go isn’t fancy at all. It’s located at an university campus and is much cheaper than those in the city. I would perhaps guess that she wasn’t a student, perhaps someone working in the area.
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Robert Budzul
Perhaps she wasn’t there to get fit… she just wanted to practise her catwalk walking technique?
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Sara Jaaksola Reply:
November 26th, 2013 at 10:23 am
Haha, perhaps!
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NatetheRonin
我在中国去过很多健身房，但是我从来没看过这种状态。可能是因为我去的时候人比较少。
我昨天发现了你的博克，不错！我现在住在成都，但马上要搬到澳洲去了。我原来上你的博克为了找HSK的材料，反而花了好几个小时读你的文章，好棒！
n
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busrel .
From your posts, seems that you ain’t into sports or any sorts of workout, maybe you are truely a introvert 宅女 :P
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Sara Jaaksola Reply:
April 24th, 2014 at 11:39 am
Yes! I’m totally an introvert 宅女 and proud of it :) I do like horse riding and snowboarding though, but the first is expensive here and the latter impossible in Guangzhou.
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Patf
Hi Sara – Are you familiar with gyms in GZ? If so, can you please suggest some that are close to GZ East Railway Station or Tianhe area? I will be in GZ for about a month and am looking for a gym to workout (weights) in. Thanks in advance!
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Sara Jaaksola Reply:
April 26th, 2015 at 9:25 am
Hi Patf, sorry to keep you waiting for an answer! Have you found a gym already? There seem to be many all around the city, a year seems to be about 3000RMB or so. Unfortunately as I live far from the city center, I go to the University Island’s gym that isn’t convenient for others to come as it’s far away.
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Patf Reply:
August 10th, 2015 at 3:52 am
Hi Sara – Sorry for late response, as I was in China, HK & Thailand for 2 months. I did find a gym located inside Martyrs’ Park. Got a 1 month membership for RMB250.
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