I joined a gym in the Olleh KT bank building by my house on October 11th.
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| It's on B1 of that big white building you see there. |
The gym cost me 120,000W for three months, and I don't think that's bad considering I can walk there, it's clean, the equipment is pretty good with a multitude of options from cardio to strength training to a yoga room with yoga classes offered three times a week, and hot showers should my hot water heater ever go out this winter.
Since being in Korea, I have lost 40 lbs and gained a ton of confidence in my body. (I've always had confidence in myself, I'm not going to lie.) I still have a bit to go, but I'm well on the way to getting there. To push my body even more and get it back to where it should be, I joined a gym. Since I joined, I've either gone to the gym or worked out in my apartment every single day. (The gym was closed for four days due - I think - to a needed floor resurfacing.) I am so proud of myself, and I feel fantastic.
Everyday, I spend a few minutes on the stationary bike as a warm-up followed by strength training on the weight machines. I do some arms (tri's and bi's) and legs (thighs and calves), plus shoulders and abs. Then I move to the yoga room where I do crunches on a pilates ball and other core exercises on a mat surrounded by mirrors so I can see exactly what it is that I'm doing. In total, I spend about an hour and fifteen minutes at the gym daily. Add in the 30 minutes of walking I always do to-and-from work, at work, and to-and-from the gym, and I think I'm doing pretty well.
The main difference I can see in Korean gyms compared to USA gyms is that the men in Korean gyms aren't at all intimidating. In the USA, the weight section of the gym is so full of 25-45 year old men struggling to bench press or strength train with as much weight as they possibly can, men snickering and joking with each other, and men looking to impress anyone that walks by, that some gyms have created separate rooms for women to work out in so they don't feel intimidated by these guys.
But in Korea, I feel quite comfortable taking a seat in the free weight area with my 5kg free weight and doing my arm exercises. I'm not sure if it's because I can't understand these guys if they were to say something to or about me, or if it's that they just don't say anything at all. It could also be that the guys don't use much more weight than I do. One night a man had both 5kg free weights - one in each hand. I usually use just one of those weights to do over-the-head lifts, so I grabbed both 3kg weights and doubled them up to do my exercises. Ever since that night, which was quite early on, I feel like I've gained more respect from the guys. I should also note that the most weight I've ever seen any one of them bench press is 20kg (10kg on each end of the bar), which is about 44 lbs. That could also have something to do with why I feel confident in the free-weight area.
I can also strength train like one of the guys, right along side the two guys who are always there at the same time as me every single night so far. I might not do as much weight, but I do my reps and sweat it out with them. I think they've come to accept me in 'their' part of the gym. All the Korean women I've seen in the gym stick to the treadmill, yoga room and shake machines. You know what those are - just throw a strap around your waist and the machine shakes a specific part of your body to smooth the fat away while you read a newspaper. Yep - they have those shaker machines here, too. (I'm telling you - you step off the plane at Incheon and travel back in time to the 1980s. It's really amazing. Headbands and tights are part of the deal, as well.)
I always get to the gym just over an hour before closing time so that most of the crowd will be gone and I can work out and concentrate on myself. Because of this, I am usually the last to leave. Tonight, I received permission from the man at the desk to snap the following photos with my phone so that I could show my wonderful readers my gym.
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| The entrance to my gym: Han Gook way tuh ni seu mul neub (Something about Korean weight room) |
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| Treadmills, Stationary Bikes, Shake Machines and Stair Climber Free-weight area is behind the bikes with strength training machines along the far wall |
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| Near side of strength training wall, pull-up unit, back-stretcher thing, and weight storage area Notice the table (covered in a jacket) to sit and read the newspaper. |
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| Yoga Room. I always use a mat back there with the lights off so no one can see me when they walk by. They even got those two 60" pilates balls to make their two way-gook (foreigner) customers happy! They're not fully inflated, but they'll do. |
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| Yoga Room |
As you can tell, I am quite happy with my gym membership. I feel confident in using the gym, and I love the way I feel. I can already feel some minor changes, and it won't be long before I start to notice some more significant results. I'm doing this for me, and every ounce of it feels ridiculously fantastic.
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