Women's gym

For the 90% of ordinary women who are afraid of being stared at by society, have clear body shape requirements, and have no foundation in fitness, formally operated women's gyms are the most cost-effective entry-level fitness options at this stage. They are neither a simple IQ tax nor need to be praised as "the only solution to women's fitness."

To be honest, girls have to face a lot more troubles when it comes to fitness than boys. My best friend Xiaonan applied for a Shangjian Annual Card two years ago. I went there three times and resold it at half price. The first time she wore shark pants to practice the elliptical machine, she always felt that there was a man diagonally behind her who kept glancing at her legs. She stayed on pins and needles for 20 minutes and then walked away. The second time she just got into the deadlift position and before she even squatted down, a strange man came over to give "enthusiastic guidance" and said that if you don't do it right, it will easily hurt your waist. He reached out to touch her back to adjust her posture, which frightened her so much that she dropped the barbell and left. The third time, the personal trainer chased her and pushed for a 30,000 yuan rehabilitation class, and told her that her body fat rate was 30%. If she didn't lose weight, she would not only be prone to disease, but it would also be difficult to find a partner. Well, she simply threw the card in a drawer to gather dust.

I used to think that women’s gyms were just doing pink marketing to make money from girls. It wasn’t until I accompanied my younger sister who had just entered college to look for a fitness place last year and visited seven or eight gyms that I realized that it was really not the same thing. The owner of the gym I often go to used to be a female weightlifter on the national team, and later switched to women's fitness and rehabilitation. There is no floor-to-ceiling mirror in the entire gym facing the equipment area - just for fear that novice girls will stare at their belly and thick legs with anxiety after practicing for a few times. In addition to regular lockers, the changing room also has disposable underwear, makeup remover towels, and anti-exposure outerwear. There is even a small cubicle with a curtain specially reserved for mothers who are carrying breast milk. The heaviest dumbbells in the equipment area are only 20kg, but the hip thrusters, glute bridge machines, and small equipment for high-position pull-downs for accessory breasts are fully displayed. The instructor will not measure your body fat in the first class to create anxiety for you. He first asks you if you have any pain in your aunt, if you have any old knee injuries, and if you sit for more than 8 hours, and then arranges a suitable plan for you. My sister is so socially anxious that she became familiar with the girls in the gym after just two visits. When she couldn't practice, the people next to her would cheer her on. From time to time, they would share protein bars and sugar-control biscuits with each other.

Of course not all women’s gyms are reliable. I have also experienced pitfalls. I went to try a class at an internet celebrity gym in the downtown business district where the entire wall was covered with pink violent bears. There were only three or four elliptical machines and a bunch of yoga mats in the whole gym. A so-called "Victoria's Secret Peach Butt Class" sold for 368. The instructor couldn't even explain the basic knowledge of muscle anatomy and asked you to jump for 40 minutes. My knees hurt after practicing for a whole week. This kind of show clearly shows that cutting leeks is indeed an IQ tax.

There is also a lot of controversy in the fitness circle over women’s gyms. Many strength-oriented girls who have been practicing for three to five years feel that it is completely unnecessary to set up gyms specifically for women. Fitness is gender-neutral. If you really need to train heavy weights, ordinary women's gyms don't even have a standard squat rack, so they can't meet the demand at all. There is really nothing wrong with this. I know a friend who is into women's bodybuilding and never goes to women's gyms. Shang Jian's 100kg barbell plates are very good to use. If someone who is not discerning comes to give you blind guidance, she will just stare back. People don't care about this at all.

Last time I was practicing hip thrusts in the gym, and standing next to me was a 52-year-old aunt who retired and came to practice bone density. She said that when she went to Shangjian near her home, there were always people who said that she was still messing around despite her age. After coming here, they were all girls, and no one said weird things. Now after practicing for half a year, she can climb the sixth floor without breathing, and the lumbar protrusion that has troubled her for several years has been relieved a lot.

In fact, there is no standard answer. If you have social anxiety and don’t want to be stared at and judged by strangers, and just want to quietly work on your buttocks and improve your rounded shoulders and hunchback, finding a fully qualified women’s gym can really save you a lot of trouble; if you have a training foundation and want to compete in heavy weight competitions, then Shangjian or a specialized strength gym will definitely be more suitable for you. To put it bluntly, we spend money to go to the gym, isn’t it just to be comfortable and useful? No matter what kind of gym it is, the one that suits us is the best.