Since Dec 20 or so I've been going to the gym every day and haven't missed a beat. The idea to do this was two-fold. One, it started with a conversation by a prospective roomate back in October when I was house-hunting. Two girls were sharing a 3-bedroom place in the French Concessions and had space for another roommate. It was an attractive offer, but still too expensive, and I would have practically been living in a shoebox. Nonetheless if one of the girls went to work out at the gym daily, then that was motivation for me to try it too.
Two months later I started on that routine myself. It was also motivated by the fact that I need to get in shape for the upcoming bicycle trip, and also to keep that weight off. The routine is actually working out well. Once my body accepted the fact that it would go through this torture every day, it has adapted surprisingly well, and actually finds this enjoyable.
Once school finishes around 3:00 or so I head on down there, do some warmup, lift weights for 30 minutes, and then do 30 minutes of cardio. The advantage of this time is that hardly anyone is there, and it sure beats evening peak hours. Meanwhile I'm trying to make use of all those personal trainer lessons and that has been going well.
The only question I'm asking myself is why I didn't do this earlier. Multiple surveys in the Shanghai Daily show a small percentage of locals saying their health is good and they do regular exercise. The overwhelming majority of Shanghainese locals rate their health as poor, or moderate at best. They say they don't exercise, not surprisingly, due to lack of time.
Going to the gym every day is the opposite extreme of the Shanghai local health habit, but it feels good for the body, so why not. It's actually not that big of a deal, even with a super busy work schedule. The trick is to simply go to the gym and work out, and the body eventually accepts that fact.
Two months later I started on that routine myself. It was also motivated by the fact that I need to get in shape for the upcoming bicycle trip, and also to keep that weight off. The routine is actually working out well. Once my body accepted the fact that it would go through this torture every day, it has adapted surprisingly well, and actually finds this enjoyable.
Once school finishes around 3:00 or so I head on down there, do some warmup, lift weights for 30 minutes, and then do 30 minutes of cardio. The advantage of this time is that hardly anyone is there, and it sure beats evening peak hours. Meanwhile I'm trying to make use of all those personal trainer lessons and that has been going well.
The only question I'm asking myself is why I didn't do this earlier. Multiple surveys in the Shanghai Daily show a small percentage of locals saying their health is good and they do regular exercise. The overwhelming majority of Shanghainese locals rate their health as poor, or moderate at best. They say they don't exercise, not surprisingly, due to lack of time.
Going to the gym every day is the opposite extreme of the Shanghai local health habit, but it feels good for the body, so why not. It's actually not that big of a deal, even with a super busy work schedule. The trick is to simply go to the gym and work out, and the body eventually accepts that fact.
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