I joined a gym! Last month, a Japanese teacher invited me to the gym to try out an easy aerobics class and a Zumba class. I had been wanting to try out the gyms in my area, so this was the ideal situation; a Japanese person would walk me through a gym. It saved me from entering a local gym and having what could have been a painful conversation with a gym employee.
We met on a Tuesday night for my gym tour. I was pleasantly surprised by the Japanese gym. Normally, I associate gyms with sweaty people, but this gym, like everything else in Japan, was absolutely pristine. I assure you, there was plenty of sweaty people, but everything else was just so clean. To start, you take your outdoor shoes off at the entrance and put them in a mini locker, turn the little knob, and take the small locker key with you. After, you walk over to the front desk and show the receptionist your membership card. On my first visit, I had to sign some liability papers. I guess safety hazards and law suits also exist in Japan :p When you finish that process, you make your way to the locker rooms. In my gym, the locker room is on the second floor. Of course, the female locker rooms have a pink curtain in the entryway, and the male locker rooms have a blue curtain in the entrance -_-. In Japan, my gender is pink. Not female or woman, but pink. I'm not thrilled about that, but it's getting engrained in my head. I have become so “cutesy” obsessed, and am so attracted to the color pink. Darn you socialization...! Still, the attention to detail in Japan is just so darn cute.... ugh.
Anyways, I digress. Back to my locker discussion. The lockers are for day use, so you can't leave anything in them overnight. However, there are smaller lockers that you can rent for an additional monthly cost. I'm considering renting one. Either that, or getting a larger gym bag to fit my shoes, clothes, toiletries, and a change of clothes. The first time I visited, I didn't have any brand new, clean gym shoes, so I had to rent some from the front desk for 200 yen. Luckily they had my size! For some reason, my “American size” in Japan is 8.5, which doesn't make sense, because I am a 9.5 in women sizes and a 7.5 in men sizes. Regardless, they had shoes that I could wear!
One of the group exercise studios is on the same floor as the locker room, and the other one is on the third floor. The cardio machines, the weight room, the stretching room and the massage chair room are also on the third floor. Yes, they have a massaging chair room. I'll get back to that in a moment... For now, let me tell you about the Easy Aerobics and Zumba class.
Easy Aerobics was not so easy... I'll explain. I enjoy exercise, and I love aerobics, but I am not very athletic. My life is full of contradictions. (Haha) I have bad reflexes, my hand-eye coordination is oh-so limited, and I'm clumsy. With that in mind, you can imagine what I look like in an aerobics class. Now, picture me in a class with instructions spoken in Japanese and really flexible and fit Japanese people, and there is potential for a seriously funny image. If you know me well, you're probably laughing now, and if you're not, you would have been laughing if you could have seen me in my first exercise class in Japan. I was always one tempo behind everyone, since I had to imitate the steps instead of listening for directions, and I couldn't keep up with the sequences. They were too complex for me haha. Everyone else though, was following along perfectly and doing it so gracefully. Japanese people bounce gracefully when they do aerobics. In California, I have done aerobics classes, and I find that aerobic moves are more mechanical. In Japan, people's feet glide...
In the last ten minutes of the class, the instructor dims the lights and guides the class through some simple stretches. The instructor is this young-looking Japanese woman, who is probably 50 for all I know, and the participants are usually older than me, way older. In Japan, age is really nothing but a number when it comes to athleticism and appearance. They age so well, and they are still so active when they are older. The easy aerobics course is popular among the older crowd, and while the level is easier than kickboxing, I am still impressed at their performance. They have no problems with the stretches she proposes. One of the stretches in the first class was a hip stretch, and the instructor approached me to correct my form, but when she tried to adjust my position, she realized why I wasn't doing it correctly. I simply can't. Let's just put it this way, a yoga instructor at UCLA once approached me during a yoga course, and tried to correct my hip stretch, but when she saw that I couldn't, she told me I had stiff hips. Another yoga instructor advised me to bend more into child's pose, and when I couldn't do it on my own, she said that I must spend a lot of time sitting and studying. I'm not sure what the health hazards of “stiff hips” are, but the description doesn't sound pretty and the “condition” is pitiful in a room full of old people that don't seem to suffer from “stiff hips.” So yes, it was a problem in California, and it continues to be a problem in Japan. But wait, there is hope...
There are certain machines in the gym that look funny, and people that ride them also look funny. Yes, I did just use the verb “ride”, and that's because that is exactly what people do on these machines. The machines are called “joba” machines, which I understand is also the word for horseback riding. They were first introduced in Japan, and apparently have been a hit in some American gyms. The machines were inspired by the benefits of horseback riding as physical therapy. The joba machines are not an excellent source of cardio, but they strengthen the core, thighs, and lower back muscles as the rider makes an effort to stay on the machine while it rocks back and forth. In addition, a friend of mine suspects that they are part of the reason why Japanese people are so flexible. I see the old folk on them, and they are soooo flexible, so I believe it!!! So, this is why I say there is hope for me and my hips. I have incorporated “sexy” joba time into my gym routine. Oh, and I describe it as “sexy”, because the circular motions are pretty provocative. I blame places like Saddle Ranch and their bull riding entertainment for that thought...
After the aerobics class, the real fun began! Zumba is led by this muscular Japanese man, who knows how to move! I appreciate the fact that there are no instructions in this class, and that you simply follow his lead. It sounds chaotic, but it works. In the beginning of the class, my teacher friend introduced me to the instructor, and mentioned that I was of Mexican heritage. I wanted to shout out, Noooooo!, People assume that my Latin roots mean that I can dance salsa, merengue, bachata or mambo really well. Not only are those not primarily Mexican, but I can't dance. Again, I enjoy it, but I am not good with coordination! So, I bet that he expected me to be really good, and I caught him looking my way during class. Sorry to disappoint you, Zumba instructor. Actually, it wasn't so bad, because we would laugh together when I couldn't get a step right. All in all, the class was great, and I plan on going every week!!! The music is so good! (Think anything from Lady Gaga to salsa to quebraditas!) I'm definitely looking into Zumba classes when I get back to the States, especially if they play songs like “Mi Dulce Niña” by the Kumbia Kings. Hehe. Oh, and in case you're wondering, Japanese people can also dance very well, and boy, can they move! Puts me to shame (again). Haha.
After those two classes (which I'm now turning into a weekly routine), I got my purse from the locker room. The locker room is such a relaxing place, and a perfect place for socializing. First off, they are pleasantly warm and the showering system is amazing. They have individual showers and Japanese style communal showers, where you sit on a plastic stool, and wash as you chat with your gym buddies. They also have cold baths, hot baths, and a sauna. After showering, you can sit in this mirror room and blow dry your hair, while a fan blows cool air towards you so that you don't break a sweat. I find that women use this time to chat some more. I can't understand what they're talking about, but I still enjoy sitting there and blow-drying my hair. When I finish all of that and leave the locker room, it feels like I have left a mini spa. I kid you not. I feel even more relaxed if I head to the massage chairs after. The massage chairs are incredible. First of all, it's incredible that they even have them! Second of all, they are so efficient. They have features that massage your back, your neck, your buttocks, your legs, your feet, and your arms, all simultaneously. Perfection!
When I do finally decide to leave the gym :p , I head downstairs to the front desk, hand them my card for them to scan, and then grab my shoes from the small locker. Of course, they thank you for visiting and say goodbye to you as you leave. I especially love hearing the polite goodbye after a therapeutic gym session!
I said I wanted to be more active this year, but let's hope I don't turn into a gym rat. If you can't reach me, at least you know where to find me :p.
