MANHOOD

I joined a gym in Changzhou because I'm going to be here for a while and there's not much to do around here.  The gym is the only one available in the area, and it's called, I shit you not, Manhood.  The Chinese name for it loosely translates to "a place for fitness," but Manhood?  Not sure where that came from.

The gym is quite small but has all the necessary equipment.  They offer some fun (and funny) classes at night including yoga, belly dance, step, aerobics, and my favorite, "traditional Chinese dance" where we literally fanned out our fingers for a good 10 minutes.

The people are the gym are pretty interesting, too.  They're all young professionals.  The guys swarm the weights section and the women are on treadmills...in turtleneck sweaters.  I'm not sure if they're trying to pass out from heat exhaustion.

And the price?  Pricier than a regular 24 Hour Fitness or Crunch.  I'm not sure how they're able to get away  with it considering every class I've been to has been no more than 5 people.

What I do love about the place is that the room for group classes is extremely ideal for dancing.  I've already talked them into letting me use it during the day for my own stuff.  I've been working on some choreography that I plan on teaching either here or back in the U.S., so I'm excited to have the space to do that!