I Went To The Gym (Anytime Fitness in Japan)

Yesterday, I went to the  Toritsu daigaku branch of Anytime Fitness gym.  I usually go to the Komazawa Koen branch, but the one at the Toritsu daigaku looked to be much bigger.  I wanted to check it out at least once.

Entering the gym, something on one of their flyers caught my attention (see the pic above).  Yep, another example of strange English in Japan.  The same flyer is in my regular gym, too, (they’re part of the same franchise afterall).  

“Your Gym is Our Gym” goes without saying, I would have thought, but the nuance of this phrase seems to be sneering something along of the lines of “What’s yours belongs to us!”.  

I went in, started stretching, and thought briefly that the only appropriate way to reply to someone telling you, “Your gym is our gym!”, would be too spit back, “Oi!  What the hell are you saying?”.  :)

The next line on the flyer reads, “あなたのジムは、みんなのジムです。/  anata no gym wa minna no gym desu.  Anyone with an understanding of Japanese will interpret this as a request to mind your manners within the facility (the literal translation is, Your gym is everyone’s gym.).  If we’re talking about ‘manners’, I’ve been to many gyms in Japan up to this point, and the thing that bothers me most is when users drop their dumbbells on the floor with a loud clang.  Not only is it really noisy, it’s also an ineffective way to train .  I suppose it’s to the detriment of the people doing it, but above all, it’s just a massive pain for other users!  

Other than this, I’ve yet to see any other examples of bad manners in Japan’s gyms.  That said, there have been posters saying something to the effect of, ‘A stench is coming from the lockers.  Please take your gym wear and training shoes home with you!’.  Shoes in particular, right?  For people like joggers, theirs can have a super acidic pong!!

Recently, before and after gym sessions, I’ve been lacking energy.  Given my work and other commitments, two sessions a week is the best I can do.  So, this time I thought I’d try out an energy drink before working out.  I went for the Monster energy drink to give me a caffeine boost!

Yesterday’s session started around 12:00 am (yes, midnight) and finished around 1:30 am, so I got in a good hour and a half.  Comparing the Metropolitan Uni gym with the one at Komazawa Koen, it’s about twice the size, and there’s much more space between machines so I could take my time and not worry so much about bumping into other users.

The Komazawa Koen gym is so small and cramped, you really have to take care when moving between machines, and it feels like you might have to move out the way yourself during a set!  It can really affect your concentration.  The machines themselves though, are about the same in each branch.