Fitness in Shanghai is undoubtedly growing in prominence.  But despite the phenomenon of boutique gyms and specialized personal trainers popping up all over town, Fitness still remains a lifestyle choice for expats, and a status symbol for Shanghainese.  Expat owned and run Fitness Centers in Shanghai demand a premium if only because they value things like sanitary conditions and professional instruction, things taken for granted in the west.  On the other hand, Chinese run gyms tend to offer lower membership fees while promising your fair share of spitters, coughers, and smokers who express themselves without concern of those around them.  Treadmill users abuse the privilege of private television and raise volume levels to unnecessarily loud levels, forcing those on other treadmills to do the same, and forcing the small handful of digilent trainees to listen to various versions of the monkey king or listen to live music performances from amateurs.  For budget conscious people who can handle a bit of local culture, like people in the dressing rooms hair drying their nether regions with the hair dryers and worst case scenario, defecating in the showers, than a Chinese fun gym can be an experience of an evolving china.  For those on the other hand who want their gym experiences to be a tad more sanitary and less distracting during workouts, than paying that extra bit for an expat run fitness center my be your best bet.

In Shanghai, foreign owned fitness centers tend to attract expats and educated or international chinese.  These gyms tend to be concept oriented, rather than a open free for all.  Some fitness centers focus on yoga and pilates, providing top notch training equipment and highly qualified teachers.  Other gyms focus on what seems like an exclusive and nearly private training experience so clients receive more personal attention in a comfortable environment.  And then you have a gradually growing expat martial arts community.  Chinese are finding these styles and classes refreshing compared to their wide variety of Gong Fu, which can be tedious and seeminly impractical for those wishing to learn practical fighting skills quickly.  And I think most expats and Chinese alike prefer the non aggressive and supportive teaching manner of expats, rather than the ‘you do wrong, I have hold stick’ old school attitude of many Gong Fu teachers.  So whatever your flavor, there is no shortage of Fitness options in Shanghai.  Finding your ideal location and classes however will take some experimenting.