Fit For Anything

Gou Fu Mao pedals around Beijing looking for the capital's best places to work out

During summertime, most of the people care especially about how their bodies look like as they wear less clothes. Though it is autumn now, it is still quite important to keep fit.

"Most people struggle to keep in shape, especially as most are sat in front of a computer all day. So more people go to the gym." says Kenny Wong, founder and president of the Hong Kong-based Asian Academy for Sports and Fitness Professionals (AASFP), a company training fitness professionals in mainland China.

There's no shortage of fitness centres in the Chinese capital. A recent AASFP survey showed there were 342 fitness centres in Beijing alone. The survey counted only those clubs offering a fitness trainer. That's a lot of fitness clubs, but some are better than others.

Beijing's gyms divide into two categories. Top of the pile, there's the fitness clubs at the city's luxury hotels. Expect soft towels, free bottles of water and decent equipment here. They've usually got great swimming pools too. But there's also a very deep membership fee. Memberships average at 15,000 yuan per year at the city's best hotels -- the Grand Hyatt, the Kerry Centre Hotel and the St Regis. Probably the best advantage of such a gold-plated gym membership is the solitude and the pool. The high prices keep out all but the committed gym rats and high fliers and -- bar the businesspeople who manage to squeeze in an hour on the treadmill -- there's usually only a handful of people in the place at any given time. Compared to less expensive venues -- where the pools resemble cramped zoos every evening after clocking out time, there's lots of room and a decent slope to allow learners and strong swimmers to test themselves.

After the deluxe hotel memberships come the fitness centres. Beijing has become home to some of the world's best-known fitness chains, most of them in partnerships with Chinese sports companies. Competition for memberships is fierce, so membership rates have levelled off between 3,500 yuan (for 12 months) and 4,500 yuan (15 months).

The former price is quoted by CSI-Bally, the largest fitness chain in Beijing by number of outlets. The latter rate is offered by Evolution, an Australian-Chinese-New Zealand joint venture with two outlets in Beijing, both in Chaoyang district. Fitness First, a British-based chain, runs a large club in Chaoyangmen while the two largest Chinese-owned chains battling for members are Nirvana and Body Works, both of which run several gyms across the city. The latter is the latest to arrive on the scene, touting American-trained fitness instructors and a huge luxury restaurant and café at on the third floor of its Lido venue. Oddly enough, however, there's no pool at the Lido venue, but there is a large basketball court and a professional-sized boxing ring.

Aside from equipment, the greatest value from a gym comes in the form of guidance from in-house personal trainers -- depending on how well qualified they are. Personal training is a new concept to China, but one that's caught on. Most of the international fitness centres in Beijing offer the services of both western and Chinese trainers, and fees vary accordingly (from 100 yuan an hour with a local to 400 yuan an hour with a professionally accredited western trainer).

The best personal trainers devise detailed training programmes according to clients' needs (which can vary between losing weight, gaining strength or getting fit -- or a combination of all three). "Most people want to lose a few pounds and get stronger," says Brian Bucsit, a US-qualified trainer at Evolution Fitness in the Blue Castle complex in Chaoyang district. "You've got to make daily exercise or a daily workout habit. You've got to do something that works for you but it's important that it become habit and if you have to take a week out for a work trip or an illness you've got to get right back in there."

For those who don't want to pay for a gym membership, there's always the park. Beijing's numerous public parks are a great escape from kerbside gas fumes and offer plenty of paths and winding hill tracks You could also buy a bike: a 300-yuan Flying Pigeon is incredibly good value when you consider all the pounds lost while pedalling to work or play every morning/evening. And the taxi fares saved over a year will be enough to buy that gym membership