2008-10-11, 1:12PM: Fitness in China

I like to walk everywhere I go in China. On my walks I see a lot of interesting and different things. One of these things was the playgrounds. Playgrounds have some of the regular things that we have in Canada, including stuff to climb on and stuff to swing on. Their playgrounds have something extra: exercise equipment. The equipment is disguised as a toy with bright colours and round edges. I’ve seen chin-up bars, elliptical things, stuff to work abs, some weights, a chest press type thing, and some other… things. I really need to go to the gym more and learn the names of these devices. The point is that when kids go there they play on the equipment. They never see it as something separate from fun and are more likely to do it always. Also, when parents or grandparents go to the park with young ones they have something to do other than sit on a bench, even though there are also benches. Overweight people are just a rare sight in general and overweight kids are even rarer. I hear that obesity is going up in kids here but compared to Canada they don’t have a problem at all. It’s not hard to see why. Also, there are bikes everywhere, lots of people walk and the food just seems a lot less processed in most places.
Old people are monsters here. They often seem to remain in very good health despite the fact that they all smoke like chimneys. We were shown a way down from the Great Wall by a man who was nearly 60 and he was smoking while climbing a cliff and set a pace that our young bodies (tired from hiking and carrying bags, mind you) could barely keep up to. Seniors often are seen in some parks doing Tai-Chi or maybe dancing or other styles of martial arts. I had to laugh a little when I saw someone with a poster trying to show the plight of senior citizens. It was about how they don’t have a way to retire and have to work even in old age. It showed a picture of an old woman with a huge bundle of sticks on her back. I could see the point that the guy was trying to make, about how old people shouldn’t have to do backbreaking labour and all that, but I couldn’t help but laugh to myself that this tiny old woman was about 70 probably and as strong as an ox! She didn’t look like she needed any help whatsoever.

Being here makes me think how dependant we are on our cars and all of our other little devices that make our lives easier. We drive around the block! Here, I use the subway but it’s still a few blocks away. If I had a bike (and the courage to drive it on the roads here because it’s insane here) I’d probably ride it everywhere. My mind is hectic today so I think I’m jumping all over here, but my point is that fitness is just ingrained in the culture a lot more than it is with our culture. People are just healthier.. except for the chain-smoking and pollution.

I guess I’ll take a moment to update on my training. Starting next week I train in the meteor hammer on Tuesday and Thursday for two hours each! My schedule will be this: Sanda at 7:40-10:30am M-F, meteor hammer from 2-4pm T,Th, Chinese language 2-5pm M,W,F and weight lifting with some friends whenever, probably a few times a week and maybe some jogging tossed in for effect. By the way, my legs are sore today. And, it turns out, the Wushu that I’m going to learn can be anything. The teacher told me I could just learn whatever I wanted! So I’m probably going to do some kind of stick or another weapon or long fist or something. I’ll decide that before November. Any ideas?

Oh right, by the way, the Sanda teacher was late on Friday and the Wushu teacher decided to help us all stretch. Have you ever had someone physically tear at your ligaments? That’s what he did. we stretched our farthest and he pushed us until we wanted to cry. It turns out my reaction to pain is laughter. I don’t know why. I was laughing when he made my joints hurt. It does work though. I'm limber like Gumby