Fitness Centres in Taiwan

[quote=“jinjunwei”][quote=“ushneb”]I too am looking for a place to workout, crossfit as well.

Just got here today. In the Zhongshan area.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk[/quote]

There are a few of us (and a bunch of beginners) that workout together at the Tai-Da gym. The current time is m-w-f 12-2ish. You are welcome to join us.[/quote]

A convinced a friend of mine to go with me tomorrow. I’m not familiar with the school at all so I’m kind of unsure where to go when I’m there. Also are there any kind of fees?

Thanks

Am I just getting old and crotchety, or is the re-built Taipei Main Station World Gym (California Gym, as it once was) utterly crap? It appears to have been designed by some student who has heard of such things as ‘gyms’ but has never actually seen one (or been inside one), and then put together by a team of obstreperous spider-monkeys who imported all the materials from the cheapest, nastiest building supplier they could find in Guangdong. The machines are thrown around in no particular order, half the stuff is broken already, the locker area isn’t big enough to avoid (accidentally) shoving your elbow into someone’s nether regions while changing, and the sauna still isn’t finished and probably never will be.

And … AND! they seem to have attracted a new crowd of mouthbreathing yuppies who turn up just to sit on the machines and play with their mobile phones, or alternatively ‘reserve’ machines by putting their stinking towel on it while they wander off for 20 minutes to have a chat with their other shiftless mates who might as well not be there. And I think I’m going to smack somebody round the head with a 5lb bar if I ever find out who scatters the free weights all over the floor or puts them back in completely the wrong places. Tossers.

Just had to get that off my chest. Maybe I should stay off the juice for a while.

[quote=“ushneb”][quote=“jinjunwei”][quote=“ushneb”]I too am looking for a place to workout, crossfit as well.

Just got here today. In the Zhongshan area.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk[/quote]

There are a few of us (and a bunch of beginners) that workout together at the Tai-Da gym. The current time is m-w-f 12-2ish. You are welcome to join us.[/quote]

A convinced a friend of mine to go with me tomorrow. I’m not familiar with the school at all so I’m kind of unsure where to go when I’m there. Also are there any kind of fees?

Thanks[/quote]

I know they charge something for 1 time… but i dont know what it is. Just ask for the gym (ti-yu-guan) and you will find it. Corner of xinhai rd and xinsheng. Bottom floor. You have to buy some sort of ticket from the girls at the desk there. You use that to get in. Ill be there at 1230ish to do my workout (not sure if Alex will be there or not). My two novice friends come around 1ish. You are welcome to join either. The beginners will be doing an overhead lunges and burpee workout. I’m not sure yet what I (and Alex) will be doing.

[quote=“jinjunwei”][quote=“ushneb”][quote=“jinjunwei”][quote=“ushneb”]I too am looking for a place to workout, crossfit as well.

Just got here today. In the Zhongshan area.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk[/quote]

There are a few of us (and a bunch of beginners) that workout together at the Tai-Da gym. The current time is m-w-f 12-2ish. You are welcome to join us.[/quote]

A convinced a friend of mine to go with me tomorrow. I’m not familiar with the school at all so I’m kind of unsure where to go when I’m there. Also are there any kind of fees?

Thanks[/quote]

I know they charge something for 1 time… but I don’t know what it is. Just ask for the gym (ti-yu-guan) and you will find it. Corner of xinhai Rd and Xinsheng. Bottom floor. You have to buy some sort of ticket from the girls at the desk there. You use that to get in. Ill be there at 1230ish to do my workout (not sure if Alex will be there or not). My two novice friends come around 1ish. You are welcome to join either. The beginners will be doing an overhead lunges and burpee workout. I’m not sure yet what I (and Alex) will be doing.[/quote]

Ahh good to know, thanks. But silght change of plans for today. Hopefully I can make it in next week. I didn’t bring alot of workout clothes, so if you see a guy wearing gray shorts and either a Sharks shirt or Giants shirt; that’s me. My name is Ben, by the way.

youtube.com/watch?v=ITbkdNjahxQ

I see some folks are looking for hard, Crossfit style workouts. The above is our advanced fitness class. We do these sessions in our own facility and we’re open at various times five days a week. We’re now moving to all sessions using barbells, kettlebells, suspension trainers, etc. but we’ll still be dividing it up by skill level. Beginners who are new to this type of training are welcome to join our basic class and more advanced folks are welcome in the intermediate/advanced classes.

As you can see from the clip, we deadlift, squat, press, etc. and get it all done in 30:00. All are welcome!

[quote=“ushneb”][quote=“jinjunwei”][quote=“ushneb”][quote=“jinjunwei”][quote=“ushneb”]I too am looking for a place to workout, crossfit as well.

Just got here today. In the Zhongshan area.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk[/quote]

There are a few of us (and a bunch of beginners) that workout together at the Tai-Da gym. The current time is m-w-f 12-2ish. You are welcome to join us.[/quote]

A convinced a friend of mine to go with me tomorrow. I’m not familiar with the school at all so I’m kind of unsure where to go when I’m there. Also are there any kind of fees?

Thanks[/quote]

I know they charge something for 1 time… but I don’t know what it is. Just ask for the gym (ti-yu-guan) and you will find it. Corner of xinhai Rd and Xinsheng. Bottom floor. You have to buy some sort of ticket from the girls at the desk there. You use that to get in. Ill be there at 1230ish to do my workout (not sure if Alex will be there or not). My two novice friends come around 1ish. You are welcome to join either. The beginners will be doing an overhead lunges and burpee workout. I’m not sure yet what I (and Alex) will be doing.[/quote]

Ahh good to know, thanks. But silght change of plans for today. Hopefully I can make it in next week. I didn’t bring alot of workout clothes, so if you see a guy wearing gray shorts and either a Sharks shirt or Giants shirt; that’s me. My name is Ben, by the way.[/quote]

Hi Ben. Sorry did you stop by? I was at the gym from 1230 to about 230. I oversaw Junni (one of the beginners) from 1230-1 and then did a workout myself from 130 to 2ish. To give you an idea what we did, Junni’s workout was 5 rounds of 15m lunges w/45lbs overhead (lowered to 35lbs after round 2) & 15 burpees. It took him about 13mins to finish this. My workout was 5 rounds of 15 toes to bar, 15 kb swings 50lbs, 15 lunges, 15 sumodeadlift highpulls (90lbs), and 15 broad jumps. It took me about 30 mins to finish. You are welcome to join us anytime.

I checked out Taipei Xinyi Sports Center. I think for beginners, and if you only go in the morning, its fine. But this place fills up by noon and there is clearly no policing of the equipment and weights which are all over the place.

I took a look at two really ritzy gyms which are probably so far out of my budget that I’m wasting my time even asking about them:
-Action Life
-Lamigo
Both are on the north side of Taipei 101 in and around the shopping area that has the Eslite bookstore.

Does anyone have experience with them?

Once the weather gets nicer, we’ll probably start moving some of our workouts outside to the track/pullup bars. Those will be 100% free for anyone to join. Currently, we’re at the tai-da gym m-w-f 12ish to 2ish. Anyone is welcome to join us (we work on form/movements and then do one workout together). That is free too, however, you do need to pay tai-da to use the gym. Current price is 5000 NT for 6 months or 9K for a year. Student rates are 1/10th that.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

[quote=“jinjunwei”][quote=“ushneb”][quote=“jinjunwei”][quote=“ushneb”][quote=“jinjunwei”][quote=“ushneb”]I too am looking for a place to workout, crossfit as well.

Just got here today. In the Zhongshan area.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk[/quote]

There are a few of us (and a bunch of beginners) that workout together at the Tai-Da gym. The current time is m-w-f 12-2ish. You are welcome to join us.[/quote]

A convinced a friend of mine to go with me tomorrow. I’m not familiar with the school at all so I’m kind of unsure where to go when I’m there. Also are there any kind of fees?

Thanks[/quote]

I know they charge something for 1 time… but I don’t know what it is. Just ask for the gym (ti-yu-guan) and you will find it. Corner of xinhai Rd and Xinsheng. Bottom floor. You have to buy some sort of ticket from the girls at the desk there. You use that to get in. Ill be there at 1230ish to do my workout (not sure if Alex will be there or not). My two novice friends come around 1ish. You are welcome to join either. The beginners will be doing an overhead lunges and burpee workout. I’m not sure yet what I (and Alex) will be doing.[/quote]

Ahh good to know, thanks. But silght change of plans for today. Hopefully I can make it in next week. I didn’t bring alot of workout clothes, so if you see a guy wearing gray shorts and either a Sharks shirt or Giants shirt; that’s me. My name is Ben, by the way.[/quote]

Hi Ben. Sorry did you stop by? I was at the gym from 1230 to about 230. I oversaw Junni (one of the beginners) from 1230-1 and then did a workout myself from 130 to 2ish. To give you an idea what we did, Junni’s workout was 5 rounds of 15m lunges w/45lbs overhead (lowered to 35lbs after round 2) & 15 burpees. It took him about 13mins to finish this. My workout was 5 rounds of 15 toes to bar, 15 kb swings 50lbs, 15 lunges, 15 sumodeadlift highpulls (90lbs), and 15 broad jumps. It took me about 30 mins to finish. You are welcome to join us anytime.[/quote]

Didn’t get a chance to stop by. In fact I didn’t really get a workout in the whole 3 weeks I was in Taiwan. Well, save for that one time I went to the community fitness center. Got busy with meeting people. I’m home now in Cali but there’s a chance I could be moving to Taiwan for a year or 2. So that whole thing took lots of time. I won’t be able to get away with not working out if I live there and chances are I might take some classes at Tai-Da if I do. Perhaps then we’ll workout.

Today I did the Cindy at my gym. Was only able to get in 18 rounds when my usual is around 22 or so. Plus I also gained like 10 lbs on this trip. lol

[quote=“finley”]Am I just getting old and crotchety, or is the re-built Taipei Main Station World Gym (California Gym, as it once was) utterly crap? It appears to have been designed by some student who has heard of such things as ‘gyms’ but has never actually seen one (or been inside one), and then put together by a team of obstreperous spider-monkeys who imported all the materials from the cheapest, nastiest building supplier they could find in Guangdong. The machines are thrown around in no particular order, half the stuff is broken already, the locker area isn’t big enough to avoid (accidentally) shoving your elbow into someone’s nether regions while changing, and the sauna still isn’t finished and probably never will be.

And … AND! they seem to have attracted a new crowd of mouthbreathing yuppies who turn up just to sit on the machines and play with their mobile phones, or alternatively ‘reserve’ machines by putting their stinking towel on it while they wander off for 20 minutes to have a chat with their other shiftless mates who might as well not be there. And I think I’m going to smack somebody round the head with a 5lb bar if I ever find out who scatters the free weights all over the floor or puts them back in completely the wrong places. Tossers.

Just had to get that off my chest. Maybe I should stay off the juice for a while.[/quote]

Two Questions:

  1. What year did California Gym at Taipei Station go tits up?
  2. Did all California Gym locations in Taipei close their doors?
  3. Or, did all California Gyms change their signs to “World Gym”?
  4. Is the equipment at the new World Gym at Taipei Station the same equipment that was in the California Gym at Taipei Station?

Thank you.

[quote=“Shimokitazawa”][quote=“finley”]Am I just getting old and crotchety, or is the re-built Taipei Main Station World Gym (California Gym, as it once was) utterly crap? It appears to have been designed by some student who has heard of such things as ‘gyms’ but has never actually seen one (or been inside one), and then put together by a team of obstreperous spider-monkeys who imported all the materials from the cheapest, nastiest building supplier they could find in Guangdong. The machines are thrown around in no particular order, half the stuff is broken already, the locker area isn’t big enough to avoid (accidentally) shoving your elbow into someone’s nether regions while changing, and the sauna still isn’t finished and probably never will be.

And … AND! they seem to have attracted a new crowd of mouthbreathing yuppies who turn up just to sit on the machines and play with their mobile phones, or alternatively ‘reserve’ machines by putting their stinking towel on it while they wander off for 20 minutes to have a chat with their other shiftless mates who might as well not be there. And I think I’m going to smack somebody round the head with a 5lb bar if I ever find out who scatters the free weights all over the floor or puts them back in completely the wrong places. Tossers.

Just had to get that off my chest. Maybe I should stay off the juice for a while.[/quote]

Two Questions:

  1. What year did California Gym at Taipei Station go tits up?
  2. Did all California Gym locations in Taipei close their doors?
  3. Or, did all California Gyms change their signs to “World Gym”?
  4. Is the equipment at the new World Gym at Taipei Station the same equipment that was in the California Gym at Taipei Station?

Thank you.[/quote]

Your 2 questions look kind of like 4 to me. lol

I’ll try to answer to the best of my knowledge.

  1. Dunno
  2. World Gym bought out California Fitness locations in Taiwan from 24 Hour Fitness sometime in Nov of 2010.
  3. Yes, all California Fitness locations in Taiwan changed to World Gym
  4. I do believe none of the equipment had changed, but I could be wrong.

When World Gym took over, but there may have been no connection (anyone know different?). They’d been building the new place for some time already.

Mostly, except it seems to be maintained even less frequently (which was almost never to begin with), and they’ve got a whole bunch of new CV kit made by DKFitness (Taiwanese company) which is really poor quality. The staff also seem to be 50% the same, except they’ve got a lot surlier. Can’t help wondering if World Gym is treating them even worse than it treats its customers.

[quote=“ushneb”]

Didn’t get a chance to stop by. In fact I didn’t really get a workout in the whole 3 weeks I was in Taiwan. Well, save for that one time I went to the community fitness center. Got busy with meeting people. I’m home now in Cali but there’s a chance I could be moving to Taiwan for a year or 2. So that whole thing took lots of time. I won’t be able to get away with not working out if I live there and chances are I might take some classes at Tai-Da if I do. Perhaps then we’ll workout.

Today I did the Cindy at my gym. Was only able to get in 18 rounds when my usual is around 22 or so. Plus I also gained like 10 lbs on this trip. lol[/quote]

Thats cool. Feel free to look us up if you come back. By the way, I am currently taking Chinese class at ICLP/Taida. If you have any questions about that, I can probably answer those as well.

I didnt think that was possible. ha

When World Gym took over, but there may have been no connection (anyone know different?). They’d been building the new place for some time already.

Mostly, except it seems to be maintained even less frequently (which was almost never to begin with), and they’ve got a whole bunch of new CV kit made by DKFitness (Taiwanese company) which is really poor quality. The staff also seem to be 50% the same, except they’ve got a lot surlier. Can’t help wondering if World Gym is treating them even worse than it treats its customers.[/quote]

'03-'04 (not positive exact year) California was split when 24 hour fitness sold for 1.6 Billion. It was sold to an Executive of Burger King in Hong Kong. Taiwan market was taken over by WG 10-2010.

The equipment at Taipei Station is approximately the same. New Cardio and New Spinning bikes. Personally Disagree on poor quality (Matrix is poor) however I am not the GM at that location. BH is the fitness company DK manufactures for. Come to 101, I hope to change your minds on “Surlier”. We really focus on customer service, the operations manager or myself will take new customers that don’t speak Chinese, just so there is no communication issues plus we go over everything in great detail just to make sure we follow through with our customers awareness of what we provide.

[quote=“ushneb”][quote=“Shimokitazawa”][quote=“finley”]Am I just getting old and crotchety, or is the re-built Taipei Main Station World Gym (California Gym, as it once was) utterly crap? It appears to have been designed by some student who has heard of such things as ‘gyms’ but has never actually seen one (or been inside one), and then put together by a team of obstreperous spider-monkeys who imported all the materials from the cheapest, nastiest building supplier they could find in Guangdong. The machines are thrown around in no particular order, half the stuff is broken already, the locker area isn’t big enough to avoid (accidentally) shoving your elbow into someone’s nether regions while changing, and the sauna still isn’t finished and probably never will be.

And … AND! they seem to have attracted a new crowd of mouthbreathing yuppies who turn up just to sit on the machines and play with their mobile phones, or alternatively ‘reserve’ machines by putting their stinking towel on it while they wander off for 20 minutes to have a chat with their other shiftless mates who might as well not be there. And I think I’m going to smack somebody round the head with a 5lb bar if I ever find out who scatters the free weights all over the floor or puts them back in completely the wrong places. Tossers.

Just had to get that off my chest. Maybe I should stay off the juice for a while.[/quote]

Two Questions:

  1. What year did California Gym at Taipei Station go tits up?
  2. Did all California Gym locations in Taipei close their doors?
  3. Or, did all California Gyms change their signs to “World Gym”?
  4. Is the equipment at the new World Gym at Taipei Station the same equipment that was in the California Gym at Taipei Station?

Thank you.[/quote]

Your 2 questions look kind of like 4 to me. lol

I’ll try to answer to the best of my knowledge.

  1. Dunno

  2. World Gym bought out California Fitness locations in Taiwan from 24 Hour Fitness sometime in Nov of 2010.

  3. Yes, all California Fitness locations in Taiwan changed to World Gym

  4. I do believe none of the equipment had changed, but I could be wrong.[/quote]

  5. Never Tits up.

  6. California never closed doors, (temporary closure to move location Taipei Main Station location)

  7. California was Acquired by WG 10-2010

  8. Partially the same.

I am a 24 Hour Fitness member in the U.S.
It sucks to know that California Fitness got bought by World Gym.
So, besides the Sports Centers run by the city, where else can I work out for cheap when I visit Taipei?
Thanks in advance for any answer.

[quote=“CaliDude”]I am a 24 Hour Fitness member in the U.S.
It sucks to know that California Fitness got bought by World Gym.
So, besides the Sports Centers run by the city, where else can I work out for cheap when I visit Taipei?
Thanks in advance for any answer.[/quote]

I was in the same boat. It was nice to be able to use Cali’s gym for free while in Asia. Some of us 24 members pay more per year than the locals in Asia do per month. Go figure. The Taida gym is cheap. The cheapest gyms are the public fitness centers run by the city government. A few people have written about them previously on this thread. Taipei gym isnt too bad either but is pretty crowded.

[quote=“jinjunwei”][quote=“CaliDude”]I am a 24 Hour Fitness member in the U.S.
It sucks to know that California Fitness got bought by World Gym.
So, besides the Sports Centers run by the city, where else can I work out for cheap when I visit Taipei?
Thanks in advance for any answer.[/quote]

I was in the same boat. It was nice to be able to use Cali’s gym for free while in Asia. Some of us 24 members pay more per year than the locals in Asia do per month. Go figure. The Tai-Da gym is cheap. The cheapest gyms are the public fitness centers run by the city government. A few people have written about them previously on this thread. Taipei gym isnt too bad either but is pretty crowded.[/quote]

You mean, “Some of us 24 members pay LESS per year than the locals in Asia do per month”?

I just called around and found out how expensive it is for a short-term gym membership.
World gym at Taipei Station-- 1-time use for NT$650; 1-month for NT$3500
Taipei gym at Ximen-- 10 times for NT$2000; 1-month for NT$2500
Do they sound right? I am a bit enraged by the high prices, considering how much average people make in Taiwan and how little I pay for my membership in the US. Dealing with gym salespersons kinda reminds me of dealing with car or Lasik salespersons. All the prices are so inflated and negotiable. (Yes, I put car sale and Lasik sale in the same category based on my own experiences. And yes, even Lasik is negotiable because I did it before.)

OK, enough for the ranting. Some people said that the public fitness centers are always crowded with the machines not being well maintained. So, what should I do? … LOL.

[quote=“CaliDude”][quote=“jinjunwei”][quote=“CaliDude”]I am a 24 Hour Fitness member in the U.S.
It sucks to know that California Fitness got bought by World Gym.
So, besides the Sports Centers run by the city, where else can I work out for cheap when I visit Taipei?
Thanks in advance for any answer.[/quote]

I was in the same boat. It was nice to be able to use Cali’s gym for free while in Asia. Some of us 24 members pay more per year than the locals in Asia do per month. Go figure. The Tai-Da gym is cheap. The cheapest gyms are the public fitness centers run by the city government. A few people have written about them previously on this thread. Taipei gym isnt too bad either but is pretty crowded.[/quote]

You mean, “Some of us 24 members pay LESS per year than the locals in Asia do per month”?

I just called around and found out how expensive it is for a short-term gym membership.
World gym at Taipei Station-- 1-time use for NT$650; 1-month for NT$3500
Taipei gym at Ximen-- 10 times for NT$2000; 1-month for NT$2500
Do they sound right? I am a bit enraged by the high prices, considering how much average people make in Taiwan and how little I pay for my membership in the US. Dealing with gym salespersons kinda reminds me of dealing with car or Lasik salespersons. All the prices are so inflated and negotiable. (Yes, I put car sale and Lasik sale in the same category based on my own experiences. And yes, even Lasik is negotiable because I did it before.)

OK, enough for the ranting. Some people said that the public fitness centers are always crowded with the machines not being well maintained. So, what should I do? … LOL.[/quote]

Opps. Sorry typo. Yeah, that is what I mean: People in Asia pay more in 1 month than we do in a year. It is basically smart business by those who run the show. They have convinced local consumers that these goods (gym membership and many other things) are luxury items. I also noticed that the same Garmin GPS I bought 4 years ago in the US is about 30% more expensive in Taiwan which makes absolutely no sense since the factory is here. Walk through Guanghua market and many of the electronics are more here than in the US. Go figure. Some stuff is cheaper tho: food, greeting cards, electricity, lots. But yeah, the gym thing is very annoying.

If you are hear temporarily I’d just do body weight workouts. At Crossfit we do many of them: pullups, dips (a pair of rings is $60 and can be taken anywhere), skin the cats, dip pullups, dip pushups, running, squats, one legged squats, jumping squats pushups, heandstand pushups, double unders (jump rope), sprints, broad jumps, lunges, jumping lunges, etc. There are many more.