Just in case you were wondering where I workout down here (Which I’m sure you weren’t, but I’m going to tell you anyway!), I found a gym that is a couple of miles from our house. It is pretty complete. It has just about everything that you can find in a LifeTime or LA Fitness… free weights, machines, cardio area, a pool, spinning, yoga, and pilates. What you will not find at a typical super-gym in the US, believe it or not, is that it has a pool table and a foosball table… and… drum roll… just one more thing that is totally normal here (and wildly strange for anyone who is “non-Brazilian”), it has a “Samba Room” where they teach Samba dancing (I mean, they seriously only teach Samba in this enormous room, they use it for nothing else, and it is always full).. Brazilians REALLY love Samba I guess!…
The coolest part about this gym is that it has no AC and no furnace!… Something I would have loved to be able to “not” provide in the gyms I used to own ($$$$$)! The weather here is about 78° at night, and about 85° at the hottest point of the day year-round (sometimes a little warmer, but not usually). Therefore, the gym is always just about the right temperature for a good workout where you can sweat yet not get overheated. The gym also has some exterior walls, and some areas that are completely open to the outside… Something I would have loved to be able to provide in Michigan, but simply couldn’t due to the weather… Muscle Beach, anyone!?! It does have a roof to keep the you sheltered from the sun or rain, which are both pretty intense down here; but no one has to worry about being under the cold AC unit when you are all sweaty and then get a chill, which is nice. I actually really enjoy the gym here. There is one more advantage: no one speaks English! Needless to say, I don’t get dragged into too many conversations (the guys talking about sports, I mean soccer or… soccer… or the other sport, football – which is what they call soccer) while I’m in the middle of my workout! There is one profound disadvantage… the shower has only one knob… COLD… WOW! That’ll wake you up before work!!!!!
Anyway, below are a couple of pictures of the gym! I thought some of you might be interested!…
A view of the weight floor
Another view of the weight floor
A view of the cardio floor
