Funny, I had someone touch the bar when I was squatting here in Italy as well. This dude thought it would be helpful to PUSH DOWN one end of the bar because it was higher than the other one, and of course he did it mid-set and mid-squat, no warning at all. And then when I almost died trying to get back up he lectured me about form. I have good form when no one pushes on the bar, thank you very much
One time I was deadlifting, the only bumper plates at this gym were ridiculously thick so a bar clamp wouldn’t fit with 4 plates. Someone noticed a couple reps in that one of the plates was sliding a little bit, so they tried to push it back into place mid rep, causing the bar to fulcrum around me, which ended up severely straining one of my lumbar flexors. I couldn’t perform any sort of spinal load for about 6 weeks.
People running over to save me during effective reps makes me wanna deck people... Swear to god.. Prentious af in the first place to bring their hero complex in my direction and suggest I was incapable when if they waited 2 seconds they'd see me finish the set just like any other time.. Comment is late, but oh well.. Issue still exists.. Are people new to the idea of training till failure??
I lived in Shanghai for a few years, I have some interesting gym stories as well. The touching and staring can get annoying, but plate stealing and plate misplacement are commonplace. Also dudes checking out your junk if you shower at the facilities.
As a white man, it's universal in almost every East Asian country for them to check out your junk. I can only imagine what the black men must go through in those countries.
This is my experience in the my college's gym too. It's just a Chinese gym thing, even among ultra elite Chinese. When you get past the weirdness it's ironically charming.
@@romanianhustler3309 People in China actually have way more freedom than in America. Gov in China is controlled by the people whereas US is a corporate police state.
@@willbartinik7325 both countries controlled by exploitative elites, China does more to fight poverty, the US does more to fight discrimination. Neither country is on the path to fully automated luxury gay space communism and they are therefore both cringe
About the personal space thing, most Brazilian gym bros would go like "yeah buddy" and flex if someone grabbed their arm and said they're big lol, it would make their day
Do they also do same with each others junk as well hahahaha, not brazilian enough unless you grab your bro's junk and say it's big, that would definitely make his day.
The whole arm touching thing used to happen in India too. But the insane speed at which India got westernised in the last few years, it would probably be frowned upon at most places now. The plate stealing thing is pretty universal tho. It's called being an asshole..
Yea, was a very weird situation. Never have encountered anything like that before or since, but have heard a few stories of foreigners also having similar situations.
You think an old native man having to swallow his pride in his own country having a foreigner live in his head rent free is a good thing? Youre a dirtbag dude.
I don't live in mainland but I live in Taiwan. I would say the biggest problem for the gym environment in eastern countries is that we don't emphasize free weight training/ barbell movements but cardio. You can hardly find a gym that have squat racks greater more than 3 unless it's a hardcore gym. And the employees always want to sell you classe or product which is super annoying.
Yup have encountered all of that. Most don't have dumbbells past 30kg, and past 40kg is very rare. I'm thinking about buying dumbbells for my gym at this point.
@@FLAMEalan Four is a great number. I live in Spain and go to a commercial gym, there is one squat rack. it's hard to get a hold of it, not because Spanish people do squats because they don't, but they use the pins to the place the bar on to do barbell rows b/c they're too lazy to pick the bar up off the ground. So that is Spain's innovation to fitness: BB Rows in the squat rack.
Everything he said is accurate. Gyms in China can be tough. The staring is hard too. Now when I visit pandas in the zoo I just stand there and whisper to him… “I feel your pain brother” 😂 🐼
I had a very normal experience at a gym in Shanghai, much better than what you describe. Biggest difference between the US and China is the age of people who annoyed me. In China, it was mostly older people misbehaving, in the US it's teenagers curling in the squat rack, etc.
I've lived in China for eight years and I've lived in several cities and joined a gym in all of them. You are absolutely right. I've had similar experiences in Chinese gyms, guys staring, bumping into me, trying to start a fight, etc. A lot of it has to do with mental disease, lack of education and/or xenophobia. It's better not to escalate.
You're in THEIR country, it's your lack of education, act how they act if you move there and be respectful. You sound as bad as the immigrants in Europe acting entitled.
I know you posted this a while ago, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! My daughter was trained by Chinese Olympic Medal Winning Coaches for most her life. We have so many crazy stories from her time with them. We learned to let things go that would be completely inappropriate anywhere else because this is how they’ve been taught and how they coach and it’s just the way it is. So I totally relate to this whole gym situation and the behavior.
@@jinruizhang absolutely!! One time the head coach got irritated that one of the girls hair kept getting in her face, so she grabbed scissors and cut her hair. I would carpool with other parents so when I drove the kids to practice sometimes I was late and I was reprimanded like a child by the owner 😂😂😂😂 The owner expected the kids to come in on Christmas and train!!! That didn’t go over well with the parents. They use to tell the kids they needed to stop eating so much food because it was making them fat. 🤣 They nicknamed one girl “hamburger” because she was chubby. One time I walked in and all the girls were crying, I asked one the moms what happened. She said, “oh, they’re just stretching, it’s normal” 😆
@@Corinna-Momhahahahahaha man can confirm this is typical Chinese shifu shit. But you must have been in some more serious training facilities and not casual gyms.
The plate steal thing thing could also be that they dont know you're done. In EU atleast half the people do no empty the bar / rack their weights when they are done. Bad manners i know, but sometimes you just gotta guess whether or not that person is done.
I'm seeing this 4 years late but someone at my school gym walked to get a plate and stepped directly into my bar while I was squatting knocking it sideways, luckily it was my warmup weight but when I racked it they pretended like nothing happened. If it was my last warmup set weight I probably would've flipped my sh*t at him for almost killing me, luckily it was only a lighter weight still 225lbs
I love the bit about how recreational strength standards are lower in China. Nice to know I have a shot at being a trainer in China with me 106kg deadlift, 120kg squat,, and 75kg bench press. Here in the states I'm on the weak end of average for recreational lifters, but nice to know there are places with lower standards.
I'm a Chinese watching your video in China right now... Just found out your channel and subscribed. BTW, i bought a 8 year membership in a GYM in my city so i have no excuse to quite, now i have been working out for 2 years, 6 more years to go...lol
Great hearing about the gym scene in China. I used to live in China for 8 years from Middle to High School (International) and was able to go to the gym for my senior year of High School. Once I got here to the US I basically became a gymhead because of the lack of good gyms in China. Great to see you mogg people basically in public lol. Great content my slime
I'm late to the party, but I would love to see more China-related content. I like both lifting and learning Mandarin, so it scratches a particular itch! I know it doesn't line up with your usual videos, but I've gotta shoot my shot. 😄
This is such an interesting video to me as I had no idea you resided in China. It was really cool hearing what the gym life is like over there. I welcome more vids related to China from your perspective, in the future.
My biggest pet peeve for Chinese commercial gyms is that many of them don't have adequate equipment for strength training. Most Chinese gyms don't even have racks or a Roman Chair unless you are in one of those major international metropolises. Of course, lifting isn't a real thing in China and working out/fitness means jogging on a treadmill to 'cut fat' or maybe getting scammed/demoralized by DYEL trainers.
nice video, would love to see maybe a comparison video taking about what is the same and different between China and Western countries when it comes to gym/lifting culture, equipment and standards in general.
Sort of part of my job. I try to keep other people out of the shot as much as possible. Filming in public places is not illegal or anything, a locker room or anywhere with the assumption of privacy is obviously a different story, but a public, outside gym? Different story.
8:49 someone actually did this to me once in Finland... but... it was an asian woman. Well, personal space is so big in Finland people would be scared to take a plate thats been lying on the floor for 30 minutes, or anywhere other than a designated plate rack, so it was extremely weird to me. Anyway ignored it and got another plate. I didnt even leave the rack
Hi Geoff. I always wondered why you don't usually use a towel in your bench when using it. In Spain is obligatory for the users to cover your bench with your personal towel.
Yeah, strength difference is quite wide. I can only deadlift 300 pounds and that is the heaviest in the gym that anybody has done. Takes a long time to bring it up there. Oh well, just continue on, long way to go before my aim of 500 pounds. See maybe one of these days I drop by SZ and we can meet up over meal or so.
A 4 plate deadlift is still better than the majority here in the west. I'm surprised that since China has super good weight lifters lifting heavy weight shouldn't be so out of the world.
In one rec center gym here in Canada, I had - a teenage staff member turn the lights off and yell while I was doing a 440 DL PR because they were closing in 30 freaking minutes - a crazy guy with gyno try to take my rack when I got a drink of water and threaten to fight me. I kickbox, so I let him know, hey I'm warm, if you wanna get in my space we can go - someone came and tried to "assist" me during my FIRST 2 plate bench PR when I was in a rack with the spotting arms in, and totally f'd up my bar path and made my lift "not count". I got up and told him, hey man you see that I'm in a power rack? Why would you need to touch my bar? In the end I built a squat rack out of 4 x 4s and fully equipped my home gym. I miss some of the social aspects of the gym but training at home is much more convenient
It happens anywhere man. Why I workout at home now. I’ve had three situations in particular that got under my skin in good ol US. A. I was doing decline sit-ups with the weight as far up as possible on my chest. Some guy came along and said “you know you are doing it wrong. Put the weight on your stomach.” I disagreed with him politely and explained why. He got angry. I said try it and he just walked away. B. I was squatting 350 atg for 5 reps without a belt and knee wraps at the time so I was pretty experienced but some big dude had been sitting and staring at the mirror at the pull-up machine right next to me. When I was done, I proceeded to set up to deadlift there (I was wrong and should’ve moved out but it was literally the only part of the gym that the bar didn’t roll and most even.). He started to say “really you deadlift in a squat rack.” I just said hey man I didn’t know you were waiting you can have it”, and just explained why I did it. So I put the bar with 405 on like 10 feet away. Repped it out for five reps (with a neutral grip btw no hook or staggered). Form was good. No banging on the floor. And he kept saying “three red lights.” I looked at him, looked around noticing there were a ton of people doing there thing at the gym, and rather than start a fight I just walked away. C. A few years ago,I held the door for the middle aged jacked man just to be polite (I’d do it for a 4 year old kid or an 80 year old grandma it doesn’t matter.) He actually got angry and thought I was doing it because he was old. The desk worker overheard and was actually rude to me.
same thing. older guy was curling in the squat rack when their literally was a curl rack/ preacher curl directly adjacent to it. He didnt want to move so i could squat. I even offered to move it for him if he thought it was too heavy to do it. Almost caused a fight
In my country. It is the opposite...westerner pull a plate from my bar during benching and benches only the bar.. Most teenagers in my gym are chinese and benches 140 to 180 kg and DL 200 kg.
Hey Geoff, I'd love to get your opinions on life in china! Maybe address some common misconceptions that most of us westerners may have? I don't have any specific questions though because I don't even know what I don't know about life there!
Your Chinese is excellent! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 I’m from Taiwan, people are really reserved here (probably because we were a “police state” under martial law for four decades recently😅). Never really seen anything out of the ordinary in my gyms (a public one in Taipei and one in my college in Tainan). On the flip side, it makes me really nervous when I try to approach someone for tips or the equipment. People just don’t interact a lot with strangers here.
Do often go back to America to see family or friends? Also what is it like in such an open gym? Is it weird working out outside and working out while people are eating lunch or whatever a few feet away? Always been curious about that when watching your workout footage.
Your gym has the craziest view; you'd be hard pressed to find one with high rise views like that in the states. Also, it's unfortunate that the staff don't manage the equipment well since Technogym makes some nice stuff
I would never have guessed you live in China that is very cool. If you ever would be willing to open up about how your living situation there came about it would very interesting to know!
I didn't know any when I moved here. I didn't study for the first 3 years. Then I went back to the US for a summer and used a computer program (lingq.com) to study. I can back and was somewhat conversational. It's 5-6 years later and I'm semi-fluent by now, though rusty as I mostly use English in day to day stuff.
Man I am glad I watched this , I'm American, and taking plates off a barbell while we are using is considered huge disrespect. Fights can happen. It's very informative to see other cultures takes on these behaviors
Chinese fitness industry as a whole is trending towards a more positive and professional place.we are a Chinese Gym Equipment manufacturer,more and more people would like to buy our machines.Many People are starting to get interested in fitness.Even though the amount of fitness equipment we export is much higher than domestic sales, it is undeniable that the Chinese people's interest in fitness has begun to increase.
How good are gyms at Chinese Universities? I'm guessing they probably don’t have a squat rack. Also is there a well known chain gym that is China wide?
About that strength standard, as an Asian guy who get all his fitness knowledge from American sources and reddit, I have to remind myself again and again that the standards are different. Sometimes I get so insecure lurking in reddit fitness section because people often mocking some numbers as really weak, a number in which even heavier than what I can lift. And I have been training for a year lol.
Yea this is so true lol. My friend, who is pretty handsome, had girls constantly cling to him and “secretly” take pictures of him back in China. He actually had girls stalk him all the way back to his dorm.
bro where i went ppl were preacher curling 60kg 😅 some guy literally asked my younger brother if they could use the weight he was using, which was 60kg (we were doing incline bench), for a set and started curling it
the people where I was at were generally pretty nice and didn't touch the plates my brother and I were using, but funnily enough the smaller guys would almost always exaggerate or boast about their lifts with the people they were with
The strength standards in Asian gyms are definitely crazy low. Is it the lack of current/developmental nutrition? epigenetic fault? racial evolution? lifting techniques and methodologies employed? self perpetrating cycle of seeing low weight being lifted and setting that as the benchmark? Could definitely be a mix of all of these factors. Oh and I think China has high standards at the elite level because their large population facilitates a higher number of genetic freaks being born, and their government scouts for such people and develops them from a very young age.
A mix...think genetic isn't the biggest factor, as they won about half the medals at the most recent world championships in weightlifting. They tend to have good squats. Big calves. A lot of it is cultural. It's not an emphasis AT ALL in society, the biggest sports are ping pong, badminton and basketball, nothing contact. It's becoming more accepted but during middle and high school the emphasis is absolutely still on academics, and often the entire gym class is just rythmic dancing or running, not much else. Happy to debate that with anyone has I've taught at 5 different high schools here in Shenzhen so know it pretty well. :) And yes, the government supports sport, but ONLY at the highest level, if you aren't winning medals you won't get much support. It's an international "face" thing.
Nutritional+lack of guidance and cultural indifference towards lifting as sport. It is in only last 10 years that you are seeing all these gyms and interest in gyming in Asia, before that it was very very small world.
I have some asian genes, and my strength is below average. Some of my friends with similar genes (native american genes actually) also have below average strength. I think european genes are a bit better, from my experience, for strength. Hands are smaller, bones too.
Geoffrey Verity Schofield Absolutely, if you don’t win medals, it’s not or barely supported. If a sport is olympic, it gets more attention. I met more young people practicing Taekwondo in China than any Chinese Martial Art, talking about young people here, not those old folks practicing Taijiquan in the parks. I still remember when Liu Xiang won gold in Athens. He was a superhero for a few years. But on average, as you mentioned, people are too busy. School, University, Job, Marriage, Kids…those often are the top priorities. Sport or activities get more attention when they get older. At least, as far as I observed my family members.
Have you ever seen the SerpentZA or LaoWhy youtube channels? I'm curious if your experiences are similar to theirs (at least as much as you can say online)
Have seen them. Both definitely skew things negatively, especially LaoWhy. I can relate to a lot of Serpentzas content as he used to live in Shenzhen but don't agree with all of it.
Hey Geoff. The area where you train seems pretty nice. I can also see some nice girls in the background when you do your videos. Could you make a video outside the gym. How everyday life is or something.
I've always wondered about gym etiquette in China. You're the first to talk about this. My Chinese female friends say gyms are creepy, with personal trainers trying to pick them up. Your review is not very negative, as this is just life in China. I don't think there is a weightlifting culture yet in China. Life is too hard. I'd not take kindly to people touching me without asking. I'd probably punch people. You seem to have more patience. I find people can be more selfish in China. Here in Canada, you'd never steal a plate off someone's bar if it was fully racked. That would get you punched for sure. We have a lot of Chinese here in Toronto, and they don't do any of those annoying things. I guess they have learned that's just not cool.
Funny, I had someone touch the bar when I was squatting here in Italy as well. This dude thought it would be helpful to PUSH DOWN one end of the bar because it was higher than the other one, and of course he did it mid-set and mid-squat, no warning at all. And then when I almost died trying to get back up he lectured me about form. I have good form when no one pushes on the bar, thank you very much
oh God. Idiots everywhere I guess...
Did you get his number?
@@AllahDoesNotExist Allah does exist.
I'd like to push the bar on you as well, if you know what I mean... (wink wink o.- )
hahahahaha jk(not actually)
@@rappatenebrense stop simping
One time I was deadlifting, the only bumper plates at this gym were ridiculously thick so a bar clamp wouldn’t fit with 4 plates. Someone noticed a couple reps in that one of the plates was sliding a little bit, so they tried to push it back into place mid rep, causing the bar to fulcrum around me, which ended up severely straining one of my lumbar flexors. I couldn’t perform any sort of spinal load for about 6 weeks.
@TreyMusah agreed. whenever I see something wrong, I reach out the person and tell him/her to do something about it.
I'm just happy you're finally monetized. You absolutely deserve it!!
Thanks, took a while but finally got it :)
@@GVS Hey lets have a fist fight.
@@adlibconstitution1609 wtf dude
Never bother someone when they're deep into a set
I will start going apeshit when that happens to me
Yea especially compound, heavy movements. Should be common fucking sense.
Not to mention it's crazy dangerous
People running over to save me during effective reps makes me wanna deck people... Swear to god..
Prentious af in the first place to bring their hero complex in my direction and suggest I was incapable when if they waited 2 seconds they'd see me finish the set just like any other time.. Comment is late, but oh well.. Issue still exists..
Are people new to the idea of training till failure??
I lived in Shanghai for a few years, I have some interesting gym stories as well. The touching and staring can get annoying, but plate stealing and plate misplacement are commonplace. Also dudes checking out your junk if you shower at the facilities.
Yup, have experienced all of that...kinda used to most of it.
Being chinese myself, in the US it's the asians that aren't afraid to stare, even past the awkward stage of looking
As a white man, it's universal in almost every East Asian country for them to check out your junk. I can only imagine what the black men must go through in those countries.
and while they stare and say oooooooo hen dai bai feiji
This is my experience in the my college's gym too. It's just a Chinese gym thing, even among ultra elite Chinese. When you get past the weirdness it's ironically charming.
Yea, I've gotten used to most things. Just...different.
China seem nice if you look from outside but is not . Your freedom in china is 0.
@@romanianhustler3309 People in China actually have way more freedom than in America. Gov in China is controlled by the people whereas US is a corporate police state.
@@willbartinik7325 both countries controlled by exploitative elites, China does more to fight poverty, the US does more to fight discrimination. Neither country is on the path to fully automated luxury gay space communism and they are therefore both cringe
@@willbartinik7325 lmao america is a dump, but this is just laughable.
About the personal space thing, most Brazilian gym bros would go like "yeah buddy" and flex if someone grabbed their arm and said they're big lol, it would make their day
Yes bro
Do they also do same with each others junk as well hahahaha, not brazilian enough unless you grab your bro's junk and say it's big, that would definitely make his day.
com certeza hahaha
it would make my day for sure
The whole arm touching thing used to happen in India too. But the insane speed at which India got westernised in the last few years, it would probably be frowned upon at most places now. The plate stealing thing is pretty universal tho. It's called being an asshole..
Lmao at the old man. Took him quite a while to reflect and swallow his pride. I bet you lived in his mind rent free, feeling that you dishonored him.
Yea, was a very weird situation. Never have encountered anything like that before or since, but have heard a few stories of foreigners also having similar situations.
I mean in China respecting elders is a very big thing, especially in their traditional culture. So it is understandable to as why he got so mad.
You think an old native man having to swallow his pride in his own country having a foreigner live in his head rent free is a good thing? Youre a dirtbag dude.
@@FLAMEalan There was no disrespect from Geoffrey
I don't live in mainland but I live in Taiwan. I would say the biggest problem for the gym environment in eastern countries is that we don't emphasize free weight training/ barbell movements but cardio. You can hardly find a gym that have squat racks greater more than 3 unless it's a hardcore gym. And the employees always want to sell you classe or product which is super annoying.
Yup have encountered all of that. Most don't have dumbbells past 30kg, and past 40kg is very rare. I'm thinking about buying dumbbells for my gym at this point.
Lmao, many gyms here in the UK don’t have many squat racks either… (commercial gyms) At my gym there are only four and two of them aren’t even good
@@FLAMEalan "only" FOUR 💀💀 here in India if i find gyms with one rack i consider myself lucky
@@FLAMEalan Four is a great number. I live in Spain and go to a commercial gym, there is one squat rack. it's hard to get a hold of it, not because Spanish people do squats because they don't, but they use the pins to the place the bar on to do barbell rows b/c they're too lazy to pick the bar up off the ground. So that is Spain's innovation to fitness: BB Rows in the squat rack.
Everything he said is accurate. Gyms in China can be tough. The staring is hard too. Now when I visit pandas in the zoo I just stand there and whisper to him… “I feel your pain brother” 😂 🐼
Hahaha still making my way through the video… the plate stealing 😂 oh man this video is so relatable 😂
Confucius say,
“Watch out for old man, he will mess with your squat rack if you make him angry”
Ancient Chinese secret.
A suggestion - reduce the volume of the music. I almost couldn't hear you
OK, will do
Thanks.
I second that
@@VocalBeast sorry will lower it next time!
@@krioni86sa sorry will lower it next time!
I had a very normal experience at a gym in Shanghai, much better than what you describe. Biggest difference between the US and China is the age of people who annoyed me. In China, it was mostly older people misbehaving, in the US it's teenagers curling in the squat rack, etc.
Youve got a point.
Old people in China think they have some privilege
At least there is nothing inherently wrong or downright weird enough to make you uncomfortable with people curling in the rack
Not sure about China but Korea was pretty "fair" to me. I did stick out like a swore thumb at 6'5 300lbs.
Hahaha, I bet. Even at 6 feet even and around 200lbs I get stares.
@@GVS . Not your height but you being a foreigner . Also depends on the the region. Average height of 18 -20 in northern is 5.10- 5.11 male
@@changchadchanamdong2668 Average Height in China is 5'8. But yeah, they were staring at him because he's white and jacked.
@@imacarguy4065 he is talking regionally
I've lived in China for eight years and I've lived in several cities and joined a gym in all of them. You are absolutely right. I've had similar experiences in Chinese gyms, guys staring, bumping into me, trying to start a fight, etc. A lot of it has to do with mental disease, lack of education and/or xenophobia. It's better not to escalate.
It’s the roid rage lmao
You're in THEIR country, it's your lack of education, act how they act if you move there and be respectful. You sound as bad as the immigrants in Europe acting entitled.
Is the best way to avoid eye contact to start with? I'm a friendly guy so usually initiate a greeting.
I know you posted this a while ago, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! My daughter was trained by Chinese Olympic Medal Winning Coaches for most her life. We have so many crazy stories from her time with them. We learned to let things go that would be completely inappropriate anywhere else because this is how they’ve been taught and how they coach and it’s just the way it is. So I totally relate to this whole gym situation and the behavior.
Care to share a few examples of such things for the folks?
@@jinruizhang absolutely!! One time the head coach got irritated that one of the girls hair kept getting in her face, so she grabbed scissors and cut her hair.
I would carpool with other parents so when I drove the kids to practice sometimes I was late and I was reprimanded like a child by the owner 😂😂😂😂
The owner expected the kids to come in on Christmas and train!!! That didn’t go over well with the parents.
They use to tell the kids they needed to stop eating so much food because it was making them fat. 🤣
They nicknamed one girl “hamburger” because she was chubby.
One time I walked in and all the girls were crying, I asked one the moms what happened. She said, “oh, they’re just stretching, it’s normal” 😆
@@Corinna-Momhahahahahaha man can confirm this is typical Chinese shifu shit. But you must have been in some more serious training facilities and not casual gyms.
@@Corinna-Mom fat shaming in Asia is like, caring for you 🤣
@@jinruizhang yes this is a competitive gymnastics gym. This doesn’t even cover a fraction of the stories I have.
The plate steal thing thing could also be that they dont know you're done. In EU atleast half the people do no empty the bar / rack their weights when they are done. Bad manners i know, but sometimes you just gotta guess whether or not that person is done.
In some cases, maybe. But in a few, I was literally sitting on the bench when they grabbed the plates.
Wow making the bar twist during a heavy squat is super dangerous!
Yea, I was lucky I didn't get hurt.
I'm seeing this 4 years late but someone at my school gym walked to get a plate and stepped directly into my bar while I was squatting knocking it sideways, luckily it was my warmup weight but when I racked it they pretended like nothing happened. If it was my last warmup set weight I probably would've flipped my sh*t at him for almost killing me, luckily it was only a lighter weight still 225lbs
This was actually way funnier than I imagined :D
Yay! Happy you took my suggestion!
I am sure to spread this video in all my WeChat groups! Keep it up man.
Thanks for the support!
I love the bit about how recreational strength standards are lower in China. Nice to know I have a shot at being a trainer in China with me 106kg deadlift, 120kg squat,, and 75kg bench press.
Here in the states I'm on the weak end of average for recreational lifters, but nice to know there are places with lower standards.
I'm a Chinese watching your video in China right now... Just found out your channel and subscribed. BTW, i bought a 8 year membership in a GYM in my city so i have no excuse to quite, now i have been working out for 2 years, 6 more years to go...lol
When the 8 years is up, get another 8 :)
8:59 Sorry but this is hilarious 🤣🤣🤣
I keep imagining someone sneaking over after each set of yours and stealthily running off with a plate
STEALTH: 100
Great hearing about the gym scene in China. I used to live in China for 8 years from Middle to High School (International) and was able to go to the gym for my senior year of High School. Once I got here to the US I basically became a gymhead because of the lack of good gyms in China. Great to see you mogg people basically in public lol. Great content my slime
The touching sounds nice. I personally love being noticed, especially my big muscles that I spend so much time on.
Man. This story telling with the instrumental in the back round is dope.
I'm late to the party, but I would love to see more China-related content. I like both lifting and learning Mandarin, so it scratches a particular itch! I know it doesn't line up with your usual videos, but I've gotta shoot my shot. 😄
This is such an interesting video to me as I had no idea you resided in China. It was really cool hearing what the gym life is like over there.
I welcome more vids related to China from your perspective, in the future.
No prob, can also check out the last part of the latest Q and A for about 15 minutes on China
Cool beans, I’ll check that out. I’ve really come to enjoy your channel.... one of these days I’ll buy your book!
@@ghfjfghjasdfasdf appreciate it!
My biggest pet peeve for Chinese commercial gyms is that many of them don't have adequate equipment for strength training. Most Chinese gyms don't even have racks or a Roman Chair unless you are in one of those major international metropolises. Of course, lifting isn't a real thing in China and working out/fitness means jogging on a treadmill to 'cut fat' or maybe getting scammed/demoralized by DYEL trainers.
Many only have dumbbells up to 30kg, or 40kg at most...
nice video, would love to see maybe a comparison video taking about what is the same and different between China and Western countries when it comes to gym/lifting culture, equipment and standards in general.
Some donny in the gym told me bicep curls work the tricep not the bicep 💀💀💀
I don’t even like filming myself in the gym in case I film someone in the background without their permission.
Sort of part of my job. I try to keep other people out of the shot as much as possible. Filming in public places is not illegal or anything, a locker room or anywhere with the assumption of privacy is obviously a different story, but a public, outside gym? Different story.
@@GVS yeah sorry I wasn’t referring to your filming. I meant the comment you said in the video of other people filming you without asking.
@@bass_rhino ah gotcha. forgot I mentioned that. I've sort of gotten used to it since this video actually, maybe from making so many videos myself!
8:49 someone actually did this to me once in Finland... but... it was an asian woman. Well, personal space is so big in Finland people would be scared to take a plate thats been lying on the floor for 30 minutes, or anywhere other than a designated plate rack, so it was extremely weird to me. Anyway ignored it and got another plate.
I didnt even leave the rack
Man even gyms look futuristic this is awsome
Hi Geoff.
I always wondered why you don't usually use a towel in your bench when using it. In Spain is obligatory for the users to cover your bench with your personal towel.
I wipe it after I'm done, that's enough. Different culture I guess.
old man: 'hey, uhm sir, excuse me sir, this seems kind of heavy'
geoffrey: 'NIYOWSHEMMMAAAAA'
I went to a university in the united states where a lot of people from china go to. I've had people steal plates from me in between sets :(
that place looks incredible though
The someone filming you is so true. I like how u didn't hesitate to say anything, it was funny af
10:08 What's even happening in the background?! XD My dude got a spotter for lifting just the bar :D
lol no idea. lots of weird stuff finds it's way into my videos.
lmaooo
Love the guy spotting the other guy with the 1kg dumbbells at 10:05 😂
Im pretty week for a EU guy, can only bench 65kg x 6, squat 90kg x 7 and DL 90kg x 10.... But man, that looked weird af even for me 😂😂
Yeah, strength difference is quite wide. I can only deadlift 300 pounds and that is the heaviest in the gym that anybody has done. Takes a long time to bring it up there. Oh well, just continue on, long way to go before my aim of 500 pounds.
See maybe one of these days I drop by SZ and we can meet up over meal or so.
Would be great, drop me an email and I'll send you my wechat!
That plate stealing situation has happened to me before so i also check the bar for every single set
Personal space: Interesting that they are mouth-shy but handsy. I have NO idea why
Really enjoyed the video! 👍
Filming a random person at the gym without them knowing is just low-class and downright disrespectful.
Yea the fact that it happens is really shocking. I don't think I'll ever get used to it.
this video is amazing lmao I love u geoff
Bruh why is this soo funny 😂😂😂...plus the bg music
Lived in Beijing for 5 years. Was tough finding a decent gym in China. I've also seen people smoke in the squat racks there.
More reasons to have a home gym
A 4 plate deadlift is still better than the majority here in the west. I'm surprised that since China has super good weight lifters lifting heavy weight shouldn't be so out of the world.
Yea a huge gap between the pros and amateurs here.
How are you able to upload videos while living there?
In one rec center gym here in Canada, I had
- a teenage staff member turn the lights off and yell while I was doing a 440 DL PR because they were closing in 30 freaking minutes
- a crazy guy with gyno try to take my rack when I got a drink of water and threaten to fight me. I kickbox, so I let him know, hey I'm warm, if you wanna get in my space we can go
- someone came and tried to "assist" me during my FIRST 2 plate bench PR when I was in a rack with the spotting arms in, and totally f'd up my bar path and made my lift "not count". I got up and told him, hey man you see that I'm in a power rack? Why would you need to touch my bar?
In the end I built a squat rack out of 4 x 4s and fully equipped my home gym. I miss some of the social aspects of the gym but training at home is much more convenient
It happens anywhere man. Why I workout at home now. I’ve had three situations in particular that got under my skin in good ol US.
A. I was doing decline sit-ups with the weight as far up as possible on my chest. Some guy came along and said “you know you are doing it wrong. Put the weight on your stomach.” I disagreed with him politely and explained why. He got angry. I said try it and he just walked away.
B. I was squatting 350 atg for 5 reps without a belt and knee wraps at the time so I was pretty experienced but some big dude had been sitting and staring at the mirror at the pull-up machine right next to me. When I was done, I proceeded to set up to deadlift there (I was wrong and should’ve moved out but it was literally the only part of the gym that the bar didn’t roll and most even.). He started to say “really you deadlift in a squat rack.” I just said hey man I didn’t know you were waiting you can have it”, and just explained why I did it. So I put the bar with 405 on like 10 feet away. Repped it out for five reps (with a neutral grip btw no hook or staggered). Form was good. No banging on the floor. And he kept saying “three red lights.” I looked at him, looked around noticing there were a ton of people doing there thing at the gym, and rather than start a fight I just walked away.
C. A few years ago,I held the door for the middle aged jacked man just to be polite (I’d do it for a 4 year old kid or an 80 year old grandma it doesn’t matter.) He actually got angry and thought I was doing it because he was old. The desk worker overheard and was actually rude to me.
same thing. older guy was curling in the squat rack when their literally was a curl rack/ preacher curl directly adjacent to it. He didnt want to move so i could squat. I even offered to move it for him if he thought it was too heavy to do it. Almost caused a fight
A 400 lb deadlift would get plenty of attention in a box gym in the US.
i get why lu chen hui (bodybuilder) would rather train in vegas than china
Same applies to Indian gyms. I highlighted this somewhere and people called me racist.
I am Indian.
holy shit at the old man touching the barbell mid squat
In my country. It is the opposite...westerner pull a plate from my bar during benching and benches only the bar.. Most teenagers in my gym are chinese and benches 140 to 180 kg and DL 200 kg.
Hey Geoff, I'd love to get your opinions on life in china! Maybe address some common misconceptions that most of us westerners may have? I don't have any specific questions though because I don't even know what I don't know about life there!
End of last Q&A had a bunch of stuff.
How is the economy there? And are they doing any more lockdowns?
Tiktok and 58 other apps banned in India 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
In Vietnam it's very similar, randoms will touch you and shit like that.
I got hard stares at the gym too lol
Your Chinese is excellent! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
I’m from Taiwan, people are really reserved here (probably because we were a “police state” under martial law for four decades recently😅). Never really seen anything out of the ordinary in my gyms (a public one in Taipei and one in my college in Tainan). On the flip side, it makes me really nervous when I try to approach someone for tips or the equipment. People just don’t interact a lot with strangers here.
Taiwan is super chill, yea. Have been once, really liked the vibe.
Do often go back to America to see family or friends? Also what is it like in such an open gym? Is it weird working out outside and working out while people are eating lunch or whatever a few feet away? Always been curious about that when watching your workout footage.
Haven't been back in a while. Open gym is nice, unless it's raining. Kinda get used to it though.
Your gym has the craziest view; you'd be hard pressed to find one with high rise views like that in the states. Also, it's unfortunate that the staff don't manage the equipment well since Technogym makes some nice stuff
I’m pretty surprised about this since China has all the weightlifting world records
yes that is true in the gym people many times machines and stations are held hostage of people doing nothing or looking on wechat
Your overhead press is fantastic
I would never have guessed you live in China that is very cool. If you ever would be willing to open up about how your living situation there came about it would very interesting to know!
i can't wrap my head around what the old guy was thinking
How long did it take you to learn the language? Did you already know it before you moved there?
I didn't know any when I moved here. I didn't study for the first 3 years. Then I went back to the US for a summer and used a computer program (lingq.com) to study. I can back and was somewhat conversational. It's 5-6 years later and I'm semi-fluent by now, though rusty as I mostly use English in day to day stuff.
@@GVS That's really interesting. I will have to check out that website. Thanks for replying.
Thank god i have a home gym
Sounds like a regular casual gym
29 gold medals is insane, specially compared to other caountries, but I guess bigger population means bigger genetic pool to choose from.
bigger population is always good for anything I mean nation wide
A lot more to it than that, even if you take the population ratios, 29 golds is above what you would expect.
They are also hyper-focused on winning Olympics. Like USSR was.
Man I am glad I watched this , I'm American, and taking plates off a barbell while we are using is considered huge disrespect. Fights can happen. It's very informative to see other cultures takes on these behaviors
Chinese fitness industry as a whole is trending towards a more positive and professional place.we are a Chinese Gym Equipment manufacturer,more and more people would like to buy our machines.Many People are starting to get interested in fitness.Even though the amount of fitness equipment we export is much higher than domestic sales, it is undeniable that the Chinese people's interest in fitness has begun to increase.
Agree, interest in fitness is definitely accelerating, and overall things are getting better.
I am working out in China now and for the bench press, most people likes to touch the bar when spotting.
How good are gyms at Chinese Universities? I'm guessing they probably don’t have a squat rack. Also is there a well known chain gym that is China wide?
how do you upload videos to UA-cam in china? a VPN? and also what city would you recommend a foreigner to go who wants to teach English in china?
Sounds like a regular gym in Bulgaria. Unfortunately it's never me people admire
0:17 +1000000000 social credit
Ahh man the part when the old man spoke in broken English + the bgm made me laugh
-999 social credit. Excecution date 02/12/2022 at 1630
Product idea: Lockable collars.
About that strength standard, as an Asian guy who get all his fitness knowledge from American sources and reddit, I have to remind myself again and again that the standards are different. Sometimes I get so insecure lurking in reddit fitness section because people often mocking some numbers as really weak, a number in which even heavier than what I can lift. And I have been training for a year lol.
Yea this is so true lol. My friend, who is pretty handsome, had girls constantly cling to him and “secretly” take pictures of him back in China. He actually had girls stalk him all the way back to his dorm.
5:14 nah... I'd always get my arms & chest randomly stroked by other dudes in a US school
bro where i went ppl were preacher curling 60kg 😅
some guy literally asked my younger brother if they could use the weight he was using, which was 60kg (we were doing incline bench), for a set and started curling it
but to be fair it was like one of the only gyms in the area, so makes sense some big dudes were there
the people where I was at were generally pretty nice and didn't touch the plates my brother and I were using, but funnily enough the smaller guys would almost always exaggerate or boast about their lifts with the people they were with
The strength standards in Asian gyms are definitely crazy low. Is it the lack of current/developmental nutrition? epigenetic fault? racial evolution? lifting techniques and methodologies employed? self perpetrating cycle of seeing low weight being lifted and setting that as the benchmark? Could definitely be a mix of all of these factors.
Oh and I think China has high standards at the elite level because their large population facilitates a higher number of genetic freaks being born, and their government scouts for such people and develops them from a very young age.
A mix...think genetic isn't the biggest factor, as they won about half the medals at the most recent world championships in weightlifting. They tend to have good squats. Big calves.
A lot of it is cultural. It's not an emphasis AT ALL in society, the biggest sports are ping pong, badminton and basketball, nothing contact. It's becoming more accepted but during middle and high school the emphasis is absolutely still on academics, and often the entire gym class is just rythmic dancing or running, not much else. Happy to debate that with anyone has I've taught at 5 different high schools here in Shenzhen so know it pretty well. :)
And yes, the government supports sport, but ONLY at the highest level, if you aren't winning medals you won't get much support. It's an international "face" thing.
Nutritional+lack of guidance and cultural indifference towards lifting as sport. It is in only last 10 years that you are seeing all these gyms and interest in gyming in Asia, before that it was very very small world.
I have some asian genes, and my strength is below average. Some of my friends with similar genes (native american genes actually) also have below average strength. I think european genes are a bit better, from my experience, for strength.
Hands are smaller, bones too.
Geoffrey Verity Schofield Absolutely, if you don’t win medals, it’s not or barely supported. If a sport is olympic, it gets more attention. I met more young people practicing Taekwondo in China than any Chinese Martial Art, talking about young people here, not those old folks practicing Taijiquan in the parks. I still remember when Liu Xiang won gold in Athens. He was a superhero for a few years.
But on average, as you mentioned, people are too busy. School, University, Job, Marriage, Kids…those often are the top priorities. Sport or activities get more attention when they get older. At least, as far as I observed my family members.
@@sunwukong6268 Agree..sports are HUGE in America. Here, comparatively minor.
are there Chinese competitive bodybuilding type gyms? Are there bodybuilding contests?
I know there's at least 1 strongman type gym and 1 powerlifting gym here in Shenzhen, there might be bodybuilding shows much not many.
Have you ever seen the SerpentZA or LaoWhy youtube channels? I'm curious if your experiences are similar to theirs (at least as much as you can say online)
Have seen them. Both definitely skew things negatively, especially LaoWhy. I can relate to a lot of Serpentzas content as he used to live in Shenzhen but don't agree with all of it.
Hey Geoff. The area where you train seems pretty nice. I can also see some nice girls in the background when you do your videos. Could you make a video outside the gym. How everyday life is or something.
Hey, no I don't really do vlogs and stuff like that.
@@GVS Ok I understand. Your videos are great. Good contents. Helps me greatly. Keep up the good work.
Geoffrey, if its possible, could you tell us the name of the songs you used in this video? Thanks 😅
4 plates is impressive DL
I do 120kg sumo 4x8 and get many compliments because of that
I've always wondered about gym etiquette in China. You're the first to talk about this. My Chinese female friends say gyms are creepy, with personal trainers trying to pick them up. Your review is not very negative, as this is just life in China. I don't think there is a weightlifting culture yet in China. Life is too hard.
I'd not take kindly to people touching me without asking. I'd probably punch people. You seem to have more patience. I find people can be more selfish in China. Here in Canada, you'd never steal a plate off someone's bar if it was fully racked. That would get you punched for sure.
We have a lot of Chinese here in Toronto, and they don't do any of those annoying things. I guess they have learned that's just not cool.
Odd, seeing as China has arguably the best Weightlifting team in the world.
@@ArmwrestlingAcademia . That guy is just making strong assume
@@ArmwrestlingAcademia oof didn’t expect you to be here lol
@@vitelyboredloltin9910 Nor you, brother
how is the food really, what protein do you recommend in china
OH NO SOCIAL CREDIT GO DOWNNNNNNNN
Why and how did you move to China?