Like men everywhere, the male population of Taiwan enjoys sports. Basketball is especially popular, and the courts all across Taipei are always packed to the brim. We Asians are not really genetically gifted for basketball, but boy do we try. But there is one thing that I don't really understand. Sports are big but gyms are not.
As a strong proponent for an active lifestyle, I’ve been to my fair share of gyms in Taiwan. Some are expensive and some are cheap but most are not filled with a large number of men. Another thing, I’ve visited these gyms in the morning, afternoon, and evening, and the majority of these men are older. They are probably mostly around their mid-thirties and up. This is most strange.
The gyms in the states are always packed after work, and while there are clients of all ages, I’m pretty sure the dynamic is more heavily skewed to men in their twenties. Now I don’t know why it is that younger Taiwanese guys don’t really seem to use a gym. But I do know that this population can definitely benefit from it. Lifting makes you better at sports and as an added bonus, makes you look better too.
Like I said before, Taiwanese guys love to play basketball and are incredibly competitive, even in a pickup game. Cheating and bad calls are the norm on courts, trust me on this one, I know. Now with all the competition around, you’d think that people would do whatever is in their power to get better. A very easy way of doing this is to workout. You get stronger, you get faster, and with all that extra muscle, you become harder to deal with for the opposing defense.
Here in the states, I play the guard positions. Back in Taiwan, I can play up to the power forward slot. The flight to Taiwan doesn’t make me magically taller. The shift from small to large comes in the form of strength. In Taiwan, I’m of a heavier build despite my small frame, making it rather easy for me to post. Let me tell you, there is nothing quite as good for the ego as to physically dominate an opponent.
As for the aesthetics, I know I’ve been giving the girls quite an earful (eyeful?), but fear not, I’m moving onto the guys. It seems to me that a large portion of Taiwanese males naturally have a ridiculous metabolism. It moves at the speed of light and keeps us at a natural body fat percentage of 5%. On the flip side of the equation, it also makes us look like we just awoke from a 20 year coma and all the muscle atrophy that is associated with such a long hiatus. Needless to say, it makes us incredibly skinny. Maybe that’s why women feel so pressured into being thin. They feel like they need to be thinner than their boyfriend, which, in my estimation, is close to impossible.
There is nothing wrong with being naturally one way or the other. But it’s unattractive. If I don’t lift weights, I’m disgustingly thin. Really. I’ve been an athlete for the majority of my life so I didn’t really have a chance to notice, but I stopped going to the gym regularly during my freshman year in college and shed 11.8 kg of muscle in 6 months. I was eating crappy, bad-for-me college cafeteria food, and I still slimmed down to eating disorder levels. Needless to say, I was not fond of the look. Went back to the gym, and now I’m back to being a sex bomb.
So guys, with all the benefits, and no real negatives, all I can tell you is to get your ass in a gym.
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