Working out in Mahachai

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Finding a place to workout in my city here in Thailand was a real challenge! Moving to Thailand, I envisioned myself joining a Muay Thai school, riding a bicycle to my school and having amazing workouts. Sadly, the day I moved to my city everyone I asked couldn’t even tell me where a gym was let alone a Muay Thai school. Dreams slashed I tried my hardest to find some sort of way to stay fit while living here. I could not believe that no one in my city could point me to any sort of gym. Riding a bicycle around this city is like a death wish with the amount of cars, trucks, and scooters zooming around. So, Lauren and I decided to do our best at working out together. I bought a jump rope and had some workout videos that we would do on the first floor of our apartment building. Without any air-conditioning during these workouts you build up a real good sweat. Once, we tried to go for a jog around our neighborhood but that was a huge fail due to all the stray dogs along the way. We would have to slow to a walk until we were past each one before we could jog again to avoid being chased. So our jog turned into a walk.



We soon discovered that Big C (the Thai version of Wal-Mart) had free aerobic classes at 6 pm right in front of the entrance of the building. Lauren and I gave it a try and had such a fun time with it. It's not the most strenuous workout in the world but as I said, just standing outside in Thailand makes you sweat so it was still a good workout. Most of the songs were popular Thai songs and it was really fun trying to stay in step with the aerobics instructor on her podium. I felt ridiculous 98% of the time but came back to the workout a good 10 times. The music is loud and pumped up so anyone going to Big C will take notice of the class. Well, it really wasn't hard to miss. Could you imagine 30 women doing an aerobics class in front of Wal-Mart at 6 pm? Who wouldn't stop and watch on their way in? Add a random "farang" person to the mix and you get more attention than you ever want while moving around looking like a fool. One time I caught one of my students standing there with his mom watching me at the workout. I burst out laughing and waved. The next morning was pretty funny as he sat front row in my first class of the day with a cute little smirk because it was like we had our own little secret.



Thankfully, Lauren and Ben discovered an actual weight room at the one park in our city. This weight room consisted of weights and machines that easily could have been over 20 years old. The building resembles a gazebo in the middle of the park. The building has no air conditioning but rather open air walls that are secured with wire fencing. Come 5 pm, the weight room is bustling with guys working on their "swans". It was such a small area to work with but we loved that we had something available to us and that it was free to use. The park also had a walking/running loop and aerobic classes that resembled the Big C workout. My favorite part of the gazebo gym was the gym cat that you would find sleeping in the box filled with free weights. Such a cutie! He would be there everyday snoozing away.



I did learn early on that there was a public swimming pool that I could do laps in. You are required to wear a full piece suit and cap while using this pool. It was actually a very nice pool, something very unexpected for Mahachai. The cost to use the pool was 50 baht (~$1.75 usd). The pool was a short walk away from my school on the roof of a purple painted building. I only used the pool once which is a shame but the one time I used it the water tasted so metalic that I didn't fully enjoy my workout because I was worried about getting the water in my mouth. I didn't think it was worth the cost but knowing that I had the option to swim was wonderful.



Along the way to the swimming pool, I discovered a real running track! One day after school, I changed into my workout clothes and headed across the street to the track. Tons of people show up to run around that track and there is also another open air weight room available for use. One day I saw a soccer team practicing on the field and told Ben about it right away. With some help from our Thai mom, Boom, Ben soon was able to practice with the team (he played in high school and college). So the track then became our new workout place. It was always really fun watching Ben play with the local city soccer team. There were some players on the team from Nigeria as well as Thais and Ben was the only white guy. The Nigerians understood Thai and were able to understand drill instructions whereas Ben had to catch on by watching. This sometimes left him looking pretty silly on the field as he tried to do the drills. Overall though, he caught on well with what was going on and loved being on the field again. Lauren and I enjoyed walking/running around the track together being able to catch up on our days at work. The open air gym at this track had a large punching bag that I loved to hit. Sometimes after a very frustrating day I could get all my frustrations out on the bag.. Envisioning the students faces on the bag. A healthy outlet that made me feel great and stress free. I loved going to this gym.



It was fun adapting my workouts to what resources I had around me. I still wish that there were a muay thai gym but maybe I can pursue that another day. I now realize that I don't need expensive gym memberships to gt a good workout. I do still prefer them but at least it's not my only option.

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Comments

[Kah Jun]

Location and name of the pool?
Hi Carolyn, Lovely article, enjoyed it very much. May I know the exact location and name of the pool? I am looking for a swimming pool around Mahachai. Thanks.