Fitness in Kyzyl

What I want to write about this week is probably my most “extra curricular” activity here in Kyzyl. It’s my step aerobics class.

I take step aerobics three times a week in a basement near my building. It’s a really convenient location for me. Most of the other steppers have to catch a cab home in the evening because the streets of Kyzyl aren’t safe. I however just walk three minutes and I’m home. I even have come to relish my flirtation with the night; and sometimes I can see the stars. I live right in the absolute center of town, so usually there are people on the street. I’ve only felt unsafe a couple times, and I was lucky all of those times. Hopefully my luck will continue (pfoo-pfoo-pfoo as the Russians would say).

I don’t know what the fitness club is actually called. I found it because somebody had spray painted ФИТНЕС on a wall outside the club and I knocked on doors until I found the right one. This was probably my second day in Kyzyl. Then I moved into the building next to the club and started going regularly.

The space of the building is really small. It’s a hall and two medium sized rooms in a basement. As far as I know it’s the only fitness club in Kyzyl, and this perception is reinforced by the fact that just this morning I saw the lady who runs the club and one of the instructors on TV doing fitness so that everybody can practice in their homes. It was kind of bizarre actually. I had just woken up to Namdolmaa’s little daughter turning on the television and I assumed the exercise program was a national Russian TV thing (there’s a big health campaign going on right now). But the ladies looked exactly like my instructors, to the point that they were wearing the same clothes. This peaked my interest enough to drag me out of bed, and looking closer it was apparent that they were the exact same ladies from my fitness class with some kind of sweet CGI background. Wow!

It’s all women at the fitness club, but all of different ages and fitness levels. The fitness routine is like a highly choreographed dance routine over a aerobics step. Sometimes the room is stuffed to the gills, because the philosophy of the managers is “pack ‘em in.” The club also teaches Yoga and Eastern Dance (belly dance) and the lady who owns the club will tell anyone who holds still for long enough about her odyssey around the Middle East, discovering the secrets of the belly dance. I can’t decide if I believe her or not. She’s the sort of woman who would make things up to try to sell more belly dance lessons.

The fitness class is also a great place to observe local behavior. I have seen some crazy stuff at the fitness club; for example, many middle aged Russian women will wrap their torsos in cellophane before exercising. I assume that they do this to keep the sweat in? Or maybe it accelerates the weight loss process or some such business…

Something I really enjoy is the music. There's one teacher in particular that listens to what I would call "cool" music (not techno-pop-RB-somesuch). I miss being a college student and dancing on the weekends, so this is a good substitute.

Sometimes I feel like I run up against old Soviet Union understandings of the body and discipline. What is reminds me of sometimes is Nikolai Vlasovich, the former Red Army Colonel turned camp instructor who disciplined the kiddos at the summer camp I worked at one summer on the Black Sea. He used to shout at the children “Control your body!!!” And make us run down the hills when we went hiking. The philosophy at the fitness club is similar. The teachers often speak very sharply to the students, telling them to straighten their spine, etc. My favorite teacher is very kind but she still likes to yell. One time she was yelling at me to tuck my shoelaces into my shoes. Unfortunately I didn’t know the word for “shoelaces” or “tuck them in” so she came over and did it for me! I felt a little bit like a two year old that day, but generally I understand what they want me to do.

The fitness class has been great for fine tuning my body vocabulary. The first couple weeks were a little hairy, but now I follow most things. Also, I can count without thinking in my head in Russian! It was neat the week that I realized I had switched from counting my sit-ups in English to counting them in Russian.

All in all, fitness is awesome. It’s the place where I снимать стресс (take my stress off). It has been a really important part of me feeling happy and whole in Russia this year. Woo hoo! If you guys come to Tuva I can recommend a great fitness club…