Is there a good gym in Little India?

[paulcarr]

Hi Folks,

My name is Paul Carr. I plan to stay in Singapore for a few weeks and I am looking for a good affordable gym to go to. I am presently living in the Little India area. I understand that the Singapore Sports Council have a number of gyms but I don't think there are any near where I am. I checked their website. A Singapore Sports Council gym would be ideal however as it seems to be pretty cheap. Only 2 dollars 50, if memory serves, each time. That's fine for me. If anyone can direct me to a nearby gym, Singapore Sports Council or not, that is cheap enough, I'd be eternally grateful. I am really anxious to do some exercise. I've been eating too much junk food and not doing enough activity each day.

Thank you in advance for any leads.

[paulcarr]

Well, I'm new to Singapore. I understand that there are many community centres in Singapore. Today, I was doing some enquiries regarding a place with a gym. I was told that there was one community centre near Little India called Kallang Community Centre.

Map here:

http://maps.singaporeexpats.com/showmap ... ERTAINMENT

I'm told that they charge 2 dollars 50 every time one visits. No need for membership. Foreigners and travellers can go there.

[sundaymorningstaple]

So you've solved your problem.

[paulcarr]

I went to Kallang Community Club (not centre) this evening. Actually, I had to pay, I think it was 12 Singapore dollars, for 5 years membership (z-card or something like that?). On top of that, i have to pay 2 dollars each time I use their gym. Anyway, I was anxious to do some exercise so I paid the money.

I have to say I was very disappointed in the place though. No showers. No changing rooms. No lockers. The gym itself was very small. I went in just after 6 o'clock this evening. There were 4 treadmills. One doesn't work. Another is very small with a top speed of about 6 kilometers per hour or so. I prefer to run at about 10 kilometers per hour. It was the kind of treadmill you see in a Carrefour store going for a 100 dollars. It was small and creaky as I stepped on it. I was wondering if it was about to fall apart when I started it up. Maybe, I'm just too heavy these days. The other two treadmills were more heavy duty. One of them worked fine. Top speed 10 kilometers per hour. The other was a little buggy though. Same make but, at regular intervals, you can feel the treadmill halt for a moment. VERY ANNOYING!!.

Aside from the treadmills, there were two battery powered bicycle machines (one of which didn't work - well, maybe it was just that the battery was flat). There were two cross-trainers. Battery operated. I couldn't figure out how to adjust the resistance. I don't think I burned many calories using it for 10 minutes.

Fortunately, I had plenty of time.

There was also some other equipment which I never use such as weights, a weight lifting contraption and one or two other items to help you bend your body.

When I arrived, the place was packed. That is, there were about 6 people there. I wonder if they come from the local community. I just got the feeling that some of the local folks would feel resentment at this intruding foreigner using their equipment.

If anyone knows a better gym than this where I don't have to pay a membership fee, please let me know. I only plan to stay in Singapore for another week or so.

[paulcarr]

I should add that before I arrived in Singapore 2 weeks or so ago, I was in Taipei in Taiwan. There, each city district has a government-financed gym. The gym I went to only cost 50 Taiwan dollars. That's about 2 Singapore dollars and 16 cent. Plenty of equipment but can get really busy in the evenings. Best to go in the mornings or the afternoons. Also, the draw back there was that I could only use the equipment for one hour.

Now, if I'm not mistaken, there was no time limit on my using the gym at the Kallang Community Club. That said, I did see a notice behind the two more heavy-duty treadmills warning readers that they can only work out for 20 minutes. I'm not sure if that just refers to the two more heavy-duty treadmills or if that means the gym generally.

As written, the Taipei gym has plenty of equipment. And the gym I went to was pretty professionally set up with changing rooms for boys and girls, lockers and so on. I think the ex-Taipei mayor, Ma Ying Jeou (now President of Taiwan), was big into sport and invested a lot in sports facilities in the city.

[paulcarr]

So you've solved your problem.

I wish I could say that.