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Gym Craze
   The gym craze began to spread at the end of the last century, and going to the gym regularly becomes an essential part of Chinese middle-class lifestyle now. The boom may look like a sign of great improvement in living standards and a sign of commercial triumph. Today we are going to talk about this newly appeared Gym Craze in China. In order to get an overall picture, we would first take a look at the group of people who are likely to be gym-goers, the reasons for their participation, and some myths in working out at the gym.
   Firstly, who are likely to be gym-goers? According to a survey, the dominant gym-goers are university students and those who go to work wearing suits and ties, or the so-called "white collar", aged under 35. This group of people tends to be energetic and has enough time and money. More importantly, they are keen to adapt to a new lifestyle.
   Then, why do they go to the gym? The first reason for this may be the growing number of obese people. This may be the most obvious explanation for the rise of the fitness boom. Maybe going to the gym can be explained as the logical consequence of gluttony! Going to the gym has become an effective way to lose weight and stay healthy. Secondly, for most gym-goers, the purpose of going to the gym is not to lose weight, but body shaping. They are already depressingly slim. Most of them visit gyms to tone up, especially university students and young office workers. These people feel inadequate because of the standards by which they judge themselves are visions of perfection purveyed by movies and TV programs. Thirdly, to refresh and energize are also an important cause. Scientific evidence has already proved that doing some exercise increases productivity. Office workers, especially those doing sedentary jobs, sit in an air-conditioned room all day long. They may become bored and tired after work. The gym is a good place for refreshing. With the big mirror around, you can enjoy your swelling biceps and flat tummy, stop overloading the brain, and just release built-up tension by lifting iron. Last but not least, the attraction of staying attractive is really huge. Whether we like to admit it or not, men and women always fall in love at first sight because of perfect body shapes. Perfect body shapes, increased productivity, attracting the opposite sex, why else should we go to the gym? Just see how Arnold Schwarzenegger became a governor. It is gym time!
   However, even experienced pros make mistakes in the gym. You may be new to the gym, or you may have been going for years, but there are some mistakes that even seasoned trainers make again and again. If you’ve reached a plateau in your training or you’re not getting to where you want to be fast enough, there’s a good chance that you’re making at least one of these mistakes. Next, let’s move on to the major mistakes people make in the gym.
   1. You always stick to the same workout.
   We all tend to repeat the things we like doing, so it’s no wonder that once we find a workout that suits us we stick to it. One suggestion is to change your program after four to six weeks, otherwise you get into a pattern and you stop producing results because your body has hit a plateau.
   2. You copy the hardcore gym members.
   It’s easy to think that to get as ripped as the guy in your gym who wows all the female instructors with one-armed press-ups, you have simply to follow his lead. The problem is that without knowing what someone else’s fitness aims are, copying them could land you with unexpected results or an injury. Be careful to who you take advice from, because some fitness instructors are not highly qualified and won’t necessarily know what is best for you.
   3. You go every day.
   You may be someone who can’t do anything by halves, but working out every day is not sustainable — either physically or mentally. If you go every day you won’t be able to maintain a useful intensity and you’ll get bored, and it becomes a chore and you’ll start missing sessions and losing motivation. The suggestion is to incorporate proper rest days into your schedule.
   4. You use the gym for socializing.
   Go to your gym often enough and it starts to feel like a second home. This is a dangerous moment. For a lot of people who go every day it becomes their social life. They chat for half an hour and their training suffers, then they go to the restaurant afterwards and suddenly they’re at the gym every night — but how much work are they actually doing? So get your priorities right. The gym is there to burn calories and gets you fit and looking good.
   5. You work through colds.
   It’s often said that if you exercise when you have the beginnings of a cold, you’ll work it out of your system. This is nonsense. Actually, when you train you weaken your immune system because you ask it to repair the muscles you’ve damaged in order for them to get stronger. If you’re feeling ill, eat well and take two days off to recover so you’re fully fit to begin training again.
   OK, to sum up, today’s lecture is about the gym craze nowadays, and has mainly covered the reasons and myths of gym-going. Hope the information provided can offer you some help when you decide to be one of the gym-goers.