Formosa Fitness

Trying to run a serious fitness business can be difficult, especially in Taiwan. One of the most persistent problems I run into is equipment. I'm so jealous of trainers in the States bragging that they found Concept 2 rowers and power racks on Craigslist for next to nothing. If I wanted Concept 2 rowers (and I do BTW) then I'd probably have to import them.

So let me give you some recent examples of problems with equipment.

Yesterday I went into a branch store of one of the largest Taiwan equipment manufacturers to source some Olympic weights. Now I'm no fool; I had already done my homework and knew that this company has Olympic weights available and a guy in an expat forum said he bought a set in another branch store. So they have them.

The branch i went to was in one of the most expensive parts of town BTW.

I walk in and ask for the weights and the guy tells me they don't have them, which i knew they wouldn't likely have them right there. But now get this: he doesn't want to order them for me. I was wearing my gym's t-shirt so I show him the back with our name in English and Chinese and inform him that I own a gym (okay, a small one, but he doesn't know that) and inform him that I'm not looking to buy a single weight plate, but many. He then tells me that the Olympic weights are TOO EXPENSIVE and I should use the crappy standard weight bars that hold about a hundred pounds. You know -- the ones with the screw ends.

We are two minutes into the conversation and I'm already getting pissed. I bluntly tell him in Chinese those weights are worthless and remind him I OWN A GYM. He then opens their catalog and shows me a US$2000 weight bench and there's a barbell with weights on it in the picture. The weights plates are Olympic and the bar? It's a standard size bar! Now what kind of an idiot is going to buy a US$2000 Olympic bench press bench and use pathetic US$25 standard size barbells with the annoying screw end? But hey, it's in their catalog.

I'm obviously pissed at this point so he starts talking to my wife and trying to tell her we should use these stupid weights when it's obvious he doesn't want to go through the trouble of simply ordering the Olympic weights for us. I say thanks and walk out.

Another example: a few weeks ago we went to the Taiwan sporting goods expo to source equipement again. Anyone in Taiwan who makes a fitness product was there.

One of the largest manufacturers in Taiwan now makes kettlebells and I was showing my wife the various weaknesses of their products by snatching and swinging them. They make the "TRON" kettlebell BTW

which as you can see, is completely covered in vinyl. Now that's a great idea if you want your kettlebell to go sailing through your nearest window. They also make a kettlebell with a convenient grooved grip to .....ahem.....help your fingers find the best grip on the handle because that's obviously so hard to do -- gripping the handle, that is. Of course when you swing it or anything else, the grip will rip your hand, but hey -- who needs to SWING the kettlebell? We all know you're just supposed to curl it, right?

Anyway, the company rep comes over and she's pissed. She asks who we are and then sees our gym logo with the kettlebell on it. I inform her that I'm a certified kettlebell trainer and she doesn't know what to say, so she just walks away like she just swallowed something vile.

We walk around the expo looking at the adjustable kettlebells with the PLASTIC handles and everything else and realize something very important: this equipment was designed, produced, marketed and sold by people who don't work out themselves and have NO CLUE how to use it.

Then I realized something else: people who do know how to use it aren't welcome there because these products aren't aimed at them or other people who know what they're doing. They are aimed at the masses. That's why this large company wouldn't bother to call me to get my input on their designs or bother to have me show them the right way to use the kettlebell so they could produce a quality product. They don't care about any of that. You should have seen their "kettlebell exercise" sheet. Total garbage.

Now as problems go this isn't exactly on the par with achieveing world peace or anything but it's a problem with bringing serious fitness to Taiwan. The longer we're in business the more I learn that being a fitness alternative really means being an alternative in every way. Almost everything we do has to be built from the ground up and sourced from the outside. 

So if I'm not blogging for a few days, it's probably because I'm trying to get some manufacturer or supplier to work with me and banging my head against the wall while doing it. 

Enjoy the weekend. :)