Staying Fit in Beijing

"Some people try to get very philosophical and cerebral about what they're trying to say with jazz. You don't need any prologues, you just play. If you have something to say of any worth then people will listen to you." - Oscar Peterson

So what I’m I doing these days to stay fit while on the go the Beijing?

Typically, back in Vancouver, I’d hit the gym or hit the seaside. Before I came, I kinda expected that using a gym regularly isn’t gonna be an option, due to numerous reasons, among them chiefly time constraints.

So on the morning of my second day in Beijing, I woke up early — quite early, at 5:30 AM. Well… it’s not that early, really, for Chinese standards. The run rises before 5 AM and the day ends (aka “it turns dark”) at 9 PM. So compared with the Vancouver sunrise time of 6 AM and sunset time of 10 PM, you can imagine the difference. People here wake up e-a-r-l-y. By 5:30, the birds are screaming away. Old folks are in the middle of their early-morning walks by then. 5:30 is when the festivities begin

Alright… back to topic. On the second morning of my stay, I got up early and did some body-weight exercises. It looks like this: (bomb-diver pushups + jump squads) x 3, (regular pushups + jump splits) x 3, (crunches + plank) x 3, in sets of 12 - 15.

On the next day, I went for a nice swim. The pool was reasonably quiet, with only about 4 people present. So we each had our own lanes. The swim lasted about 45 minutes, almost none-stop. It was a great workout (haven’t swam in a while).

Yesterday, after walking back from Beijing Normal University (will write about it later), I did a bit of a jump rope session. I didn’t imagine it to be so difficult. It was suppose to last for about 20-minutes, but 5 minutes in, I was already puffing away! Maybe the heat (35 degrees celsius) and low atmospheric pressure had an effect on me as well. In the end, I hang on, and make it out in one piece