Exercise and working out is universal, right?
Move around, get your heart rate, sweat.
Well, yes and no.
Yes, the general principle of exercising is pretty much the same in Germany and the U.S.
But there are also definitely big differences in the details.
Hey everyone! I’m Dana and you’re watching Wanted Adventure Living Abroad.
Quick disclaimer here before I start: all of my work out experiences in the U.S. were
in Florida, so if you've experienced things differently in other parts of the U.S., I
would love to know about that in the comments. Thanks.
In both the U.S. and Germany gyms are pretty common, but I’ve been a member and gone
to gyms in both countries, and there are definitely some differences that I’ve noticed.
For one, water fountains.
Always present at all of the gyms that I went to in the U.S. Nowhere to be found in the
gyms that I've gone to in Germany.
Now, as I mentioned in my video on you know you’re in the U.S. when...yes, water fountains
are simply in general more common in the U.S. than in Germany, but I would think that at
least the one place where they would be present in Germany would be at the gym!
You’re exercising, running on the treadmill, chugging down your water, and then bam it's empty.
In the U.S. you can just jump off the machine, run over to the water fountain that's on the wall,
fill up your bottle, and keep going.
In Germany you could go into the bathroom and try to fill up your water bottle, but
depending on the sink, your bottle might not even fit underneath the faucet.
So then you are left with two choices: either you suffer through the rest of your work out
with dry mouth - ugh - or you have to give in to buying a usually pretty expensive bottle
of water from the gym.
And that, oooh, that just irks me to no end.
I’m already paying monthly, sometimes a lot of money depending on the gym.
And now you’re gonna make me pay another 2 or 3 euros for something to drink?
Come on! Water fountains guys, water fountains.
I've also noticed that in Germany it’s proper gym etiquette, if not an official rule of
the gym, to bring your sneakers with you; so you wear some other pair of shoes on your
feet when you journey to the gym and carry your sneakers into the gym with you and then
switch the shoes in the changing room.
As far as I know, this was not something done in the gyms that I went to in the U.S.
In fact it seemed like a lot of people, myself included, didn’t even go into the changing room.
There are gyms that I went to in the U.S. whose changing rooms I can say I don’t think
I ever even saw or ever considered going into.
I would just show up at the gym, already dressed in my workout clothes, work out, then leave
and shower and change and do everything else back at home.
Now this is different from places with special flooring, like a racquetball court or a basketball court.
There I do remember that you had to wear shoes with special soles so as not to mark up the court.
But in the “normal” just gym in the U.S., I never heard anything about having to change
into different shoes upon arrival at the gym.
Perhaps one reason for this difference is that in the U.S. you usually drive your car
to the gym, so maybe your shoes don’t get as dirty.
Whereas in Germany, especially in the winter, if there’s that dark sludge snow left on
the ground, your shoes can get pretty disgusting on the way to the gym.
Although, I mean, your shoes can also get pretty gross just walking through the parking
lot too.
Especially if you have to park at the back of the lot.
So I don’t know. I don’t have an explanation for this difference.
One last gym thing before I move on, when I was living in the Czech Republic, I experienced
something really cool at the gym that I had never experienced in the U.S. and Mr. German Man
said that he's never seen this in Germany.
So at the gym in Prague, I could buy a package of gym visits, and then go any time that I
wanted to.
So I didn't have to pay per month or get a gym membership.
I could just buy a package of, say, 20 trips to the gym and then go whenever.
And it was cheaper than paying per single visit, but I didn't have to commit to a
per month payment.
A difference that I’ve noticed for exercising outside is one that I find very fascinating.
So as I’ve mentioned in lots of different videos by now, in general people in Germany
just seem to be more open and comfortable with nudity than, in general, people in the U.S.
In the summer when I walk through the parks in Munich it's pretty common to see guys sunbathing
in their underwear and women lounging around topless.
But you know what I have never seen here in Germany even in the heat of the summer?
Women running outside in just a sport’s bra.
Which, from my experience in the U.S., is totally common and totally normal and a completely
accepted thing.
Whereas in Germany, where total nudity is pretty accepted, it’s been my understanding
and my experience that people would just kind of...I don't know, look at me a little funny
if I ran around outside in just shorts and a sport’s bra, with no shirt on over it.
As far as I know, it’s just not something that is done here.
And I don’t think that people would say anything to me or, you know, do anything.
They're not gonna run me down and, like, put a shirt on me if I run around German in just
a sport’s bra.
But I just feel like I would stick out as doing something that veers away from the societal
norms here.
So my question for you is: what other gym or exercising differences have you noticed
around the world?
Good experiences, bad experiences?
Please let me know in the comments below.
Thanks so much for watching and liking and commenting and subscribing to my channel.
I really hope that you enjoyed this video, and I also hope that you'll enjoy the bloopers
that are coming up next.
Until next time, auf Wiedersehen!
My stomach is grumbling.
All this talk of exercising is making me hungry.
With special soles so as not to walk up, mark up...whoa!
So today, I'm gonna look at how exercise...does something.
And... And... And... - Action! - There you go!