Can anybody suggest good gym in Tokyo

[ShikkokuNoSenshi]

Hey everyone. From this year I decided to improve different aspects of my life since my new job and salary ended up rather decent. So firstly, I again become active on TAG . And secondly, I want to start visiting a gym so I would start feeling better and impress more girls with my future looks.
But I faced several problem. Back in my country I was visiting several gyms during several timelines. I was going alone, with my friends, with\without coach. And from that time I got 1 really important lesson - you need a coach, otherwise efficiency of gym visits would drop drastically.

So back to my question. Can anybody recommend some good gyms with competent coach? (My Japanese is not so strong, but should be ok to understand all simple commands so coach without English also is an option if coach know his staff). Place is not super important if the gym and coach would be really cool, but close to Shinjuku would be best. Also payment is important but currently I totally do not have any idea of price range for gyms in Japan. So if you could tell if gym is considered expensive or not will also help me a lot.

P.S. Also I have heard about actual Femdom gym. Where coaches are dominatrix but all action is not just for show but actual training. Main difference is when you slack those coaches whip you instead of just telling to be more active . If somebody knows about that place it would be cool to get there at least once. For regular sessions in such place I think I am too poor now .

 

[Maxblack]

You don't NEED a coach. You need a program and the will to stick with it. You also need to fix your diet because you cannot exercise out of a bad diet.
English speaking coaches are rare and expensive since they cater to the expat market.
I've heard Golds Gym is accepting of foreigners.

 

[User#8628]

Rizap, lol

 

[Maxblack]

Rizap, lol

Apparently they are indeed brutal and really will kick your ass.

 

[ShikkokuNoSenshi]

You don't NEED a coach. You need a program and the will to stick with it. You also need to fix your diet because you cannot exercise out of a bad diet.
English speaking coaches are rare and expensive since they cater to the expat market.
I've heard Golds Gym is accepting of foreigners.

Well, without coach I will start slacking... Especially when I am mentally exhausted after working day. So coach will be also overseer for my activities.

 

[ShikkokuNoSenshi]

Also can you post some links? Because by advertisement I saw in trains I thought that Rizap is English language school....

 

[Maxblack]

Rizap does diet and exercise, English, golf...

 

[Tabanico]

Personally I think coaching can be overrated. Some problems with coaches: they might be clueless; they might develop their programs with client retention rather than client success in mind; they are expensive; you might become over reliant (and, for example, only use your time together with your coach to work on your health and fitness); they might not be good at understanding your actual goals.

I think you would be better off finding a gym that you can work into your daily routine and finding a programme online that suits your goals and then sticking with it.

So, for example, you could find a gym that's on your way to/from work; or find a gym that is open 24 hours, or that has multiple branches so you can go whenever the mood takes you.

If you are struggling to find a programme I would recommend some variation of a 5x5 routine; then when you stall switch to 3x5; and when you stall again try jim wendler's 531. And probably do more cardio than all of those programmes recommend (get a skipping rope or some running shoes).

And you need to start monitoring what you are eating and drinking and adjusting that to your goals (if one of your goals is drinking a load of booze you will need to cut calories elsewhere for example).

 

[ur19877]

-Nothing to do with Japan and I don't know the OP's history with working out..but.

Proper Coaching can:
1. Teach you how to perform a particular exercise correctly. (Yes, you could learn the exercise via youtube or books, etc, but I think the supervision would be helpful to start with)
2. Bring accountability with health goals (diet and exercise)

For me, my diet and alcohol content dictates my weight completely..
I can work out all day/every day... i just have various stages in my life where I am more disciplined with what I eat and drink... and guess what? When I eat better and drink less booze, I lose weight and look better..

 

[Tabanico]

I agree that coaches can teach you how to perform a particular exercise correctly, but as I say, your mileage will vary and I have seen some terrible coaches allowing their clients to do some insanely risky stuff (or just ineffective stuff).

 

[User#8628]

This is why i don't work out. Fat chance i do it incorrectly and damage my body or it has almost no effect.
So thanks but no thanks.

 

[jhingy567]

If I ever get ripped on gym equipment, it would be during a stint in prison. I prefer getting fit outdoors, doing things I enjoy. (Though I guess this is hard living in Tokyo)
If you want to 'look good', up to a point, it's really mostly diet imo.

Anyway, back to the thread's topic, try using the search function. I think there has been some discussion about this before where people gave good gym recommendations.

 

[Tabanico]

If you are looking for a specific recommendation try joyfit. They are open 24/7, you can use all the branches, and though they are small they have a squat rack and running machines and that is all you need to get healthy and/or look good.

 

[MikeH]

If you are good to go without a coach then check out the gyms/training rooms provided by your ward. Some of them are small and have equipment that was new when Perry came to town, but some of them are pretty nice with lots of equipment and not so many users.

You can't beat the price, usually something like 300-400 yens per visit. Some decades ago when I visited more actively they wanted you to have proof of living or working in the same ward, nowadays it seems they don't care.

 

[Maxblack]

This is why i don't work out. Fat chance i do it incorrectly and damage my body or it has almost no effect.
So thanks but no thanks.

It is 80-90% diet anyway. You simply cannot exercise out of a bad diet. Alternatively, eating well + some decent genes and you will be fit and healthy for life.

 

[psd]

I've been a member of one of the large chains for many years and have been to six or more of their branches and I'm not impressed with the staff. They are all young, skinny and attractive. There's quite a few women staff members and they're tiny, useless for helping with spotting. They have pretty fucked up ideas about fitness.

You'll see them giving an intro programme with ridiculously light weights, eg 10kg for a lat pull down - fair enough for the first month as you get used to the exercises, but absolutely useless ongoing. They have blue (male) and pink (female) dots for recommended weights so people just select those and never increase. I even heard a new member ask if they should be doing as much weight as me, the staff member replied "No, he's the strongest guy in the gym". Yeah I am, but there's nothing special about me, anyone could be as strong as me with modest efforts. So you'll see women doing bicep curls with 1kg dumbells, guys doing 10kg lat pull downs - a complete waste of time. They aren't stressing their muscles or getting any aerobic workout so after a year of doing that they won't have any positive impact on their lives.

The staff do understand correct form and so can teach you how to do the exercises but as others have mentioned you're better off doing your own programme to meet your own goals. Unfortunately that's kind of confusing with so much conflicting advice. Just start a conservative routing and do it, I do a modified version of 5x5.

 

[scorpioni6ths]

I was going alone, with my friends, with\without coach. And from that time I got 1 really important lesson - you need a coach, otherwise efficiency of gym visits would drop drastically.

Not really. When I started going to the gym I never had a coach. I watched many YT videos and studied correct form. I'm interested in only 5 main movements though, squat, bench press, deadlift, overhead press and power cleans.

I have two small notebooks now containing all the lifts I've done. This made me accountable. When I failed the next training days, I look at it to see if I did too much volume or not enough.

I use 24H Anytime Fitness, work out early mornings with no staff, but FML even at 530am sometimes there is someone f$cking curling in the squat rack! I'm cussing since I really hate that!

 

[Sudsy]

even at 530am sometimes there is someone f$cking curling in the squat rack!

There's one guy at the gym I go to that likes to superset in the racks.... for an hour at a stretch.

Guess how many of his exercises require a rack?

That's right - not a single one.

And the staff do nothing.

 

[warubuta]

Waterrower.

 

[BIPSY]

Just in case the sarcasm didn't make it through absolutely avoid Rizap. Its basically Weight Watchers with a trainer/gym membership added on. Their main source of profit is selling diet food - they put customers on a super low carb diet which will cause them to lose a bunch of weight really quickly (results!!) but will only keep it off as long as they stay on that extremely controlled diet regimen. There are very good reasons to go on a low/no carb diet (like cutting season for bodybuilders, boxers, etc) but its not something that is sustainable for the long term and if you go into it thinking it will be a long-term life change or actually make you healthy you will be sorely disappointed.

MikeH has a very good point about the ward gyms - depending on the ward itself those can be a godsend. Definitely worth at least checking out to see what yours is like. Some of them have weird hours and some have really bad equipment but others are surprisingly good. Be prepared to train around a bunch of old people who are in there just to kill time, though.

I used Gold's for a while - definitely the best equipment of any gym I've used in Tokyo and if you are serious about weightlifting probably the best option around. That said, they are pretty expensive and can easily top 10,000 a month if you want anything other than the most basic plans.

I've got a 24hr Fitness membership now (that I don't use nearly enough) but it strikes the right balance of being open at all times (when I make it out its usually at 2 AM or so), having a semi-reasonable price tag (7000 or so a month) and having a decent amount of equipment. As scorpion6ths mentioned, though, there aren't a ton of racks so there are times when you get a couple of goobers using them endlessly for something that could be done with just a bench. Personally I also prefer free weights to machines but for the convenience I'm willing to compromise.

One additional point - if you have tattoos that will limit the facilities you can use. Technically public gyms can't turn you away but recently I've seen ones that used to be totally chill start requiring tattoos be covered. Gold's (at least when I used them) was the same - you can have tattoos but they can't be visible. Just about anywhere else has a blanket ban on tattoos - if you tell them you have any they won't let you join. I just cover up when I'm using the facilities at 24hr and I've seen other people doing the same - I think as long as you at least make an effort to keep them under wraps nobody will raise a huge fuss, but YMMV.

 

[Sudsy]

its not something that is sustainable for the long term

Not to defend Rizap, but ketogenic diet is entirely sustainable. It's how diabetics were treated prior to the discovery of various drugs, and many diabetics thrived on the diet for decades.

Rizap's weakness is that they don't train people in how to maintain their gains/losses. They focus entirely on the loss, not the lifestyle changes that need to be made. Losses sell plans, maintenance... not so much.

 

[psd]

Not to defend Rizap, but ketogenic diet is entirely sustainable. It's how diabetics were treated prior to the discovery of various drugs, and many diabetics thrived on the diet for decades.

Coming from a family with a history of diabetes, I'd love to see the citation for this.

 

[BIPSY]

Not to defend Rizap, but ketogenic diet is entirely sustainable. It's how diabetics were treated prior to the discovery of various drugs, and many diabetics thrived on the diet for decades.

Rizap's weakness is that they don't train people in how to maintain their gains/losses. They focus entirely on the loss, not the lifestyle changes that need to be made. Losses sell plans, maintenance... not so much.

Point taken - apologies for the oversimplification.

I do think, though, that barring extenuating circumstances (such as diabetes, etc) Keto is a diet style that's meant to be done for a controlled period of time with the understanding that you would ease back into a regular diet afterwards.

Its completely reasonable to use planned periods of keto (like bodybuilders do - they build and then cut) over the long term but I think we agree that that's not what Rizap is selling, though.

 

[warubuta]

Coming from a family with a history of diabetes, I'd love to see the citation for this.

My guess is that it is a matter of degree. A mostly protein diet is totally different than a totally protein diet. Personally I think that eliminating carbs completely and eating so much meat is asking for trouble. The best diet is mostly veggies - lots of dark green ones, some fish, and a small amount of lean meat. Carbs are fine, but should be carefully controlled vis a vis the amount of exercise required to burn the calories.

 

[Sudsy]

Coming from a family with a history of diabetes, I'd love to see the citation for this.

That was something I learned in med school. It was originally developed to treat people with epilepsy, interestingly enough, and showed quite a lot of promise, then Banting developed insulin, which changed the game. Some doctors would combine it with extreme caloric restriction, though, which had some horrific costs for the patients involved.