To all “Yùndòngyuán“ ( 运动员 ),
I want to dedicate this blog entry to a mysterious, hidden but at the same time fantastic place…
The “Fight Club” (Bó Jī Jù Lè Bù – 搏击俱乐部)!!!

Maybe first some background information: Jenny used to train long time ago with a wise, old and peculiar Chinese Kong-Fu/Kick-Boxing teacher, “Lǎoshī“ (老师), which dedicated plenty years of his glorious life to different kinds of fighting sports. One day, he disappeared without a trace– no one knew where he has gone and why he left unannounced.

Some days after my arrival, after getting to know the Qingdao-guys, Jenny told me about her ambition for fighting sports (what I would never believe to be honest :)) and that she plans to revive this ambition by having work-outs on a regular basis, when finding the suitable location. Because I am also interested in these martial arts, we arranged to search for a “Fight Club”, which suits our needs. So we started consulting different people, visited different gyms and finally entered THE glorious “Fight Club”. By entering it – the place is just 5 Minutes away from our office, inconspicuously based on the third floor of a random building, you sense the atmosphere of freedom and peace. The place is not especially clean and well-equipped but looks more like a basement or underground “club”, a place for initiated; people who just want to escape the big-city-feeling and the routine working life. And guess who we met there, sitting on one of the nicely suiting sofas, immerged in the special atmosphere of the “Fight Club”? The mysterious, wise “Lǎoshī“(老师) or master “Guànjūn” (冠军)!!! Please don’t ask why he is there and how he managed to be invisible for such a long time (2 years!) – We simply don’t have a clue but we are pretty sure that this is miracle! 🙂 Because he knew Jenny from earlier times, he welcomed us all (the two of us and two other “fighting friends”) with the words: “ Finally you made it, I waited for YOU for a long time” ( Ok fine, he didn’t say it, he just speaks Chinese, that’s what I understood or would like to hear… -.- ) He introduced us to some (unwritten) rules, e.g. that by entering the place, you should forget the daily problems you are struggling around with – during the workout-time neither problems, nor sorrows exist. And it helps – to train there is like a “therapy”; not important with what mood you enter the “Fight Club”, you are always leaving this place with a positive attitude and in a much better mood!

But what is it exactly making this place so special?

First of all, it’s the “underground” style itself – it looks like someone just said he wants to use a floor and opened a club, probably without having a license but the necessary connection. So you have a big floor, which is divided into separate “parts”, which altogether harmonize like different kinds of plants and trees in a forest. You have an area with punching bags, an area with a small boxing ring, an area functioning as a gym with some basic appliances, second area with mats and punching bags and an area which is not developed yet, also called the “black zone”, leading to a staircase, which brings you to a dancing place, where different kinds of dances are practiced (ranges from traditional dances to belly dancing :)). This area is occupied by (hot) Chinese girls, girls who also want to feel the magical atmosphere of the “Fight Club”.

Secondly, it’s the people training there, just Chinese people, ranging from very total beginners to very good fighters, from young to old and from pupils/students to business men. It is like a big family, everyone has a personal story to tell (in most cases in Chinese, so not everything is clear) but the sport bands us all together. Furthermore, you can try different sports, such as Chinese Kong Fu, Thai Boxing, Karate and others. You always can get assistance from one of the “Xiǎo Guànjūn´s“.

Last but not least, the place is just next to our office, so it´s really convenient and you can go there every day (!!!), from 10 am – 9pm. Because you know that after finishing work the traffic is horrible, going to our sacred place appears a reasonable alternative to go directly after work – after the work out you feel relaxed and it´s much more agreeable to go home, eating something and falling death on your bed! Moreover, because we represent “foreign faces” and make the place more multifaceted, we paid special prices, e.g. 1200 RMB for 1 year, which is a real gift for what the place offers!

Ok, enough rhapsodized about the “Fight Club”, I’m off for a work out there! We would be happy to welcome you one day to this place and feel the magic which is “hosted” here!

One thing in life is granted – no matter what happened in the past, there is always a next fight waiting for YOU! 😉