I decided that I needed to join a gym while in Italy for two reasons. One reason is to experience life more as I would if I actually lived here. The other reason was that I love Italian food and there are bakeries, restaurants, and gelaterie on every corner!

I did some research ahead of time and found a gym less than a 10-minute walk from my apartment. They seemed to have a decent set of classes where I would likely get a similar workout as I do at my gym at home. I went there on day 3, received a brief tour, signed up, and attended my first class. The man who gave me the tour said all the classes are taught in Italian but quickly followed that by saying, “I’m sure you can just follow along.”

He was right, the classes were taught in Italian but there seems to be a fair amount of exercise words that we use in English that they have adopted in Italy. Words like plank, squat, and jumping jack were all used in English and would jump out at me when they were said. I imagine this must be what it is like to be a dog or cat. You hear a lot of blah, blah, blah, plank, blah, blah, blah! It was reasonably easy for me to follow along since I do know a little Italian and, of course, I can see what the teacher is doing. But the class taught me a few new words and reinforced others.

I was a little nervous about going to my first couple of classes. The classes were all women and I wasn’t sure if what I would be wearing would fit in. I also hoped I wouldn’t stand out because I couldn’t keep up or didn’t recognize the moves! Well, I did stand out a bit on the wardrobe front. They seemed to mostly be wearing black with an occasional t-shirt with words on it. I brought my favorite workout tops, all brightly colored in pinks and purples! Otherwise, I am happy to say that I could more than keep up with this group. Although they include more time on abs than what I am accustomed to so that caused me some aches for a few days.

There was one class that I showed up to right on time but the room was already packed and they had started. I was surprised as not much starts on time in Italy. I grabbed a step and found a spot in the back row to set up camp. A few minutes later, one of the women told me, in English, that I should move to this other spot, while she pointed towards the front. Apparently, the teacher had been talking to me and suggesting I move up where there was more room. But I was having a blah, blah, blah moment and had no idea she was speaking to me!

I observed that the teacher often doesn’t use much weight while demonstrating the exercises. They would regularly use a 2-pound weight! I don’t know how it works at other gyms at home but my instructors rarely use a lower weight than most of the class. Most of the attendees tended to use 2 or 4-pound weights throughout the class. I had to go over to the “meat locker” area, as we like to call it at my home gym, to find some actual weights to use. There were one or two younger gals who also grabbed weights from the meat locker. I had to get there on time so I could beat them to it as there wasn’t a vast supply of weights in this tiny gym.

My first classes were pleasant enough and the windows were open to get some airflow. But as the weeks progressed, the temperature went up and the gym got hot quickly! There was not a fan to be found, nor does there appear to be air conditioning. I can’t imagine exercising on the second floor of this gym in July! I guess this is where I show my true, American colors.

We typically used a step as a part of our class equipment. The ones they use are different than what we typically have at home. You can see in the picture that you can adjust the one attachment to three different heights. I think that is likely a bonus for European gyms because space is at a premium.

Several times I set out my step and got ready for class only to have a classmate tell me, “Piu alto”. I actually did understand what they were saying! But I didn’t understand their concern. Apparently, the step I had chosen was set to the second height level and they wanted to alert me to this fact and they wanted me to lower it. (Twenty centimeters is under 8 inches.) I just went along with their desire for my step to be lower to avoid looking out of place more than I already was.

I did get quality workouts during my time at Florence Fitness. I think they are used to non-Italians being there as there are several universities in the area that brought in a bunch of foreign students, including many Americans. And I was happily noticing the lack of Burpees and mountain climbers until the last week! Suddenly each class I attended included both. I guess I should have known it was only a matter of time.

I noticed right away that there tended to be a musical theme of American 80s music. That was enjoyable since I couldn’t always understand what was being said, at least I could follow along with the lyrics. But I was kind of hoping to hear more of what the Italian pop music sounded like. Occasionally there would be a few songs mixed in that were in Italian so I got a little taste of it. One such song was mostly in another language, except for the words “circumcised penis”. I really don’t know why anyone would be singing about a circumcised penis. But I guess I’ll have to chalk that up to European cultural differences and put my American, Puritan roots aside!

At my last class, the 80s music continued. Class started off with Maniac from Flashdance. Ironically, and I don’t think intentionally, we were warming up to this song and running in place. I laughed to myself as it brought back memories of the dance Alex did to this song while wearing her leg warmers. We were reliving Flashdance! At that moment, I wished I had better language skills. I really wanted to joke with the group and ask them if they remembered the dance. But that level of communication will have to wait for another time.