Mumbai Diaries p2 — Gyms
I like working out. It started in Grade 10 when I wanted an easy elective and “Personal Fitness” met that need. Since that time in Grade 10, the number of consecutive days I haven’t worked out — like a no-workout streak — is probably under 2 weeks. So when I got out of quarantine in Mumbai, I was on the hunt for a new gym to join.
I soon realized that comparing gym memberships from my couch wasn’t going to be possible. Of the 4 gyms within walking distance of me that also had some online presence, only 2 had a working phone number on their Google page. For example, there’s this one gym right next to a Domino’s Pizza¹ called “The Next Level”. I’d like to share their IG or website here, but I couldn’t find it. All I could work off was this Google Maps listing. So I walked to the place and found an entrance like this:
It exists! The place was fairly small, but had a squat rack, loads of dumbbells, and kettle bells. Among all the places I visited, it also had the cheapest monthly membership at ~2000 INR ². I didn’t end up going to it, partly because I found a gym that fit me better and partly because I was off put by the lack of online presence.
Lesson 3: To small business owners and marketers, there are a lot of gaps to be filled in reaching your Indian audience. Reaching is hard because of all the different channels, all the different languages but it looks like businesses haven’t reached that level of saturation as in North America. Spend some money on online presence and see what changes.
2 candidates left: Unicorn Gym (their quiet IG) and Club 90 (@club90studio). This one boiled down just to location and I picked Club 90 because it was closer. It also helped that there were interesting shops to look at on the way. Here’s a home appliance repair shop:
And “Shiv Shankar’s Old Metal and Paper Mart”. Funnily, the name of the shop is written in Hindi but the owner literally sounded out the English words and wrote it in Hindi. The last five words, if you sound it out, are “Old Metal and Paper Mart”.
The almost opposite thing happens here in this advert. They use English letters to sound out Hindi words:
I have no bloody idea what’s the reasoning here, but I can guess. Hindi uses a lot of loan words from English and it’d be weird if you used the “proper” word for internet in Hindi (“vaishvik sanjaal”) instead of saying “internet”. Additionally, a lot of people in Mumbai can read the Hindi script because they can read Marathi ³ but can’t read English that well. So writing the words in the Hindi script and sounding them in English hits both your Hindi and Marathi market, either of which need not be able to read English…
I guess something similar happens in the second photo but this relatively high end store wants to tap middle- to upper middle-income people who can read English. So they sound out the Hindi words in English to create a “high class” association. I doubt the people who made these signs gave it much thought. They likely went the obvious route but unpacking an Indian’s “obvious” is as easy as telling your grandma that yes, you are indeed full and don’t want another bite.
Hello Club 90 Fitness! (@Club90Studio)
You walk up a fairly dark stairwell to be greeted with a daunting brick wall with an illuminated metallic black CLUB90 sign. There’s a shoe rack outside the main door where you take off your outside shoes. I noticed people usually walked in barefoot into the gym, then put on their indoor shoes only after making their way to the change room.
They have 2(!) squat racks, a whole lot of dumbbells, kettle bells, a kickboxing bag, a set of monkey bars, and cardio equipment. All in very good shape. For 8500 INR for 3 months, you get to use all the equipment and get a personal trainer. This is my trainer, Abhishek:
I love the guy. He’s very knowledgeable, not pushy while also being encouraging, and helps me with my Hindi. I go in there almost everyday and it is always exciting to see what I can learn from him. Recently, I’ve been trying out olympic lifts and working towards doing a Clean and Jerk. Note: the below guy in the video is not me.
I was impressed by Club 90’s online presence and I also noticed differences in Indian vs Canadian gym cultures.
Indian vs Canadian gyms
In the week and a half I’ve joined this gym, I’ve received compliments from 3 different people for my form and made 2 new friends. People don’t prioritize chit chatting over working out, they’re just really easy with their compliments and aren’t afraid to walk up to someone and talk to them. In Canadian cultures, there’s very much a “work” mindset when it comes to working out. People come in, put on their headphones and get to work. Me being me, I still made friends in Canadian gyms (like Fred the truck driver and Shopify store owner from the YMCA) but that shit takes time.
People have better form here. I’m only sampling on 1 gym in Mumbai but my Gods do people know what they’re doing. This may be due to the quality of trainers here but the lifts here are squeaky clean. No out of place butt lifts in squats, no kipping in pull ups. I was very shocked. To be fair, I am comparing against the YMCA and university gyms. The former is an affordable gym so you have a lot of people coming in and university gyms have, well, people like me who are figuring shit out.
Indians are really comfortable working out without shoes. It’s just an Indian thing to be okay barefoot. People do bar and dumb bell exercises without shoes normally. When I was working out in Canada during the summer my roommate and workout buddy Jacob was freaking out when I didn’t want to find and put on my shoes. Justifications of dropping weights and stepping on sharp objects were raised. Beats me what are the reasons for this difference.
Why I’m impressed by a gym’s online presence
We go to a gym to improve ourselves and we expect an environment conducive for that. Some folks like ultra modern sleek gyms, some folks like the comfort of good ol’ iron equipment, and other whack-jobs ⁴ are into CrossFit. I expect to be able to judge that from your online presence. If you don’t offer me that option, I will simply go to one that has it.
Almost everyone on the street in India has a phone and that phone likely has a data connection. If your Google listing has no website, no social media, no phone number, your competitor is just a scroll away.
All in all, I’m excited for marketing in India. A lot can happen and a lot needs to happen. There’s too many shuttered shops with “FOR RENT” spray painted on them with a phone number. We’re hopefully at the end of this godforsaken tunnel and I do feel that a marketing renaissance could give Indian businesses the boost they need to thrive in the next few years.
So if there is a business you like and visit often, help them out by adding their info onto their Google listing.
The next part: exploring Navi Mumbai and hikes ❤
Notes:
1: Lol, talk about product placement.
2: General INR->CAD conversion rule is to divide by 50. So 2000 INR is 40$.
3: Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, and a ton of other Indian languages (but not all) use the Devanagari script.
4: If you are into CrossFit, being called a whack job by a dude on the internet should be a badge of honour.
