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Gym culture taking shape

Dhaka International Trade Fair offers plenty of workout devices

Anja Burri and Md Fazlur Rahman
THE equipment looks strange to beginners: five red and black walking machines with computer displays stand in a row in the stall of Asian Sky Shop at Dhaka InternationalTYade Fair (DITF). You can even smell the new plastic in the air.
Although it is allowed to try the machines out or touch the gear, they keep distance and look from outside the stall.
This shy behaviour has a reason, explained salesman Shamsul Bahar to The Daily Star. “In Bangladesh, it is not very common to go in for sports," he said. After work, people go home and relax instead of jogging or making exercises.
In other regions of the world like Europe or the United States, this is very different: people go to gym clubs during lunchtime or they run on the streets or at home on a running machine after work.
In western countries, it is considered important to be in a good shape, and leading a healthy life is currently in vogue. This starts with the food and ends in the way you pass your leisure time.
"This trend to a healthy lifestyle will reach the Bangladeshi society very soon," said Bahar.
In his opinion, it would become more and more important to be in good shape and people do already care more about their health.
Also industry people said things are changing in Bangladesh, albeit gradually. People, particularly in the urban centres, are more conscious than past about their health and good physique to ensure a good and healthy life.
The rise in the number of diabetic population and obesity in Bangladesh is also another reason people are turning to exercise equipment at home or private gyms.
The country is one of the world's largest in terms of diabetic population and the educated young popu-
lation consume fast foods due to a rise in income level.
Healthy lifestyle is also a question of economic wealth. If someone earns enough for living, he can start caring about the shape of his body.
But only a decade ago, building up muscles and toning up body were almost individual efforts at home level.
Jafar Ahmed, chief executive officer of Dhaka Fitness Gym, one of the oldest fitness centres in the country, said things are changing gradually in Bangladesh when it
comes to turning to gyms for maintaining good health.
"But when I started the gym 12 years ago, people did not know what a gym is about."
Nowadays, salesman Bahar is optimistic for his business at the annual trade fair in Dhaka. He expects to sell at least hundred exercise machines until the end of the DITF at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar on January 31. During the first three days he sold two.
In total, there are three stalls selling the running machines. They belong all to Asian Sky Shop, which
is known for its telemarketing.
If every stall sells 100 machines expected by one of the salesmen, they will dispose 300. The Asian Sky Shop imports the gear from China.
The range of products leads from running machines for Tk 50,000 to more luxurious gear for Tk 60,000. These machines offer more possibilities than just running. So you can also sit on a chair and row. Furthermore, the shop sells a stationary bicycle and a bench to exercise sit-ups.
As a target group, the salesman eyes the middle and the upper-class
people. “Men are more interested in my offer than women," Bahar said.
"But if the machine is installed at a family's home, everyone gets the chance to try it out without spectators like at the trade fair."
In the public gyms, women are already present, as Khosru Parvez, who runs Combat Gym in Siddheswari in Dhaka with his wife, said. Now people irrespective of gender and ages come to gyms, he said.
The same development is observed concerning the age of the sportspersons. "When we started, only people under 30 were interested about gyms. Now people up to the age of 70 come to gyms to maintain a healthy life," Parvez said.
He said the number of women choosing gyms to maintain good figure is also increasing, as gyms are increasingly offering more space to them.
Although the exact number of gyms in Bangladesh is hard to come by, people involved in the industry said one would find gyms in every district and upazila.
In spite of this changing behaviour, Bangladeshi industry still does not offer the appropriate gear. The industry people said the exercise equipment are all importdependent.
Some are trying to manufacture exercise equipment, but their quality is nowhere to those from China, Taiwan and South Korea, said Parvez.