Community smart gyms get popular in SW China's Guizhou

GUIYANG -- A smart gym, which is the second one founded for the ever-increasing demand of the residents, has opened in the community of Guihang in Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, according to the provincial sports bureau.

The smart gym, installed with lots of equipment, including treadmills, rowing machines, spinning bikes and a boxing ring, is open around the clock and operates under a smart management system based on big data and IoT technologies. Residents obtain service through their smartphones.

"Residents enter the gym, use the equipment and pay for the service by scanning a QR code with their smartphones," said Zhang Jian, general manager of the company running the gym, adding that this gym also offers physical testing and monitoring services to help the residents make scientific exercise plans.

Zhang introduced that his company set up the first community smart gym in Guiyang on July 10 this year and it has planned to establish 1,000 community smart gyms in three years in Guizhou.

"My company aims to establish five-minute workout circles by building community smart gyms," Zhang said, explaining that residents value proximity nowadays, when they come to choose their gyms, and community smart gyms meet their needs.

According to public information, smart gyms have already been on trial and have spread in many areas in China such as in Beijing, Chongqing, Zhejiang and Hunan, since 2015.

"Community smart gyms are getting more and more popular in cities, as they provide more exercise options for residents at their leisure and improve the quality of their lives," Zhang added.