Xu Wenpei, a high school student, went to the gym on the third floor of the Olympic Stadium.

Attracted by a Kendo programme she had seen on television, she decided to give it a try in her long winter holiday.

Holding her newly-purchased shinai (bamboo sword) in her hands and standing bare-foot on the wooden floor, she was feeling a bit intimidated, despite the fact that her father had accompanied her to the gym.

About 20 advanced students wearing baggy blue trousers were chatting away with one another. Xu hid in her father's shadow.

Then the coach Li Hongjun approached her and asked her to join the class for regular warm-up practice.

Although her swings with the sword were quite awkward, she was soon throwing herself into the warm-up drill.

Chinese women work out at a gym in Beijing. [file]

After about five minutes, all the students lined up neatly behind their armour, stacked in neat lines on the floor, and knelt down to put it on.

The armour included a helmet, padded gloves, a chest plate and a belt, and putting it on was by no means an easy job for a novice. But the advanced students skillfully and precisely girded themselves for the action to come.

With their sparring partners, they started full-contact practice, swinging their bamboo swords swiftly striking each other on the head chest and arms. With each swing of the sword, they would step quickly forward, uttering a gutteral cry.

The cry is an essential part of Kendo, believed to boost the fighters' aggressiveness. So the Kendo gym is always filled with the crack of bamboo swords against armour punctuated by the cries of the participants.

A blow to the steel grid of the Kendo face mask seems startling to onlookers at first, but the swordsman feels no pain.

Kendo students are taught to respect their opponents and before each exercise, the participants bow to one another.

Meanwhile, the coach was instructing Xu and another five beginners the basic sword movements.

After half an hour, sweat was dripping from Xu's forehead, but she did not seem to be tired at all and her fierce strokes with the sword seemed no less powerful than those of the boys.

During a break, Ou Yang, a young Kendo aficionado, still holding the sword in his hands, stood there as if meditating.

"I am trying to figure out how I can strike more quickly," he said.

Ou said he had been practising Kendo for nearly a year, and that what impresses him most about the sport is that he finds it a good way to cultivate his character.

"Practising Kendo is good training for my mental concentration and reaction time," he said.

Kendo is a discipline that people can start at any point in their lives, from childhood to old age. In Kendo, the discipline bridges the age gap.

Kendo is not the only sport that is becoming popular with gym-goers these days, who go there not just for fitness and concentration but also to trim up their bodies.

Wang Huilan has tried something quite different from Kendo.

Since becoming a regular gym-goer two years ago, Wang, in her early 50s, is bursting with youthful vigour again.

Twice a week, she goes to the Shaping Association Club in the Folk Culture Exchange Centre to do one and a half hours of exercise.

The shaping system is not just a basic dancing course; it includes classic dance, jazz dance, modern dance, and gym dance, and also offers image building, and posture training.

"Its intensity suits me perfectly. I do not really like strenuous gymnastics that seem to do basically nothing but make you sweat," Wang said. She finds that the beautiful movements of shaping greatly attract her.

Working in a scientific research institution, Wang spends most of her time in front of a computer. "In the past, I thought that working and doing family chores were also a kind of body exercise," she said.

After entering her 40s, Wang became obsessed with a gray feeling. Putting on weight and her decreasing stamina started to bring down her confidence.

When out hiking in the mountains, she fell far behind her younger colleagues, frequently gasping for air. "So despite my busy work schedule, I started to go to the gym," she said.

In the past two years, she has come to know the benefits of body building and feels it is the best way to alleviate the pressures of work. She feels that for women of her age, exercise breathes new energy into life and chases away the usual worries that plague them.

"It is not just for body building; I feel mentally satisfied in the process," she said.

Now her heart and lungs are functioning much more efficiently and her weight has also gradually returned to its normal level, she claims.

She is feeling much better than she did 10 years ago.

Many of her colleagues also go to the gym after work, some swim, some play badminton, some do gymnastics and some practise Yoga, she said.

"Whatever kind of workouts seem right for you, you need to stick to them. Eventually you'll begin to see positive results," said Wang.

In her club, the members are mostly women in their 30s and 40s and their common pursuit of health and beauty has brought them together. What they talk about most during the breaks is topics of special concern to women.

For most of the club members, going to the gym has become an indispensable part of their lives.

Working in an airline company, Xin Xin, 25, often goes on business trips.

The first thing she wants to do when she gets back to the city is to go to the gym, where she feels totally relaxed.

And the number of Xin Xins in our busy world is on a decided upswing.

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