Margo Bazuin has written three guest blogs for Weekends in Rotterdam. Be sure to also read her blogpost When I think of Rotterdam… and her article with the 3 Best places for a pubquiz in Rotterdam.
You can also follow her blog Hetismarg. This time Margo visited the Apenkooigym?(Monkey House Gym) and wrote down her experience for Weekends in Rotterdam!
Sports was not my favorite class at school. I was able to jump over a box quite freely and even balancing on a beam went ok, but as soon as it came to sprinting, jumping and climbing into the ropes, I would prefer to enter the changing room. But there was 1 lesson in the year that was crazy: monkey cage. You know: jumping on all kinds of mats, pillows, racks and closets as a crazy person, without touching the ground. The floor is lava, but then the original version. Nowadays, you can experience this feeling in various cities, at the ApenkooiGym. For weekends in Rotterdam I visited a “lesson” and I can give it one word: gold.
It was a good trip back in time: a small gym in the Klein Coolstraat where my mother spent her childhood; nice brown tiles in the dressing room; the smell of old sweat and a linoleum floor. The room was already full, well, with all that was available in the gym. Racks were put in the right position, a trail of mats, boxes, springboards, and so on was set out. Do you have the picture in your mind again? Somewhat awkward there were 30 adults standing in a gymnasium. I’m sure everyone had 25 flashbacks.
Gym class for young adults, that is what ApenkooiGym stands for. Although I was as awkward as I was in my high school time, it didn’t take long for us to break the ice. Attacking each other with soft balls, you can imagine it was one big chaos. It’s hilarious to see: all those millennials who had left their iPhone in the dressing room, running after each other as idiots with a ball. The adrenaline flows through your body, you are very alert and the sweat quickly runs along your head. The atmosphere was good after already the first round and god, this was just the beginning.
The fun thing about ApenkooiGym is the feeling of working out: you sweat, you cough, you are busy and afterwards you’re dead (slept like a baby that night!) But it does not feel like something you must do. No trainer who says you have to do another 5 push ups, but just a few young guests (“the masters”) who are in charge of the job and with their humor and clear explanation, get everyone going. They call it a social event where they seek the balance between experience and intensity, and there is no word of it untrue. Also, it is easy to get in contact with the others because there are rounds in which you continue in teams of 6 to 7 people.
ApenkooiGym is in our city from now on every week in the Klein Coolstraat, just behind the central station. After that, they have a drink in the pub, but considering the smell that was around me, I passed – the next time I’ll join for sure. And yes, I had some bruises of crawling, but that does not stop me from joining again next Monday. Will I see you there?!
Address:
Schiedamse Vest
Schiedamse Vest 188
3011 BH
Rotterdam
Recreatiecentrum Oostervant
Oostervantstraat 25
3021 PT
Rotterdam
