Updated October, 2023

You might be asking yourself why, when I live in Mexico and am surrounded by all the places to see in this vast country, I would post a video of me going to the gym. Gym rats I know try to find a gym the minute they hit a town. It can be frustrating in Mexico. Here are some tips:

Try using a VPN when doing an online search

For any research into what’s available in Mexico, whether it’s gyms, spas or restaurants, a VPN (virtual private network) is a must.

Search algorithms are location based and it can time for it to catch up with you. VPN’s enable you to set your location as Mexico, giving you Mexico-based results. Free VPN services are available. I highly recommend Express VPN.

Do your online search in Spanish

Don't forget try your search in Spanish (gimnasios) + town. Unless they have their website site in English (and why should they?), good ones might not appear in your search. I’ve found my results very different depending on whether I type the query in Spanish or English into the browser.

Mexican gyms: What to expect

Nice gyms can be as expensive in Mexico as they are the U.S, probably more so to get the kind of quality you likely are used to. Many gyms in Mexico would be shut down by the health department at home with dirty, malfunctioning limited equipment and lack of heat or air conditioning.

Nice corporate-style gyms often won’t allow walk-in’s and are membership only. You’ll have to pay the registration fee regardless of how short your stay. Even if you’re willing to do that, they often have a six month or year minimum. Find that out on the phone and save yourself a lot of time runnng around and frustration.

I imagine that good gyms are even rarer in the smaller towns in Mexico. I struggled to find one even in a city the size of Mazatlán, especially since, like many snowbirds and visitors, I don’t have a car. (When I finally did find two with a decent amount of equipment for free-weight training, they were right next door to one another.)

Neither of the gyms coddled their members. They were black-iron gyms where the temperature inside on some days in the summer was well over 90 degrees, probably over 100 degrees with the dew point.  Gym work-outs in the summer in a coastal area can be a real test of character.  Equipment likely isn’t going to stack up to a Gold’s gym or others of that ilk, leading to some pretty imaginative use of equipment on hand.

Many women weight-train in Mexico so don’t be concerned if you fall in that category. In fact, I have never seen so many women weight-training as I have at my Mexican gym. (It’s worth the trip to see the gym wear alone.)

Develop a home work work-out

If you go back and forth between countries or even if you just travel a lot, it makes sense to have some work-outs that require little or no equipment.

A jump rope and bands travel well. A foldable yoga mat is well- worth packing for floor exercises given that Mexico is covered in ceramic tile. You might need to use towels too as travel mats are thin.

Home work-outs take awhile to put together well when using YouTube videos for ideas. (What ever they do, do three sets) Put together and test your routines out at home before you go. Nike has a great phone app with exercises for strength, endurance, and mobility and videos run anywhere from 7 to 25 minutes.

Consult the Ventanas Pinterest Board "Staying in Shape While Traveling," for my curation of exercises using mainly your own body weight. You can work out anywhere with a little planning and a few items in your suitcase.

Explore exercise options

Gyms aren’t in as big demand in Mexico as in the U.S. but you do see people our running. There are bicycle clubs and swim clubs in larger Mexican towns.  Expat areas like San Miguel de Allende or Lake Chapala offer plenty of tennis, golf and most every physical activity you can think of. Pickleball is also becoming popular. As a lifetime gym rat, I know these doesn’t take the place of a gym when you want one, but they’ll will bleed off some energy until you can find one.

Related Links:

"How to Design a Work-out According to Your Body Type"  - by Body-building.com

"How to Create Your Own Full-Body Work-Out Plan" - by Nerd Fitness

Next up:  Are you pursuing smaller, cheaper towns in the U.S to retire to?  How I chose Mexico. 

About the author:

Hi, I am a partner with Ventanas Mexico and author of "If Only I Had a Place" a renting guide for the aspiring expat, which includes a listing of rental concierges I know in most of the popular expat destinations. The Mexico Solution: How to save your money, sanity and quality of life through living in Mexico part-time will give you a game plan and is sure to entertain. Most recently I wrote a cookbook, The Lazy Expat: Healthy Recipes That Translate in Mexico. In Mexico, to maintain a healthy diet, you must cook. This book shows you how to eat right cooking in a foreign country.