CaptainV Room Description

Approach the sanctuary of CaptainV, but be warned: This place is so high tech, you need a unique QR code to enter. Get yours through WeChat (below) when you book a personal trainer (RMB400/hour) or buy time in the gym with their imported, shiny-as-a-new-iPhone StarTrac machines (RMB1,200/hour). But most people sign up for one of a dozen daily classes—yoga, spinning, Body Combat, Body Pump, TRX and RPM—for a mere RMB50-100 a pop.

Inside, pervasive tech keeps you safer and healthier. On Schwinn stationary bikes, everyone straps on a Bluetooth device to broadcast their heart rates and caloric burn overhead. With the intensity of RPM—a harder, faster, stronger spinning class designed by New Zealand’s Les Mills—you could overload your system. Flashing red lights remind you to slow down. 

But CaptainV Room’s killer app is their Sports DNA test (RMB3,800, RMB1,080 through the end of 2017, or free with 20 personal training sessions). A swab of saliva reveals not just health risks, but the exercises and foods that will do the greatest good for you.

The rest of CaptainV Room is what you want in a traditional gym. Cozy locker rooms deliver essentials like a shower with shampoo and body wash. Just bring a towel, shower shoes, and whatever you need for your hair. They even have an indie cafe with juice and smoothies (RMB28-35), coffee (RMB18-26), or tasty salads (RMB33-38) made to order with food from Hong Kong. It’s low tech, but supercharged with superfoods like chia seeds.