Written by Geoffrey Verity Schofield. Follow him on Instagram, watch his training content on YouTube, and read his full interview on Boostcamp.
I’ve spent a significant part of my adult life training and living in China, and it’s changed how I think about fitness, discipline, and standing out — often literally.
As a foreign lifter in China, you get used to being noticed. Gyms there aren’t always used to seeing a heavily muscled Western guy walk in, and that attention cuts both ways. It can be motivating — people are curious, some want to train with you, some want photos — and it can also be isolating, especially early on when the culture, the language, and the gym norms are all unfamiliar at once.
Gym culture in China isn’t identical to what you’ll find in the UK or US. Etiquette, equipment availability, and even the social dynamics of training can differ from gym to gym and city to city. Adapting meant learning to be flexible about programming — working with what’s actually available rather than what’s ideal — and being comfortable training around a language barrier, communicating with body language and consistency rather than conversation.
Being visibly different in a country also means your body becomes a kind of statement whether you want it to or not. I leaned into that rather than resenting it: training seriously, staying disciplined with food in an unfamiliar culinary environment, and treating the attention as an opportunity to represent the sport well rather than a burden.
The biggest lesson from training abroad wasn’t really about muscle at all. It was about discipline surviving outside your comfort zone. It’s easy to be consistent when everything — your gym, your food, your language, your routine — is familiar. It’s a different test entirely when none of it is. If you can stay consistent with your training and nutrition in an environment that gives you every excuse not to be, you’ll come home with more than just muscle. You’ll have proven to yourself that your discipline isn’t dependent on your circumstances being convenient.
