"Yeah, and What's the Problem?" Embodiment, Cultural Practices and Working out in a Dutch Gym

In this paper, I present empirical data from ethnographic work carried out in a Dutch gym, where people, especially students, from different countries work out, interact and explore ideas and practices related to their cultures and to other people’s cultures. I will analyse and explain four things: first, the social skills required to successfully interact in a multicultural space; second, the cultural and physical skills that people who have worked out in this gym for a long time have embodied; third, the skills and culture that foreigners have to quickly learn; and finally, how this affects the relationships and the activities considered important in this gym.