Gyms & Fitness in Shanghai for Foreigners: Day Passes, Costs & English-Friendly Options (2026)

Getting fit in Shanghai is easy. Not getting burned by a gym is the harder part. The city runs on prepaid annual cards and commission-hungry personal trainers, and in the last two years one of the country's biggest chains collapsed and took hundreds of thousands of members' money with it. So this guide is built around a simple rule: keep your commitment small, keep your money flexible, and you can train however you like without ever signing a two-year contract. Here is how gyms, classes, and fitness apps actually work here, with real prices. First, a warning: avoid the big prepaid annual cards Traditional Chinese gym chains sell you a one to three year membership up front, then push expensive personal training on top. It is the single biggest source of consumer complaints in the sector; Shanghai's consumer hotline logged well over fifteen thousand prepaid-gym complaints in a single year. In late 2024 Will's (威尔士) , once the largest chain with dozens of Shanghai branches, collapsed and left members owing around 1.6 billion yuan in prepaid fees. Another major chain, Tera Wellness (一兆韦德), has closed outlets and delayed staff pay. The lesson is not "never join a gym", it is never…