Madonna opens a gym in Mexico

As the glass doors of Hard Candy Fitness, Madonna's first gym, slid open in Mexico City on Monday, a mural of white, black and violet Warhol-esque images of the Queen of Pop greeted each client.

But it was no disco with exercise machines or Hard Rock Cafe-style temple of Madge memorabilia.

The facilities are not much different from any other high-class gym in Mexico City, and very little screams that this is Madonna's first fitness venture, apart from the name – the title of her last album – which she says in fitness parlance is the perfect combination of "hard body" and "eye candy."

"It's a sexy name that gives you the opportunity to have fun and to build strength as far as the imagination will allow," the singer, dancer, actress, children's author and clothing designer said in a Q&A provided by her handlers.

Still, not every gym opens with a Hollywood red carpet appearance by one of the most powerful women in entertainment, who cut the ribbon Monday night, then taught a dance class for 20 hand-picked members with music by Paul Oakenfold, the DJ who opened her last tour.

The star says she chose Mexico City because it was a stop on last year's Sticky & Sweet tour, which grossed $408 million, second only to the Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang Tour. She said she liked the energy of the people.

"Our plan is to use Mexico as a place to fine-tune our brand and then expand it to other countries and, in the long term, develop a global brand that includes the United States," she said in a statement last week, noting that Mexico is close enough to home for her to be heavily involved.

(Via the Huffington Post)