An Experience in the Gym

I went to the gym, expecting today to be like any other training day. I would normally run from my house to the outdoor gym, execute my normal workout, chat with regular trainees and walk back home.

 

Occasionally, I would meet interesting people during my workout; people who motivate me to push myself beyond my limits, people who are not limited by the fitness equipment, but instead devise creative ways of using the existing equipment. 

 

 

I have seen people execute muscle ups with pull up bars designed for wheelchair users, pull ups with dip bars, and plyometric jumps with section dividers. People would ask their training partners to stand on the seat of the weight machines in order to increase the degree of resistance; a girl would sit on her boyfriends shoulders to add weight to his dips, and a man would use the metal poles as a punching bag.

 

I have seen   phenomenal amounts of muscle, strength and endurance built through the creative use of bodyweight workouts. I have received training advice from ex-convicts who have developed an expertise with bodyweight work, and I have made friends with some wonderful people who daily convince me that my progress has been limited by my perceptions.

 

I once met one of the promoters of the outdoor gym project and he was so surprised with the creative workouts being performed on his machinery. He enthused that they had never conceived all the uses to which the machinery could be put.

 

The gym is home to many, and fitness can be a force for good in the community.