The first time I encountered any outdoor fitness equipment was in Valencia. I was walking through the Jardín del Turia (Turia Riverbed Park) and saw a zone filled with exercise equipment that anyone could use. The idea of having a free workout under the hot Spanish sun was not without its appeal, but I never got around to giving it a try.
Since then, I’ve encountered zones filled with outdoor fitness equipment all over Europe, but I don’t remember ever seeing anything like that when I lived in the UK.
When I was in Skopje, I walked past a very nice outdoor fitness zone near the river. I think it’s great that so many cities have areas like this for people to use.
However, up until today, all the outdoor fitness equipment I’ve stumbled across was in special fitness zones.
I’m living in Mondéjar at the moment. It’s a small town in Guadalajara, Spain. As I often do, I went for a walk this afternoon. I like walking it gives me a chance to escape my desk for a while, get some fresh air, and feel the sun on my skin.
When I’m walking I tend to just pick a direction and then go for it. If I see something interesting or a particular route looks enticing, I change direction and go and explore.
Today I saw a road lined with nice green trees and decided to walk down it. It came as quite a surprise when I saw a bench at the side of the road with a solitary piece of outdoor fitness equipment beside it.
I walked a little further and discovered a similar setup but this time with a different type of outdoor exercise machine. As I continued walking I found several more outdoor keep fit zones.
There I was, walking down this nice country road, not a person in sight or any signs of any vehicles, and I counted no less than five different pieces of outdoor fitness equipment.
It was quite warm this afternoon (around 35º), but that didn’t stop me having a go on a couple of the machines. I’m quite a strong guy so the resistance was not great enough to provide me with much of a workout, but it was still quite a lot of fun. Perhaps next time I go for a walk I’ll take a towel and a bottle of water.
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