Open Air Gyms – Outdoor Gyms – Beach Gyms – Backyard Gyms – Bush Gyms

Submitted by RonnyT on Sun, 2014-02-09 20:56

We live in the lucky circumstances to be able to afford a gym membership. Others or not so lucky. They work with old rusty weights and when they don’t have the money to work with iron or scrap metal they use stone or cement. If you are determent enough to want to build that strong body you will find a way. I found it very inspiring to see how all these different people from inmates, soldiers to people that live in a ghetto manage to work-out. Just like I liked to see that outside of the world famous Venice Beach others where determent to build such outdoor or beach gyms. I noticed more and more people build a backyard-gym and many cities are convinced that this form of recreation is suited for their locals or tourist. On the picture a beautifull girl working out at the Kachalka Outdoor Gym in Kiev.

More and more people are enjoying the outdoor gyms because it provides them a different sense of relaxation as they enjoy nature as they exercise. Outdoor gyms are popular in many countries such as China, Brazil and America to name just a few.

The outdoor gym is the perfect way of combining the physical intensity of a proper workout with the joy and harmony of being out on a beautiful, sunny day. More and more people are beginning to enjoy the benefits as outdoor gyms. These outdoor gyms are continuously increasing both in number and in size.

While some are created to enable people, locals or tourists to enjoy a work-out in the open air sometimes with a breathtaking view.

Most Famous Outdoor Gyms

Here is a look at some of the most famous outdoor gyms out there and they are actually spread out all over the world. World’s Probably the most famous outdoor gym in the world, Muscle Beach sits just few paces away from the boardwalk in Venice Beach, California. It became famous because of prominent bodybuilders such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno who used these facilities in order to sculpt their award-winning physiques.

Muscle Beach is widely seen as the home of the fitness revolution in the United States – dating all the way back to the 1930s. It all started a few hundred feet away from the boardwalk in Santa Monica, but the "home of bodybuilding" was moved to Muscle Beach Venice in the 1950s. From the acrobatics of Santa Monica high school students to the vein-popping antics of classic bodybuilders in Venice – this California landmark remains one of the most popular tourist attractions in the L.A. area!

Muscle Beach Venice has been a home to serious bodybuilders since 1959! Some of the greatest "bodies" ever - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dave Draper, Larry Scott and Franco Columbo – trained right on the beach! Even today, Muscle Beach Venice holds bodybuilding competitions and has a completely renovated public fitness area.

If you visit Muscle Beach today you'll find weight lifting equipment, rope climbing, and gymnastic and acrobatic bars free to use! As you sink your toes in the hot sand, don't miss the history all around you. It's America's fitness revolution, and it continues to this day!

Nowadays, the gym has modernized equipment and trained staff on hand to help anyone interested in getting buff. The renown of the gym has led to it becoming a tourist attraction which is visited by people who are not regular gym goers and those who are taking advantage of the day passes available to customers.

Kachalka Outdoor Gym

In stark contrast to the gym in Venice Beach is the Kachalka Outdoor Gym in Kyiv (Kiev), capital of Ukraine. Located on the banks of the Dnieper river, this 10,000-square meter facility was opened 35 years ago and since then it has been providing free access to everybody who wants to get in shape. Without people training in it, Kachalka would look more like a junkyard than a gym with all of the equipment being made from old, recycled components from cars and other machinery. However, this provides an opportunity for everyone to train on equal footing, regardless of social status. Equipped with car tyres and old, rusting workout gear, it nevertherless provides a good opportunity for many to exercize for free in the pleasant environment of a green island.

The outdoor Kachalka gym in Kyiv's Hydropark has attracted the city's fitness fans since the 1970s. The set of more than 150 exercise machines is free for everyone to use. The machines are made of scrap metal, but that doesn't diminish the popularity of Kachalka. With the average price in Kyiv's gyms at around Hr 400 per month, the free gym never suffers from a lack of visitors.

The unique gym was created by Kyivan Yuriy Kuk and his colleagues from the Cybernetics Institute in the 1970s. Some machines have since been replaced, but some originals are still around. Kachalka provides leg and arm training machines and abdominal trainers for direct and oblique abdominal

Working out on these mostly homemade, archaic-looking machines is an equalizing experience, with people from all social strata rubbing shoulders here. The Ukrainian bodybuilders both young and old in his pictures also serve as a powerful and ironic visual metaphor for the ambitious spirit of awakening in this country.

Outdoor Gym in Lumpini Park in Bangkok Thailand

Lumpini Park in Bangkok. The park is the equivalent to New Yorks Central Park or Hyde Park in London. In 1979 a group of like-minded people came together and began what is now fondly referred to as The Bangkok Gym. Nothing more than rusting weights and simple cardio machines under a few pieces of tarpaulin stretched between trees, this open air gym is incredible. And the views across the park and the lake provide motivation enough to push that bit harder…We visited a few times and were warmly greeted by the regulars who served us green tea from an enormous teapot. Working out alongside these friendly locals was the nearest we came to feeling a part of the Bangkok community. You really must try this place if you’re a gym monkey…and if you’re not, try jogging around the park with the locals, early morning or evening. You could even join them afterwards in the outdoor version of a shopping mall food court! Nothing beats exercising outdoors, especially in such warm surroundings – that’s the weather and the people! There are also similar open-air gym in the old Bangkok Prison or Ubon Ratchathani Park but the most famous is Lumpini.

Lumphini Park itself is enormous, 142 acres worth of enormous, and is Bangkok’s most popular place to work out. If you get tired of the outdoor gym situated here amongst tall trees and ample wildlife you could always sign up to one of the many Muay Thai kickboxing, Tai Chi or even get involved in one of the stranger aerobics classes available, featuring hundreds of men and women all lined up evenly following an instructor standing on a stage setup in the middle of the park.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=X65fr4RVqPU almost 12 minutes of a very motivational outdoor training in Lumpini Park

Tiger Muay Thai

Muay Thai Gym located in Phuket, Thailand, Tiger Muay Thai is the perfect gym for MMA aficionados. This is a place where people can learn the popular martial art of Muay Thai, a staple in all MMA fights. Like Kachalka, it relies heavily on old, simple equipment such as punching bags, truck tires and sledgehammers. Members of this gym who are not interested in learning Muay Thai can simply focus on regular fitness and strength training, as well as yoga classes. As a bonus, the trainers can also provide foreign customers courses immersing them in Thai culture.

Parque do Arpoador Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Open Air Gyms in Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is the country’s biggest tourist attraction. It is renowned for its beaches and the outgoing and active lifestyle of its residents. Part of that way of life is exercising regularly. At first, this was mostly through beach sports such as volleyball, but it did not take long until gyms started sprouting up at the beach to the excitement and approval of the people. It’s not hard to find these gyms as they are located all along the beaches of Rio. Most of them are free and access is granted at almost any time of the day.

While the equipment may seem crude and the barbells are little more than lumps of concrete, it all goes into creating the charm of this outdoor gym sandwiched between Ipanema and Copacabana beaches in Rio de Janeiro. And how could you not be inspired to work out with a view like that?

People work out at an outdoor gym on the Avila Mountain in Caracas June 15, 2011. As the cost of living in Venezuela's capital increases, residents are finding creative ways to keep in shape.

North Bondi Outdoor Gym Sydney, Australia

Bondi Beach is one of Australia’s most iconic beaches and the North Bondi outdoor gym is famous among local fitness enthusiasts. It is setup to encourage working out with bars and bodyweight and unlike the territorial images that go along with the more famous surfing culture here, the gym enthusiasts encourage everyone to get involved.

There are even competitions held here monthly that draw sizeable crowds. These comps are held by the Bondi Beach Bar Brutes.

China

China is a country that has showed great success when it comes to improving the well-being of its citizens using outdoor gyms. In 1995, the country passed the “Physical Health Law” which opened a fitness program and encouraged people to partake in it. Since then, participation numbers have been steadily increasing, with over 40% of the nation’s population of 1.4 billion people using the gyms to exercise regularly. At the moment, there are over 600,000 outdoor gyms and stadiums in the country, encompassing over 37 million square feet. Most of them are located in parks, squares and other public locations and access is free for everyone interested.

Caracas Venezuela

An open-air gym with train wheels for some of the weights

Caracas slides into the valley from the ring of slum-covered slopes where half its population of more than 3 million lives. At the low-lying center of the business district, a hulking skeleton in a battered glass mantle thrusts into the skyline. This is the Centro Financiero Confinanzas, conceived in 1990 as a gleaming hub for Venezuela’s financial class, who would one day vault over the street-level misery and land on the rooftop helipad, 600 feet in the air. It didn’t work out that way. David Brillembourg, the investor who gave the skyscraper its nickname, Torre de David, died in 1993. The following year, Venezuela’s banks collapsed, leaving the half-built skyscraper standing as an accidental monument to financial disaster.

Despite the dangers, the building provides a relatively safe haven in a city where, according to the U.S. State Department, travelers risk being kidnapped as soon as they leave the airport

The picture shows some guys working out in n outdoor gym at the Vila Mountain in Caracas.These guys seem to like to train better in the whoom of Mother Nature then with a breathtaking view from the rooftop.

Tenerife

The Tabaiba and Radazul area with its long sea promenade is perfect for beachside walks and for jogging. You can also take advantage of an open air gym, where you can keep fit in a privileged environment which benefits from a fantastic climate. Here mostly older and retired people train, so I won't bother you with pictures.

Outdoor Gyms in Cape Town

Pro Gym Fitness Club, Ghana

Pro Gym Fitness Club is located at Bubuashie, Ayigbe Town in Accra, Ghana. It has about 60 members. The gym was established in 1998. The owner is Richard Nii Barnor. Their motto: "Fitness is Power"! All of the sudden, in an area where very little was ever known about bodybuilding, gyms are starting to appear left and right. Cities such as Nairobi have seen the sport of bodybuilding soar in popularity along with the number of gyms. Even the aforementioned troubled Kenya has seen the number of bodybuilding enthusiasts increase rapidly within its borders and has developed the Kenyan Bodybuilding Federation (KBBF).

And perhaps the biggest sign that bodybuilding is alive and going strong in Africa is the fact that there is the Africa Bodybuilding Championships every year in Kampala, Uganda. As mentioned before, the city is already a hub to the NTPowerhouse Africa bodybuilding organization and being the location for the African Bodybuilding Championships only solidifies its position as one of the continent’s premier bodybuilding centers.

Odd objects can be used to achieve monstrous results.

On the picture cement bucketbells.

We live in a culture where manufacturers and marketing departments are usually the loudest voices heard when it comes to what is best. They would have you believe that a perfect home gym for getting lean, muscular, and powerful requires numerous gadgets, gears, and systems. I'm here to tell you that's not the case. Less can be more.

includes things like barbells, kettlebells, and sandbags, but it can include just about anything else heavy, too. I've seen odd objects like water bottles and tires used to achieve monstrous results.

The purpose of strength training is to increase the challenge facing the body's muscles, bones, and connective tissue, with the overall goal of building resilience. When it comes to overall strength, a tire may be even better than a barbell in certain situations, because it requires more grip, forearm, and core power just to pick the thing up!

In Russia pic with girl and dumbells people creatively use wood. Something else to take into account when selecting home gym equipment is adaptability. If you have, say, one 45-pound dumbbell—or a cinderblock weighing the same amount—there is plenty you can do with it. An object of appropriate weight can be used for legs, shoulders, back, arms, and just about every other body part. A good, heavy weight can also be used in a series of exercises to work more muscles in less time—not to mention firing up the heart rate!

Let's not forget, part of the reason you need a home gym is because your time is valuable. Maybe you don't have the time or desire to commute, so the more you do with less, the better. Remember, the more specialized the equipment, the more limited it is in its applications.

Jacked Up Prisoners

Picture Holman Prison. There are a lot of misconceptions and myths about how guys get huge in prison. Let me tell you a big "secret" - the guys in prison get huge the same way the free guys get huge. There is nothing anabolic about being in prison. The main cause of this misconception is the media and the movies.

In reality there are not a lot of huge guys in most prisons. Most prisons are a place where you would not send your worst enemy (ok...you may send him there). The food sucks and even dogs don't eat it, there are faggots everywhere and there is no equipment. Not to mention the stress levels. For guys in similar facilities there is no hope - you won't get bigger.

However it's true that some guys get jacked in prison mostly from fear and need to intimidate the others. The secret is this - train and eat. In some prisons you are allowed to buy "normal" food and with enough money and resources you can have access to supplements and even steroids. If you are real lucky maybe even a set of decent weights will be available.

Some of those guys are juiced, some are not but most are jacked. The secret however is certainly not prison. Roids are smuggled in and available just like most recreational drugs.

There are differnt types of prisons. Prisons typically range from minimum to maximum security. Its quite obvious that in minimum security prisons, more opportunities for training, proteinrich food and smuggeling steroids in are much easier.

Prisoners are able to dedicate themselves, not just for a few months but for years, to getting jacked. They are provided all the food and sleep that they need. They lift to get strong as well as big. They exercise for a couple of hours every day. They have no stress that we in the outside world have.

Ghetto training

In the ghettos training is very similar to prisons, pull up bars are very common and a favorite of many weightlifters so are dip bars. A Nigerian bodybuilder once told me that in the ghetto he used to train on a fridge as the bench and like in prison a truck axel for the bar with tires on for the plates. Check this video out of a ghettobodybuilde working out, you wouldn’t see this in your local gym, see how he uses what he has available to him to create this great shape.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfsTKfUT-RQ&feature=fvst

Whatever you have available to you there is no excuse to not have a great body, you can see from the video above and article above all you need is a bench and a tree branch and you can develop a great body. Some of the greatest bodybuilders of all time started off with little or no money.

If you want to learn about how you can change your workout to make your workout a more brutal prison type or ghetto type workout then call our fitness experts to get them to construct you a unique workout

Bush Gyms

The army has to train too! Improvised gyms made by those who love bodybuilding. Bodybuilding is a global phenomenon which is embraced by everybody regardless of race, color or gender; Being a sport which helps people build some serious strength and also big muscles, it has been used as a part of the army’s training too.

Of course that when soldiers are in their main military base, having a proper gym with good equipment isn’t a problem, but sometimes when you’re out in a small camp near a war zone, “One must make do with what one has”! This is why lots of soldiers put their mind into building raw and basic gym equipment for their usually outdoor improvised gyms in order to keep their muscle gains and strength!These soldiers are in isolated spots throughout the world and when you deploy a big number of soldiers along with military equipment in such places, you will have pretty expensive costs so that’s why you’ll see in the next photo gallery, a lot of improvised gyms with equipment made of:

•fuel canisters

•straps, belts

•a lot of wood (they seem to have good carpenters to build those bench presses, ab benches, and etc.)

•pipes (example for parallel tricep dips)

•sponges ripped out of the seats of military vehicles for cushiony wooden bench presses :D

•sand bags as weights

•chains

•barbed wire

•old wheels and axles from damaged vehicles

•raw stones

•ammo boxes

•empty rocket cases

Soldiers always have to maintain and even enhance their endurance levels and some of them just do it because they enjoy lifting weights; It’s a win win situation for the army with these improvised army gyms.

If you think about it, you’ll realize that you don’t need expensive gym equipment in order to get big muscles and a bodybuilder body, you only need the weights and some proper handles to lift them. Muscles don’t fancy this up to date modern gym equipment, they only need some raw weight that can stress and tear them in order to promote even more muscle growth.

Small photo gallery with improvised bodybuilding for the army

Backyard gym