Fit as a flea thanks to a shongololo
They’re popping up everywhere — free facilities for a fresh-air workout, writes Claire Keeton
HAVE you tried the eland, the ostrich, the steenbok, the cobra or the shongololo? They are fun, free and healthy to boot — types of apparatus, named for the animals whose shape or horns they resemble, that have been set up in parks by the company Play on Art.
It is one of several companies to have set up hundreds of outdoor gyms across South Africa, helping to meet growing interest among all age groups.
This week two domestic workers, a fitness-minded couple and unemployed teenager Peter Thamaga were among those using the equipment in a park near Zoo Lake, Johannesburg, set up by Green Outdoor Gyms.
Thamaga, 19, worked up a sweat on a cross-training machine while he talked about his exercise routine. “Training is better than doing nothing,” he said.
With a threadbare skipping rope around his neck, the young athlete said he also played basketball on the courts next to the lake. He trains about four times a week.
On a cycling machine nearby, 29-year-old model Mpho Klaas was spinning. “I ride the bike for my thighs,” said Klaas.
With her in the park was her partner, Yomi Shokunbi, also a model.
He looks as if he has stepped off the cover of Men’s Health magazine. A boxer, dancer and fitness trainer, he was shadowboxing in the shade between doing six-pack-toning sit-ups.
“Early in the morning domestic workers and walkers take the opportunity to train,” he said. “This outdoor gym is a very good initiative.”
The outdoor gym companies, which are paid by municipalities or sponsors, have set up equipment in sites ranging from affluent Sea Point in Cape Town to disadvantaged communities such as Alexandra in Johannesburg. The Alex gym is at a diabetes clinic.
“We wanted to have an impact on communities across the board,” said Breann Jacobs, one of the founders of Play on Art. “To ignite a spark, for people to think: ‘I can try that.’
“This equipment is accessible to everybody, not only the elite who can afford to go to indoor gyms,” she said.
Demitri Constantinou, the di- rector of the Centre for Exercise Science and Sport Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand, is a fan of the concept.
“The outdoor gyms are interesting and different. People can use them any time, they do not need any kit and they can train to their own ability. These gyms encourage exercise and play rather than sitting on a street corner.”
Constantinou said his centre was developing a short course for trainers on how to use gym equipment and free weights.
“We hope to have a few free places on each course for two or three people from the communities where they put up gyms to qualify as trainers,” he said.
The centre plans to study the community impact of an outdoor gym due to be installed in Duduza on the East Rand in the next month.
Green Outdoor Gyms set up South Africa’s first outdoor ma- chines in Soweto nearly five years ago, said company owner Tim Hogins.
His company, which has installed about 190 gyms across South Africa, does so under agreements with the Department of Sports and Recreation and municipalities.
Play on Art, which installed the gym on the Sea Point promenade, prides itself on making all its animal-themed equipment locally.
Jacobs said her company was expanding rapidly.
“Inquiries are flooding in,” she said. “We have even had an application from a building that wants one on its rooftop.”
The Play on Art equipment — such as the zebra, a horizontal ladder for upper-body strength training, and the wildebeest, a seated leg press — harnesses the user’s weight to provide resistance.
The outdoor gym apparatus carries clear instructions.
Jacobs said that in future Play on Art hoped to put up energygenerating fitness equipment that would turn muscle power into electricity.
Perhaps Eskom will be interested.
He looks as if he has stepped off the cover of Men’s Health magazine