KUTLWANO OLIFANT
HUNDREDS of Soweto residents, including pensioners, have welcomed the area’s first free outdoor gym, in Dlamini.
Today marks exactly a month after the launch of the first such gym at the Petrus Molefe Eco-Park.
Apart from being accessible, free and open 24 hours, it has world-class equipment made of a robust, weatherproof material, enabling it to withstand harsh weather.
Yesterday, pensioner Mampho Mngenela, who is recovering from a knee injury, visited the gym for the first time with her husband Moses, who is a regular user.
Using crutches, Mampho, 63, went straight to the leg press machine. Shaking and a bit nervous, she couldn’t keep up for long before stepping down and grabbing her walking stick.
“I hope to come back once I have recovered from my injury,” she said.
Her husband jogs from his Pimville house to Dlamini daily to join a group of others at the gym at 6am.
“This is exciting. We keep ourselves busy and healthy. It is free and it’s easy to use,” said the pensioner.
Gym instructor Khehla Nkosi said he was happy that the gym was being used and impressed by the number of people showing up.
“People come in huge numbers, especially early in the morning. Once the sun is up and gets extremely hot, people return back home.
“It is great to see many pensioners arriving in groups to exercise. It is also interesting to see people from surrounding areas coming in,” said Nkosi.
City Parks teamed up with local company Green Out Door Gym, which supplied the equipment. The gym boasts impressive machines worth more than R250 000, such as a space walker, elliptical trainer and a “wab” board to exercise abdominal muscles.
City Parks spokeswoman Jenny Moodley said they would identify other parks where the gyms could be rolled out.
City Parks is also excited that the partnership has resulted in the creation of jobs, as the caretakers of the outdoor gyms also act as trainers.