Outdoor gym is fit for all to use

When the outdoor gym was opened in Woodville, many people said there was no way they would be seen exercising in public for fear of being ridiculed by children playing in the park.

However, 75-year-old Albie MacDonald said he had no such qualms. An avid user and supporter of the equipment, he uses it almost every day - and sometimes twice a day.

"I think it is marvellous. I have used it virtually every day since it went in at the end of October. I go nearly every morning and, then sometimes, if I want to get out of the house, I wander down in the afternoon as well," he said.

Before the outdoor gym equipment was installed, many people believed vandalism would be an issue but this had not happened.

"There have been no issues at all. Nor do the kids come along and stand and jeer at you. They are too busy having fun on the machines to give anyone stick about using them. The park is used by quite a lot of people and no one bothers me. Even now, with the holidays, there are heaps of people around, I don't worry about exercising in front of them. In fact, I quite often get strangers coming up to me and saying what a great idea the outdoor gym is and ask questions about it," Mr MacDonald said.

At the moment, he is only using the rowing machine and, while he hasn't lost any weight, he has noticed a difference in his upper body strength and fitness.

"I had both hips replaced awhile ago and the rowing machine is the only one that doesn't put a strain on the lower body. Some of the machines are quite hard to operate for me at the moment but I will give them another go later."

Before the outdoor gym equipment was installed in Woodville, Mr MacDonald got his exercise by walking.

"We don't have a gym here and even if we did, I still wouldn't go and neither would I go through to Palmerston North or Dannevirke to use a gym," he said.

"The outdoor gym is ideal for me. I wander down to the park whenever I like and work out for about 30 minutes and wander home again."

Mr MacDonald also said while he was a regular user of the equipment, there were also plenty of others who used it. "There has never been a queue of people but there are others who use it along with the kids. They have an absolute ball on it."