'It's changed my life': Paddling association opens free outdoor Churchill Drive gym to the public
'Anybody who wants to come and use [it], they can,' says paddling association director
Winnipeggers can now lace up their gym shoes and hit a free outdoor gym just off Churchill Drive.
The equipment was installed by the Manitoba Paddling Association, which has opened the outdoor gym up for use by the general public, including its neighbours in the Riverview area and students at nearby Churchill High School.
The gym has been in use since the end of June, but will have its official opening on Friday afternoon.
Roy Houston, a board member with the Manitoba Paddling Association, said the gym equipment was imported from China, after association members saw it at the 2016 Dragon Boat World Championship in Moscow.
"It was being used by the military in northern China, with a similar climate to Winnipeg. It has been a long journey to get it installed," after the equipment was delivered from China in 2022, said Houston.
It's located in Arnold Avenue Park, between Churchill Drive and Arnold Avenue, and just next door to Churchill High. Houston said there was a lot of negotiation with the City of Winnipeg to approve the outdoor equipment and get a site on city property. To get a site close to the paddling association, it partnered with Churchill High School.
The outdoor gym has 17 pieces of equipment, six of which are wheelchair accessible. The circuit includes pull-up and pull-down bars, sit-up benches, gear for chest, calf and shoulder presses, and gymnastic wall bars. The project got $110,000 in funding under the province's sustainable communities program.
"Anybody who wants to come and use [it], they can," said Houston. "It's all self-contained. It has varying weights on it. You just shift them to whatever weight you want to push or lift."
Robin McClure, president of the Manitoba Paddling Association, says the inspiration for the outdoor gym came during pandemic lockdowns, when there was demand for outdoor recreation but few options.
"The purpose was enhancing health and preserving wellness, [and] also creating a sense of community in spite of the social and physical distancing that was required as part of the pandemic," said McClure.
'This is great'
She says since the gym opened in June, many people have already been benefiting from it.
Henry Jardell, 60, says he lost almost 15 pounds within three months. He lives a few blocks away from the gym, but says he had a very sedentary lifestyle and poor diet, which led him to put on weight.
"Due to excessive weight gain and water retention in my body, I also got an infection in my leg from cellulitis. It really scared me. So I decided I was going to start losing weight," he said.
During one of his walks, he discovered the outdoor gym.
"I saw those machines sitting outside, and I was wondering, like, what? I had to give my head a shake. This is great. It's like a free gym, you know?"
As someone who is retired and lives on a fixed income, he couldn't afford a gym membership, he said. But he's been using the gym for almost an hour every day.
"It's changed my life. I used to sit around at home and do nothing, basically just watch TV," he said. "This has gotten me physically active and starting to get healthy again."
Jerome Seremak, the Manitoba Paddling Association's technical director, says having an outdoor gym right next to his workplace is like a dream come true.
"This is actually where you can get a good workout," he said.
"I would do 20-30 reps of weights, and then you run around the track once and you come back. So it's a really nice change of exercise. Normally, you cannot do that in a gym."
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