This morning as a part of my plan to exercise before I work for 30 days, I walked to the new outdoor gym in Great Baddow.

The gym was built a few weeks ago, I am not sure of the date, but I only discovered it last Sunday. After years of thinking about the local council finally decided to go ahead and build it, but then did not bother telling anyone about it.

OK, maybe they did, maybe it was mentioned in the local press or the parish council circular, but I do not always read those.

This is partly the reason for setting up this site. I realised that I do not know enough about what happens in my local community. So I plan to keep a closer eye on events and blog what I hear about.

Here are some photos of the outdoor gym.

Great Baddow Outdoor Gym

Pull Down Machine

I think that the gym has certainly been a success. I have now been there 3 times this week and each time other people have been there. On Sunday morning when I discovered it there were several individuals, a couple of teenage girls and an elderly man. Then on Sunday afternoon (I went back for a proper workout) there was a mother and her children. Today there one one young adult also doing a circuit.

So it is getting used by a good cross section of the local community. It was good to see the mother and her kids, as although the children were a little bit annoying, an outdoor gym does provide mums a great way to get some resistance exercises done for free while still being able to keep an eye on their children. Commercial gyms are expensive enough, but childcare in commercial gyms is extortionate, especially if you have 3 or 4 children.

For me the gym fits in nicely with my current plan to exercise before work. I walk about 15 minutes each way and then exercise for 15-20 minutes, so getting 45 minutes of exercise in the fresh air each day (that I do it). I also have my free weights and cross trainer in my garage to will use those some days, when the weather is not so good.