World Fitness Blog : Leading Global Bloggers

Posted on 7 September, 2021

Canberra’s array of free outdoor fitness stations are now open once more.

With the right gear, it’s a great time to get outdoors and take your workout with you. Here are nine of our favourite (completely free!) outdoor fitness stations across Canberra.

Central Canberra – Inner North

Glebe Park

Glebe Park is a great option for those looking for a DIY outdoor lunchtime workout. You can walk or run its trails, do some shuttle runs, some walking lunges, grab a park bench for some modified press-ups—there are heaps of options!

Oh, and it’s great if you’ve got kids—they can play while you work out nearby.

Central Canberra – Inner South

Deakin Fitness Station

Deakin Fitness Station is a great facility to add to your fitness routine. It’s right near parkland and walking trails, so it’s easy to add in some strength work mid-run or work, or even to make a bit of a circuit.

Do a few sets of bodyweight exercises and then go for a short run; then repeat. There are handy boards showing you how to use the equipment just nearby, and some good stretch instructions, too.

Lakeside at Yarralumla

The facilities here at Yarralumla aren’t fancy and new, but they’re perfect for adding some strength work into your run or walk—or stretching out afterwards.

It’s just a stunning spot, looking out over Lake Burley Griffin, and spring is the perfect time to enjoy it.

Weston Creek/Molonglo

Weston Fitness Station

Weston Fitness Station is a beauty—it’s a little tucked away (which is good if you suffer from performance anxiety) but right near other recreation facilities in Dillon Close neighbourhood park.

Tuggeranong

Kambah Fitness Station

Kambah Fitness Station is a compact facility, well kitted out with modern equipment like a chin-up bar (don’t freak out—you can do jump chins if you can’t quite get the full movement), a sit-up bench and horizontal bars.

These pieces of equipment may sound basic, but they lend themselves to a whole array of exercises.

Fadden Pines

Fadden Pines is another great spot for exercising if you’ve got the kids with you. What an amazing facility! Heaps of fitness options and just an all-around beautiful park.

Belconnen

John Knight Memorial Park

Make sure you slide down the slippery slides here, they’re heaps of fun! That’s probably the best thing about John Knight Memorial Park in Belconnen—it has some great dedicated fitness facilities, like bars and benches, but there are oodles of things to occupy the kids just nearby.

There’s also a big open space for running, groundwork, and whatever else you choose to do. Oh, and there’s a lake view here, too. Nice.

Gungahlin

Crace Recreation Park

Crace Recreation Park is almost enough to make us want to move northside. It’s amazing! Just like an outdoor gym. You’ll find pretty much all the ‘fixed weight’ equipment you’d find in a standard gym here, but it’s outside, free and accessible to anyone.

You could easily DIY a strength training circuit here a few times per week, mix it up with some walking/running/walking on the other days, and that’s you sorted.

Woden

Chifley Fitness Station

We decided to round out this article with Chifley Fitness Station for a few reasons. Firstly, because it has a great range of activities—from balance beams to parallel bars and more. Plus it’s just near a great big oval and a cracker of a park.

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“But I could see when I was talking he was also really excited when he saw how big the space is. Yes, fitness is a competitive industry, but in our heads we also have this untapped area, which is this Gen Z market.”

Jake Carp, a high school friend of Ms Davies, joined her venture earlier this year to help her figure out how to select the right kind of content, achieve user growth, and optimise their mobile app game. She also brought in Dave Slutzkin as a chief technology officer and co-founder.

A month after the coffee, Mr Eisen confirmed on email that he was in.

Steppen’s founders declined to provide their total user numbers, saying only that more than 6700 people have downloaded the app in the past month, and that it is returning user growth is growing at an average of 38 per cent week-on-week.

Steppen’s social content mostly focuses on gym-based banter (leg-day chat, for example), while the app itself houses a growing library of longer workout ideas from “full-body HIIT” to “BOOTY, BOOTY, BOOTY”.

Ms Davies and Mr Carp argue that as Gen Z natives, they can speak the language of their peers in a non-cringey way, and the fact their app is free will be attractive to people their age who may not have the disposable cash to fund their fitness wants.

“Steppen is all about democratising fitness and making workouts accessible to everybody,” Ms Davies said.

“It’s a social fitness app that is looking to unbundle fitness content from these existing platforms from these large general platforms, and put it on its own app that is specific for fitness. Finding, creation and completion is all super easy on our app.”

Market testing

At this stage the app has no revenue model. The team might look to develop a system of power users who could charge on the app, or go for advertising, with activewear and health-equipment sales.

The founders said the pre-seed money would be used for market testing and to hopefully build the app’s audience to become the go-to workout destination for Gen Z.

To that extent, the money will either help fuel an early-mover advantage in the social fitness app space, or will serve as a nice investor-funded MBA for Ms Davies and Mr Carp.

Steppen has so far peaked at number 14 in the health and fitness app charts, but competition in the online fitness space, let alone the fitness space more broadly, remains fierce.

Local standouts include Kayla Itsines’s app Sweat, Laura Henshaw and Steph Claire-Smith’s workout and recipe app Keep It Cleaner, and newer ventures like Louisa Paterson’s Train Like a Ballerina and Bianca Melas’ Pilates platform Balanced by Bianca.

Thanks to the pandemic, there has also been a proliferation of online workout classes on booking apps like Classpass and Mindbody, as gym closures during lockdowns forced the industry online.

Steppen’s founders are well aware of the crowded space they have entered. But to this concern they simply respond with a smile – they say their hustle is real, their ambitions are huge, and their journey is really only just kicking off.

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Giving our drooping Monday energies a fantastic pump up is Milind Soman‘s kettlebell workout video that has rebooted our will to hit the gym this week. Giving a glimpse of his beast mode, Milind displayed jaw-dropping grip strength while playing throw and catch with a heavy kettlebell and that is all the fitness motivation we need to swing our rusted limbs and give them a much-needed workout.

Taking to his Instagram handle’s story feature, Milind shared a video featuring him standing in the middle of a lush green garden and a backdrop of a cool windy weather. Sporting his signature salt pepper look, Milind donned a full sleeves black T-shirt, layered with a casual grey half sleeves one and teamed with a pair of black tights to complete his athleisure look.

Holding a kettlebell in one hand, Milind swung the heavy gym equipment into the air and caught it above his head with the other hand. Repeating the exercise with alternate hands, Milind instantly charged up our willpower and we are inspired to brush aside our workout procrastination this new work week.

Benefits:

Exercising with the kettlebell helps one to build their core muscles as well as the upper body and lower body strength. The target muscles during the exercise are the hamstrings and the quads.

Apart from shaping a lean, toned and firm physique, kettlebells are great at working your glutes, increasing power endurance, bridging the gap between cardio and strength training and burning fat which aides in weightloss. The horn or handle of the kettlebell is often thicker than that of a dumbbell which helps in increasing grip strength.

Swinging the kettlebell can also have benefits on grip strength and it targets the practitioner’s glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings in lower body, back, shoulders and triceps in upper body and the core, all in one single move. It improves the strength, function and coordination of the posterior chain, develop speed and power with the clean and jerk and helps one in attaining the posture of a military soldier with a straight back, shoulders retracted, tight core and immensely better back health.

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Stepz Fitness has launched a post-lockdown spring campaign that helps Australians get back to the gym, develop a routine, and be affordable.

Taking account the toll that lockdowns have had and are having on exercise routine and that people have stopped using the gym, the campaign considers hopes to help all Australians get back their health and fitness routine.

The campaign, for a limited time, sees Stepz Fitness offer a range of benefits on all memberships, including: No Joining Fee; one free personal training session, ‘first two weeks free’; complimentary body scan and no minimum term contract.

With 16 locations across Queensland and NSW with 24/7 access, a statement from the Australian-owned franchise, advises “regular gym-goers know that routine is hugely important when it comes to achieving your health and fitness goals.

“The lockdowns in Brisbane and now Greater Sydney, whilst vastly different durations, both have similar impacts. Both on physical and mental wellbeing.  The restrictions have the effect of putting a circuit breaker in life as we know it.

“Stepz Fitness urges Australians to develop a routine regardless of whether they are in Lockdown or not. They recommend you write down two different sets of daily routines – one for lockdown and one when lockdowns ease. Keep them flexible but clear. A good routine is one that you can adapt when needed without feeling uncertain of the activities planned for the next day.

“Too many Australians don’t put their health at the top of the list. The pandemic reinforced how important your health is and what freedoms are at stake if the health of a nation is compromised. With that being said, it is also understandable to feel momentary that exercise and good nutrition isn’t at the forefront of your mind.

“The pandemic has created many different stresses that can easily float to the top of your priorities without even realising it. Economic and social isolation may be dominating your thoughts. It may help to remember these worries are will quickly dissipate if you develop an illness or preventable disease associated with a lack of proper nutrition and exercise.”

The Stepz Fitness statement concludes that it is aiming for its campaign “to help more Australians feel happier and healthier through the well-documented benefits of exercise … without the barrier that sometimes comes with joining a gym.”

Click here for more information.

Images: Stepz Fitness’ Spring campaign.

Related Articles

3rd September 2021 – World Economic Forum study identifies fitness as the most popular physical activity globally

2nd September 2021 – Global Wellness Summit reports on visitation surge to fitness centres and wellness destinations

23rd August 2021 – Co-founder of F45 launches new fitness franchise, REUNION Training

18th August 2021 – Global Health & Fitness Alliance sets out to prove the exercise industry’s value to society

16th July 2021 – ExerciseNZ study shows that New Zealanders have gained tonnes of weight during Coronavirus pandemic

18th June 2021 – Small Business Ombudsman welcomes Franchising Code reforms

15th June 2021 – Stepz Fitness to open two new hybrid model gyms

20th May 2021 – FIBO becomes a member of ‘Exercise is Medicine’ initiative

20th May 2021 – ESSA reminds Australians that exercise can change lives

19th May 2021 – Body Fit Training named Asia-Pacific Franchise of the Year at Singapore’s Fit Summit Conference

2nd May 2021 – Latest Ausplay report shows renewed participation in Olympic sport

8th April 2021 – Stepz Fitness opens new gym in Dubbo

18th March 2021 – A third of global gym members unlikely to return to clubs after COVID vaccine

8th March 2021 – Research suggests face masks are safe to wear during intense exercise

12th November 2020 – Stepz Fitness curates holistic interiors to enhance patrons’ wellbeing

13th July 2020 – Fitness clubs use Evolt 360 Body Scanners to help members achieve their goals

10th March 2020 – Hybrid gym concept and new franchisees drive Stepz Fitness expansion

1st November 2019 – Stepz Fitness unveils new wellness concept

7th September 2016 – Eye Fitness launches revolutionary 3D body scanner

4th October 2012 – 24-hour gym Stepz Fitness opens in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley

8th September 2012 – Stepz Fitness launches ‘virtual personal trainers’

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