Have you been to Varna Park in Clovelly in recent weeks? You may have noticed busy workers building a new workout space near the section with shaded trees as Waverley Council has responded to the community’s needs for an outdoor gym.
The new facility will be the seventh outdoor gym within the Council’s jurisdiction. It will be set up with a chest press, an elliptical trainer, lat pulldown, cardio equipment, exercise bike, and strength and stretching exercises.
A Council spokesperson said that this has been most requested by the community, who want to use a free gym than a commercial option, especially for the older residents. Thus, studies and consultations were undertaken between October 2019 to January 2020 to assess the feasibility of the project.
Following the consultations, Council started with the upgrades on Varna Park in February 2021 and it’s scheduled to finish by May 2021.
The project will also entail the following improvements:
- Installation of natural and imaginative play spaces
- New park furniture and bins
- New fitness station and rubber softfall
- Turf improvement works
The upgrades on Varna Park have been moving forward despite criticisms that spending on an outdoor gym might not be worth the cost as only a small number of locals actually use the facilities.
Whilst workout spaces have become the trend in Sydney, it has yet to help with people’s fitness routines in a significant way as only about 17 percent of Australians perform sufficient physical exercises regularly, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
