Ongole: Open Gyms to work out for change in lifestyle

Ongole: A middle-aged woman, Sridevi, (name changed on request) is hurrying towards Rangarayudu Cheruvu, leaving her friends behind in the early morning. She wants to use sky walker and double air walker for more time as she felt that her joints are relaxed after using them last time. She thanks the State government for providing the opportunity to people like her, who used to walk around the tank for a few minutes to utilise the equipment installed there in the open gym.

It is everybody's dream to flaunt a hero-like look with muscles and abs or make a fashion statement with the diva style measurements, but the deformed body is not giving a chance for them. There would be many reasons for not burning out the fat accumulated around those body parts for everyone. However, the Ongole Municipal Corporation is advising people to not make any excuses to try the workout in the open gyms installed at various public parks and make living fit a habit of lifestyle.

These open gyms are equipped with seated puller, double air walker, chest press double, sit-up board double, cross trainer, sky walker, Tai Chi spinner wheels, rower, horse rider, triple standing twister and others for strengthening the lower body muscles, chest muscles, back muscles, upper limbs, hand grip, waist, thigh and abdomen muscles, shoulders and arms, improving joint flexibility, cardiovascular fitness, building strength and muscle tone and many more.

The Ongole Municipal Corporation in association with the Andhra Pradesh Urban Greening and Beautification Corporation established these open gyms at the parks of Rangarayudu Cheruvu, Nirmal Nagar, Devudu Cheruvu, CRPF Quarters, Bhagyanagar and other places in the town with the support from the earlier MLA Damacharla Janardhana Rao and present MLA and Minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy.

Dr K Nageshwara Rao, a regular user of the open gym at Rangarayudu Cheruvu said that the response to them from public is excellent. He said that the open gym unit here is oversubscribed and needs at least two more units, one for exclusively for women, to address the increasing demand day by day. He said that the people were understanding that spending a few extra minutes on the equipment along with walking around the tank has added advantage and that is why there is an increased demand for the machinery during peak hours, from 5 AM to 8 AM and from 5 PM to 7 PM. He opined that people who cannot spend time in regular gyms can use these open gyms to reduce the risks of the lifestyle diseases.

Kolla Madhu, president of the Ongole Citizen Forum appreciated the municipal officials for establishing open gyms, following their requests earlier. He said that after launching the open gym at Rangarayudu Cheruvu Park, Minister Balineni Srinivas Reddy has already ordered the municipal officials to establish similar gyms in all parks in the town. He requested the officials concerned to consider installing a few of them exclusively for women in the most sought places.

Ongole Municipal Commissioner P Niranjan Reddy said that they are receiving a tremendous response to the open gyms installed in the town. He said that they have installed the open gyms in seven parks in the town and are about to install in four other parks soon. He announced that they are receiving requests for extra units from a few parks and they would allocate them after they could find necessary funds in near future. However, the physiotherapists suggest the users of the open gym be careful while using the equipment. Dr Gurrala Rajvimal said that there are instances of people misused the equipment and join hospitals for treatment. He said that only a couple of open gyms in Ongole employed a part-time instructor to guide them using the equipment and advised others to follow them. A qualified instructor would help the user to get better results and happy exercise, he added.