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Author Topic: Lifting weights in outdoor gym in Kiev  (Read 3653 times)

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Offline Larry

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Lifting weights in outdoor gym in Kiev
« on: July 04, 2012, 09:29:59 AM »


Notice how this fellow is conscientious about staying hydrated during his workout.

Maybe the Norwegian Viking can do his workouts here on his next trip to Ukraine.  I think it's called the Dnieper gym.

More photos here:

http://englishrussia.com/2012/07/03/training-in-the-fresh-air/#more-104282

Offline sashathecat

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Re: Lifting weights in outdoor gym in Kiev
« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2012, 11:02:05 AM »
I am told gyms are very expensive in Ukraine and normally out of reach for the average person.
Most guys prefer to do the half liter beer curls as is evidenced  ;)

Offline Bill

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Re: Lifting weights in outdoor gym in Kiev
« Reply #2 on: July 04, 2012, 12:11:55 PM »
Looks like they're copying Muscle Beach Gym along the boardwalk in Venice Beach, Los Angeles California.  All they're lacking is the sun, beach and girls in bikinis.  :laugh:
 
http://www.venicebeach.com/article_musclegym.php


Offline Larry

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Re: Lifting weights in outdoor gym in Kiev
« Reply #3 on: July 04, 2012, 12:26:03 PM »
Quote
Looks like they're copying Muscle Beach Gym along the boardwalk in Venice Beach, Los Angeles California.  All they're lacking is the sun, beach and girls in bikinis.

Not much they can do about the relative lack of bright Southern California sunshine or a good beach, but I imagine they could round up a lot of hot Ukrainian girls in bikinis if they were able to provide some incentive to get them there.

Offline leeholsen

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Re: Lifting weights in outdoor gym in Kiev
« Reply #4 on: July 24, 2012, 09:42:47 AM »

Although, the equipment is in pretty sad shape, I'm in favor of that type of workout.  :)
Eat 'em up Houston Cougars !

Offline HeartInTheEast

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Re: Lifting weights in outdoor gym in Kiev
« Reply #5 on: July 26, 2012, 06:05:42 AM »
I noticed in Kiev barely anyone lifted(Sydney has a lot of Steroid usage), most guys had skinny arms, although in the shopping center we saw a MASSIVE guy in a singlet top, he must of been Ukraine champion he was not just big but pro big and proportioned.

Offline Larry

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Re: Lifting weights in outdoor gym in Kiev
« Reply #6 on: October 29, 2012, 07:01:45 PM »
RUA beat ABC News to this story:

Quote
Pumping Iron: Soviet-Era Fitness Still Going Strong in Kiev

In Kiev, some sports nuts prefer to use salvaged tank chains and tires instead of barbells to beef up. At a unique open-air fitness park in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, body builders are still getting pumped up Soviet-style. A new photography book documents their efforts.

For many people, getting in shape entails heading to a members-only gym, complete with digital exercise machines and a luxurious sauna. But at a popular sports park in Kiev, things a far more hardcore.

In his latest photography book, Ukrainian photographer Kirill Golovchenko documents how people pump iron at a special place in his home country. "Kachalka: Muscle Beach" explores a Soviet-era open-air fitness area covering ten square kilometers (6.2 square miles) on the island of Tuhev in the heart of Ukraine's capital. There, entry has been free to anyone who wants to stay fit for the last 40 years.

The Ukrainian word Kachat means "to pump," and looking at the sunny images captured around the park's more than 200 weight-lifting stations, one can almost hear the sound of clinking weights, rep by rep. The unpadded benches, made simply of wood and painted blue, look more like medieval torture devices than benchpress stations.

It was here in the early 1970s that Polish gymnast Kasimir Jagelsky and mathematics professor Yuri Kuk realized their dream of creating a place for collective outdoor strength training. The fitness equipment is made from material that comes from a time when there was a surplus of scrap metal. Large vehicle parts serve as both weights and footbeds for rowing benches, and much of the equipment looks like it was salvaged from landfills and defunct factories.

One of the photos shows three men exerting themselves on a contraption made of various bars and and tractor tires, while another portrays a man wearing shorts and flip flops straining mightily to lift a piece of a tank chain into the air. It is a drama of biceps and triceps centered on the principles of tension and release.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/soviet-era-fitness-strong-kiev/story?id=17573065#.UI8nI8XhqNp

Offline kievstar

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Re: Lifting weights in outdoor gym in Kiev
« Reply #7 on: October 30, 2012, 08:26:47 AM »
When I lived in Kiev I worked at a gym like this outside even in January.  Was very common and not near city center.  There is a movie on HBO called Klitschko and even Klitschko  worked out of these type of gyms until 20 plus years old.  There are a lot of these gyms because the military used to use them.  Military a lot smaller now so many of these gyms around to the public. 

There is even one gym you can work outside then go inside in a very nice restaurant (Actually cheapest thing on the menu will cost you $50 usd per person before drinks) and then you can go over to the range and shoot bazookas, tanks, etc (this was expensive so I only watched)  They have a golf course now as well which is very rare in Ukraine.  Lot of single women hang out there looking for rich RM.  I used to find RM who would buy cars from the USA.  South and a little East of Kiev city center right near where all the millionaires live in Ukraine.  Probably 45 minutes no traffic by car from city center of Kiev.  I don't remember the name of the place since I no longer go to Ukraine as wife likes Texas to much. 

Regarding skinny arms I saw just as many skinny guys in Australia as Ukraine.  You want to see some monsters go to Poland I think babies take steroids in their bottles at birth.  I used to live there as well and thought college football teams in America should recruit some of these 400 pound and 2 meter tall guys who can run like the wind.  Of course the steroids were dripping from their bodies like sweat. 

You will find in tourist areas more skinny guys in Ukraine.  The big guys in Ukraine are rarely hanging out with tourists or city center. 

Offline Norwegian Viking

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Re: Lifting weights in outdoor gym in Kiev
« Reply #8 on: August 12, 2013, 07:20:52 AM »
I noticed in Kiev barely anyone lifted(Sydney has a lot of Steroid usage), most guys had skinny arms, although in the shopping center we saw a MASSIVE guy in a singlet top, he must of been Ukraine champion he was not just big but pro big and proportioned.

Ukraine and Russia are by far the most dominant nations in the world in both weight lifting and powerlifting.
Lately these countries (especially Ukraine) has started to produce excellent strongmen as well. The Polish domination of this sport has been well known.

Virastyuk from Ukraine was the world's strongest man a few years ago:
http://www.theworldsstrongestman.com/wp-content/gallery/2004-wsm/WSM-2004---Vasyl-Virastyuk.jpg

And of course the Ukrainians don't like the fact that Poland has produced the best strongman of this generation (perhaps of all time) - Mariuz Pudzianowski:

http://tkohub.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/MARIUSZ_PUDZIANOWSKI_41578l.jpg


 

 

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