The garden of serenity

Last week we discussed a workout that can be performed outdoors using little more than a walking or jogging route, and a park bench.

A winding trail spans the length and width of the garden, with 17 stations positioned at regular intervals- Matthew Muscat Inglott

Coincidentally, shortly after crafting that article, I made an exciting new discovery related to this same no-frills approach to outdoor exercise. It looks like we don’t actually have to improvise anymore with unsuspecting pieces of public furniture, because it turns out somebody has already done all the work for us.

“So what on earth is he on about this week?” you might be wondering. That’s a good question, and I had one just as good last week: how could I have never heard of the fabulous fitness garden in Sta Luċija?

Have you ever noticed how oblivious we tend to be to our surroundings first thing in the morning?

From the bed to the car to the office, our rituals remain unchanged down to the tiniest detail day after day, so it’s no wonder we sometimes fall into a trance-like state.

My own morning commute takes me out of Birżebbuġa, past Sta Luċija and down by the cemetery as I power full throttle towards Marsa.

Yes, I’m one of those nuisances who whizzes by your car door on a scooter while you patiently wait in traffic.

One fine morning some weeks ago, I chanced upon a contraption by the side of the road at Sta Luċija running along Council of Europe Street I had previously ridden past so many times before in total oblivion. It had always been there, but alas my senses hadn’t.

Perched amid some greenery in what looked like quite a quaint garden was what appeared to be a chin-up bar. With the advent of outdoor gyms sprouting up across the island in recent years, the idea of a chin-up bar in the middle of a public garden didn’t seem quite so absurd. I vowed to visit this mysterious garden at the first opportunity.

As last week’s column about exercising on park benches rolled off the printing press, that opportunity soon came for me and my exercise partner on a bright and fresh Saturday afternoon. The main sign read, ‘Garden of Serenity’. But I have since come to learn that name actually refers to another nearby garden also known as the ‘Chinese Garden’.

I therefore remain unaware of the official name of the fitness garden, but if you’re confused, it runs directly along the main road.

I stepped onto the grass expecting to find little more than an odd contraption we might somehow, with a little creativity, be able to incorporate into our routine. But what we did find was a lot more than the few seemingly random structures I had scouted from the main road.

To my amazement, the garden turned out to be somewhat of a fitness playground wonderland. Here was a complete exercise system, with multiple stations and detailed walk-through instructions to boot.

A winding trail spanned the length and width of the garden, with 17 stations positioned at regular intervals along it. I would estimate one lap of the trail at a total distance of about 600 metres; not a marathon certainly, but factor in some resistance training at each of the stations and things get very tiring indeed.

At each station, a different structure bears instructions covering the relevant exercise to be performed there along with easy, medium and hard variations.

The exercises involve a mix of simple climbing, jumping, stepping, pulling, pushing, twisting, stretching, and core work.

The exercises cumulatively target virtually every muscle group in the body, tackling all your problem areas and more. There’s nothing fancy about the stations; they are basic, but effective.

Performed in its entirety, the route takes you from warming up and mobility work, through the route and stations themselves, and finally to a cool-down stretch at the end. For my workout partner and myself, I had predicted at least a couple of laps would be required to have a moderately challenging workout; however we soon discovered just one lap was quite enough.

About three quarters the way through, the lactic acid started to catch up with us. The whole sequence, including an initial walk-through and a few repetitions on each station to warm up and prepare the entire workout, took about 50 minutes.

So can you reach our own fitness serenity in our mysterious garden? A journey to Sta Luċija may well leave you pleasantly surprised. Try following the trail by the letter and work up through the prescribed difficulty levels.

Walk between stations at first, and progress to a jog if you can handle it. For the fittest of the fit, alternating jogging with sprinting using the lamp posts as markers will give you an awesome high-intensity workout.

If pure endurance is more your thing, then you could aim for slower laps instead, completing stations one and two on your first lap, three and four on your second, and so on until you’ve completed the circuit two stations at a time.

For pure strength, muscle-building men can pick only the power-based stations like abdominal curls, stepping, jumping, upper-body pushing and upper-body pulling. Max out on each, performing as many repetitions as you can, and walk between the selected stations for maximal recovery.

So whatever your goal, there’s something for everybody at the fabulous fitness garden in Sta Luċija. My hat well and truly goes off to the brains behind it all.

info@noble-gym.com