wellness
Oud-West Residents Discover Free Outdoor Gyms Along Local Streets
Oud West locals are using these no-cost spots along familiar streets to maintain daily movement without membership fees.
How we reported this
Oud West added three new free fitness circuits this spring, bringing the total to eight stations scattered across neighbourhood parks and canal paths. The installations include pull-up bars, parallel bars and resistance bands anchored to fixed frames at each location.
Wellness participation has climbed steadily since the city health office published its annual activity report in May 2026. That report noted a 28 percent increase in recorded outdoor exercise sessions compared with the previous year, driven in part by higher indoor facility costs and a preference for short, accessible workouts near home.
Two circuits residents use most
The busiest setup sits at the small park on Kinkerstraat between Da Costakade and Bilderdijkstraat. Eight stations line the path, with equipment installed in April 2025 and checked monthly by district maintenance crews. A second popular circuit runs along the canal edge at Jan Evertsenstraat near the Bellamyplein playground. It features bodyweight stations spaced every 20 metres and was upgraded with fresh rubber matting last October.
Both locations fall within the Oud West active travel network, which the district launched in 2023 to connect green spaces with marked walking and running routes. The network map, available at the community centre on Jacob van Lennepkade, lists opening hours as dawn to dusk with no reservations required.
Numbers behind the trend
District records show the Kinkerstraat circuit logged 4,200 individual uses in the first half of 2026. Average session length runs 22 minutes, according to counters installed on three of the frames. No fees apply, though users are asked to wipe down shared grips after use. The same report lists equipment replacement costs at 18,000 euros per site when upgrades occur.
Visitors can start at either circuit with a simple warm-up loop around the adjacent blocks. The community centre posts a weekly schedule of free guided sessions on its noticeboard every Monday morning, and the Oud West wellness newsletter sends updates by email on the first of each month.