A Class of Street Workout in Hong Kong
Wheezing from noses, sweat drops falling along the lines of mandibles, faces becoming red and hot, a group of young people with tight sport wears are rolling and “flying” up and down around the bars with intensive body movements. They are “street workers”. Instead of doing exercise in gym rooms, more and more Hong Kong people are movin outside to public parks and make use of the facilities there. As this activity is gaining more popularity locally, an increasing number of specific training classes are held by professional street workout coaches.
Street Workout Gaining Popularity in Hong Kong without Enough Facilities
Push-up, pull-up, dip, human flag, muscle up are the exercises that street workers always practice. Mr Fan Ming Yan, a street worker was trying to do a challenging exercise - front lever.
Mr Fan grabbed the pull-up bar tightly and both of his legs were tucked in hard. Then he extended his legs out at the hips and knees until they were completely straight. At this moment, his entire body was formed into a straight line and he was parallel to the ground. He counted, “1, 2, 3…..18 seconds,” and pant out, “My best record is 24 seconds.”
Most Hong Kong people may have not heard about street workout, but the number of people joining this sport is actually skyrocketing. Street Workout Hong Kong (SWHK) is the earliest official organisation for street workout lovers. It currently has over 300 members, mostly between 16 to 24 years old and has joined several international competitions.
“It is definitely growing steadily,” said Kevin Lee, founder of SWHK, “it actually grew a lot faster than what we had expected during the past 5 years, so we are really grateful!”
In addition to the organisation, a number of street workout groups and teams were formed and the “XBAR” is one of them. It consists of a group of street workout lovers who provide free teaching classes to people regularly.
Mr Fan, founder of “XBAR” said, “Almost all the classes we hold are full or nearly full. We have a variety of participants, both men and women, young and old. We all train together and we actually form a community.”
Although they train together, laugh together and have a great atmosphere, street workers like Mr. Fan are faced with a number of problems, with lacking equipment being the most obvious one. A high pull-up bar in park is probably the only equipment that street workouter rely on.
"There are about 10 pull up bars in Tin Shui Wai, which were separated into different parks in the community, but only 3 of them are higher than 1.8 meters,” Mr. Fan said, "With a bar shorter that 1.8 meters, it is impossible for us to do a full rage pull-up."
But the good news is that a 2.1-meter and a 2.3-meter pull-up bar were set in Tin Shui Wai last April after Mr Fan requested from the government. He said, "I have talked to the Yuen Long District Council Member, Mr Kwok Keung, and asked of adding new pull up bars in the community."
However, street workers in other districts are no as lucky as them. Mr Wong Wei HIn, one of the members of Dragon Style, said, “In Tseung Kwan O, there are only have 3 high pull bars, which is far from enough," said Mr Wong Wei Hin, a member of Dragon Style, a team of street workers who usually perform their training in Tseung Kwan O.
A park called San Kung Tseung Kwan O Government Complex is where members of the Dragon Style train. It is noticeable that one of the bars there is already full of laundry clothes. Mr Wong said, "It is very annoying as we cannot practice, but we also do not know where we can move these clothes."
There is a sign board inside the park saying "No drying linen and clothes". In fact, according to the Hong Kong Housing Development, drying clothes in public areas except in areas designated by the Housing Department is a violation against the Marking Scheme for Estate Management Enforcement.
"We have complained many times, but the administrators seldom come. These clothes will stay here for a few days. It seems that no one are stopping them," Mr Wong said.
Due to the lack of equipment in parks, some people turn to gyms for training. However, according to the Leisure and Cultural Service Development, governmental gym rooms charge $14 per hour and only qualified people can get in there. Mr Fan said that only those who have attempted classes and passed a specific exam are qualified to enter these gyms, while the number of class is not enough. As a result, not everyone can enjoy the government gym rooms.
The Legislative Council Member Dr Hon Elizabeth Quat has also criticized that the number of “briefing on proper way to use fitness equipment” class is not enough and the Leisure and Cultural Service Development is not tackling this issue seriously.
“I just want a place for training and exercising. A place where everyone can train and everyone can afford,” Fan said. He hopes that the number of facilities in parks can be increased and more people can enjoy street workout easily.