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 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.