The Jungle Gym – Rockin’ at Six Senses Phuket
Hold it , hold it... Tree stumps are good for balancing exercises. Photo by Michael Poliza
Question: What costs next to nothing, will do you good, is environmentally-friendly and can be found in a five-star tropical resort?
Answer: The Jungle Gym at the Six Senses Destination Spa on Naka Yai Island, just off Phuket, where guests can choose to work out surrounded by nature, among coconut palms and banana trees accompanied by bird song and the scents of flowers, all refreshed with a cooling sea breeze; a bit of a change from your typical air-conditioned city gym.
The equipment is all made from natural materials – wood and rocks – or recycled items, like used car tires and rope, the kind of stuff you may have used when you were a kid to make your own playground.
But the Jungle Gym, is not child’s play, say the Six Senses people. This is serious stuff. It “has been specifically created to address cardiovascular endurance, functional movement, spatial awareness, muscular strength, core stability, flexibility and balance.”
Equipment includes balance beams for functional movement, which double as steps to build leg strength; wooden stumps arranged in a circular fashion for enhancing balance and spatial awareness; high and low bars for enhancing upper body strength and core stability; smooth river rocks marked with their weights in kilograms for any variation of dumbbell exercises; used car tires that can be pulled as a weighted sledge – working the cardiovascular system; and large tractor tires for lifting and moving to improve overall body balance and core strength.
Weight-marked rocks double as dumbells. Photo by Michael Poliza
“The Jungle Gym is in constant evolution,” say Six Senses, “with the changing outdoor environment and new additions to the equipment being made frequently. As guests come to appreciate the wide range of exercises that can be performed with simple pieces of equipment, the notion that exercise is limited by time and space becomes obsolete.”
They add, “One of the core principles at the Six Senses Destination Spa – Phuket, is education. Being aware of what can be accomplished in the Jungle Gym, guests will understand that the justification for not using the gym is limited, once one understands the basics of physical movement; with the team that developed this concept confirming that useful exercises can be done anywhere – a hotel room, beach, in the jungle and even in a submarine or an airplane.”
Group-circuit classes, presented in a boot camp format, are available for guests on a complimentary basis and expert personal trainers are on hand to give an in-depth appreciation of this fantastic alternative for fitness training.
So now there is no escape; there is absolutely no excuse for not pumping rock every day.
