Although I've been active my whole life, I easily get bored of repetitious workouts. I never managed to finish all three months of P90x, I switched sports almost every year in school, I get bored after two laps around Lake Meritt, and I like to be outside as often as possible – a trait non-conducive to big-box gyms.
When I started teaching a boxing boot camp in Oakland – finally, a workout that I didn't get tired of – I struggled with finding the perfect outdoor space to get our sweat on. Grass tends to slip when you're doing mountain-climbers, and it's hard to compete with Oakland's joggers for sidewalk space.
So it makes sense why I was so excited to hear about the new, public workout space in Hayes Valley. Dreamt up by Basic Training, a San Francisco-based outdoor fitness company, who funded the project through a successful Indiegogo campaign, the outdoor fitness space now occupies the spot where a parking lot once sat at Hayes and Octavia. Designed as the ultimate adult playground, The Basic Training Pop-Up Fitness Hub, which opened Sunday, June 7, includes a workout wall, jumping station, and plenty of open space – all the elements you need for a vast array of classes and infinite combinations of movements for circuit training.
Here, finally, is a space meant for athletes on-the-go. Get out there for 15 minutes or two hours and you can change up your workout every day of the week.