The newly opened Greater Chennai Corporation gym at Chinthadripet
| Photo Credit: RAGU R
At this community gymnasium in Chintadripet for women, functionality pulls its weight. Luxury does not quite keep pace with functionality, but no one is complaining.With murals displaying women in workouts, the ambience draws the eye without going over the top. Though compact, the gym comes with sufficient space, further enhanced by a mirror, not one stretching from roof to floor, the kind encountered at every turn in commercial gyms, but large enough to provide a sense of expansiveness. The flooring seems to have been designed for safety, being slip-resistant. Being seating-based, the fitness work station is suitable even for elderly users. Among the notable fitness equipment are stationary exercise bikes, an elliptical cross-trainer and a cable machine.And one look at the composition of the people visiting this Greater Chennai Corporation-run, women’s gym at Vedagiri Street in Chintadripet, and the question of inclusivity gets decisively settled. The age band of the visitors is wide; there are home makers whose day never gets done; the elderly, who have settled into quiet retirement; and even working women, who troop into the gym in the early opening hours, spend a few minutes for fitness and rush back home to get ready for office.
