Getting Fit At Burnham Park

Fitness Activities At Burnham Park

Burnham park has become the haven, if you will, of fitness buffs. This is because of the fact that there are several fitness activities which you can do when you are in the Park. Here are some of the fitness activities we’d normally do.

1. Stretching by the Lake Drive – Burnham park is composed of several segments, the Rose Garden, Burnham lake area and the Children’s playground. There is one certain location where personally we prefer to conduct our stretching exercises. Of course, in any physical activity, it is important to start with stretching exercises and we prefer to do this in the area adjacent to the lake drive. Why? It is because the lake drive is lined up with eucalyptus trees and if you are early and morning dew is just forming on the plants you will definitely smell that eucalyptus scent in the air. Eucalyptus have several health benefits especially concerning breathing. The morning dew brings out the scent, water indeed brings out the scent of eucalyptus trees, this is why the scent is also distinct right after a downpour. Although we do not recommend doing any stationary fitness activities at the Lake Drive after 6am because this is the time when traffic will start to build on the road.
   

   

2. Jogging around the Lake – for those starting out or just about to re-introduce themselves to jogging, the Burnham Lake area is the best place to conduct this fitness activity. For those who have been using this place to jog you would agree that there are two jogging levels here, the beginner level, where you jog around the lake area, adjacent to the lake itself. The advanced level where you jog around the outer area of the Burnham Lake, where you are adjacent to the biking area and the lake drive area. The outer area is wider and longer compared with the inner portion of the Burnham lake area, this is why the former is the advanced level.
   

   
   

3. Upper Body and Lower Body Exercises At the Burnham Lake – paddling a boat on the Burnham Lake is known to be one of the tourist and leisure activities in Baguio City. This could also be a good physical fitness activity. If you are trying to improve your upper body, then you can choose any of the boats available for rent. If you are looking to improve your lower body you can rent a Swan boat where instead of paddling using an oar you paddle with your legs through a pedal mechanism. Do this for one hour and you will surely feel the calories burning.
   

   
   

4. Bike To Your Health – if you do not want to go on the water to improve your lower body, then maybe you want to stay on land and ride a bike around the Burnham Park biking area. There are two levels here the longer road and the shorter one, depending on your preference, you can start pedaling your way to good health.
   
   

   Rent a Bike

    

    

   4. Pull Ups At The Children’s Park – throw in some obstacle course, monkey bars, and some heavy swings and you have the things you need to increase your upper body strength. The “circular” swings at the Children’s park are made of steel bars, ask a child up to 12 years old to ride and offer to push the swing and you are on your way to a good physical activity. There are also steel monkey bars which you can use to do pull-ups, don’t worry the bars are anchored to the ground to withstand your weight. We recommend doing these exercises early in the morning, for obvious reasons that you have to give way for the children to play when they start arriving.

   
   

5. Zumba or Taebo All You Can – Zumba and Taebo groups have sprouted around Burnham Park. If you are early enough you can join a group as they start their morning Zumba or Taebo routine. The instructors have been doing these exercises for years and you can be sure that you are burning those calories the right way through the Zumba dance moves and Taebo Martial Arts moves. Just do not forget to stretch before you start any physical fitness activities.
   
   

   Taebo at Burnham Park

There are other physical fitness activities which you can do around Burnham park. You can run up and down the stairs where the Architect Daniel Burnham bust is located, sort of like a scene from a Rocky movie (remember that?). Or maybe run from one end of Melvin Jones to another while you are trying to fly a kite, or maybe enjoy a healthy serving of “taho” just in case you go hungry.

Indeed, Burnham park is not only a tourist attraction but on a certain time of the day, Burnham park can also be a fitness activity center. Truly, the essence of Baguio City as a Mountain Health resort as originally planned by the Americans in the 1940’s still lives, the facilities and the people advocating for physical fitness and overall wellbeing are keeping this essence alive.