Parcours Sportif

It’s really not much more than a pull up bar, parallel bars, monkey bars and a balance beam. However, it’s right along the beautiful canal and attracts a lot of like minded street workout obsessives and weekend exercisers.
Everyone’s friendly. Be prepared to shake hands with your fellow exercisers (evidently it’s a thing for some people: Shake everyone’s hand who’s there.)
I went to a couple of gyms around town: Most were asking for about 40 euros for a day pass (yikes!) This is definitely a cheaper option for getting a workout, if you’re visiting.

Ever since I moved near this outdoor gym along the Canal St Martin I’ve been utterly obsessed with the variety and number of people who come here to workout.
You wouldn’t believe how much of a local attraction this minimal al fresco gymnasium is. From the looks of the bodies on the guys who come here to get in shape, you’d wonder why any one would pay a penny to join a gym. I mean they are BUFF, and not in that gross I can press 300k kind of way, but in the perfectly sculpted, discreetly toned way that shows they mean business.
There are devoted regulars who come day or night, rain, sleet, snow or shine (I’m not kidding you, people, I’ve seen guys doing pull-​ups during snowstorms), including urban ninjas doing backward crawls along the canal, martial arts experts, and the scary guy with the army fatigues that we’ve nicknamed «Taxi Driver.»
I have yet to get down there myself to twist, tone, pull or stretch, but from a voyeur’s perspective, this place deserves 6 stars!!!