No bar nearby? No excuse. Every park in Amsterdam gives you enough space and, in most cases, a bit of low equipment to run a full bodyweight session. Here are five exercises you can do this week, wherever you are.
1. Push-Ups
The foundation. Chest, shoulders, triceps, and core, all in one movement, no equipment required at all.
How to do it: hands slightly wider than shoulder width, body in a straight line from head to heels, lower your chest to just above the ground, push back up without your hips sagging.
Too hard? Elevate your hands on a park bench and lower the angle as you get stronger.
Too easy? Slow the tempo down, three seconds on the way down, or elevate your feet instead of your hands.
2. Pull-Ups (or Rows, if You’re Not There Yet)
Almost every Amsterdam park with fitness equipment has some kind of bar. If yours has a low one, even better, you can regress this exercise instead of skipping it.
How to do it (pull-up): hang with an overhand grip, shoulders slightly wider than hip width, pull your chin over the bar without swinging, lower under control.
Not ready? Find a lower bar, walk your feet forward with straight legs and lean back, and row your chest to the bar. Same muscles, less bodyweight to move.
3. Dips
Great for triceps and chest, and easy to find equipment for, a low bar, a sturdy bench edge, even two parallel benches will work.
How to do it: hands on the edge, arms straight, lower your body by bending your elbows until your upper arms are roughly parallel to the ground, push back up.
Modify it: keep your feet on the ground and bend your knees to reduce the load, straighten your legs out in front of you to increase it.
4. Bodyweight Squats
Zero equipment needed, and genuinely one of the most useful exercises you can do, full stop.
How to do it: feet shoulder width apart, sit your hips back and down like you’re reaching for a low chair, keep your chest up, go as low as you can while keeping your heels on the ground.
Progress it: add a jump at the top for power, or slow the descent down to three seconds for more time under tension.
5. Hollow Body Hold
The single most underrated core exercise in calisthenics, and the foundation for almost every advanced skill you’ll eventually train toward, from pull-ups to levers.
How to do it: lie on your back, press your lower back into the ground, lift your shoulders and legs slightly off the ground, arms extended overhead, hold the shape without your back arching.
Modify it: bend your knees to reduce the lever length if a straight-leg hold is too much at first.
Put It Together
Run these five as a circuit: 30 to 45 seconds of work, 15 to 30 seconds rest, three to four rounds through the full list. That’s a complete, equipment-light session you can do in any park in Amsterdam, from Rembrandtpark to Sloterpark to your local playground bar, in under 30 minutes.
Training Alone Gets You Started. Training Together Keeps You Going.
These five moves will genuinely improve your strength if you do them consistently. But consistency is exactly where most solo training falls apart, life gets busy, motivation dips, and a solo park session is easy to skip when nobody’s expecting you.
That’s the difference a group makes. Same exercises, same parks around Amsterdam West, but with a coach correcting your form and people showing up expecting to see you there too.
