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Fitness Guru Leads Weekend Trek Through Uptown Parks

By Nigel Chiwaya | June 7, 2014 10:48am
Green Gym Day
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Green Gym Day

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Forget about the pushups and the crunches, this year's Green Gym Day is all about hiking.

Northern Manhattan's resident fitness expert, Nancy Bruning, will lead uptowners on a lengthy jaunt through several parks Sunday as part of her annual day of outdoor exercise. 

Bruning's hike, which starts at 9 a.m. on 145th Street and Edgecomb Avenue, will take participants through Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem before heading north through Highbridge Park. Participants will then stop at Swindler Cove for a tour offered by the New York Restoration Project before continuing to the Riverside-Inwood Neighborhood Garden and concluding in Fort Tryon Park near the Cloisters.

This year's event borrows from Hike the Heights, the annual trek through uptown parks that will be held a day before Green Gym Day. Bruning said she drew inspiration from yearly event, adding: "I wanted to extend the idea of that you can use our parks as a place for hiking," Bruning said. "And it's a great way to showcase the highlights of these great parks."

Bruning, the author of 27 books on health and personal fitness, launched Green Gym Day last year in an effort to get Manhattannites out of their chairs and into their parks. Last year's event drew more than 120 people to Fort Tryon Park for a day of exercises, classes and festivities organized by Bruning and the Parks Department.

However, if participants can't make the trek, they're still encouraged to get out and be active in their local parks. 

"It's all about using what's in your own environment and not adding anything to it unnecessarily," Bruning said.