Yoga, Zumba, Boot Camp: Here’s the Fitness Fun Happening at Philly Free Streets

This Saturday, seven miles of city streets will be closed to cars. Yippee!

Philly Free Streets | Photo by Adjua Fisher

Pokémon GO, which is an activity on the lineup for Philly Free Streets, isn’t exactly a universal incentive to get moving. So the event, which will shut down seven miles of city streets to cars for a few hours this Saturday, October 28th, allowing us all to run, bike, skip and Zumba (more on that later) through ‘em, has some other ways for you to get moving worked into the programming. Think: everything from yoga to handball to dance.

In case you need a refresher, Philly’s official open streets event, called Philly Free Streets, debuted last September after we were all spoiled by experiencing the car-free, almost post-apocalyptic streets during the Pope’s visit. This year, the event comes with a brand spankin’ new route that will run from Old City to El Centro de Oro in North Philly, and there are free “Activity Zones” speckled throughout those seven miles. There’s a LOT happening at these Activity Zones throughout the event, which runs from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., but we figured since you’re reading a fitness blog, you probably want the lowdown on the fitness happenings. Here goes:

At the Independence Activity Zone at 3rd and Chestnut Streets, they have fitness programming running from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.: at 9 a.m., like last year, they’ll kick things off with a Philly Free Streets power walk with Mayor Jim Kenney; at 10 a.m. there’s a boot camp and cardio class with Sweat Fitness; at 11 a.m. there’s a contemporary dance class; and at 12 p.m. there’s a yoga class. For those with kiddos, there will also be a Kidical Mass group bike ride starting at 3rd and Chestnut Streets at 8:45 a.m.

The next fitness-heavy stop is at Rainbow de Colores Park on 5th Street, where they’ll have handball demonstrations running from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Just note: Demonstrations are divided by age and gender, so check for your time here. Then, there will be all sorts of dance fun at 5th Street and Indiana Avenue: at 9 am., there will latin dance classes; and at 10 a.m. they’ll have Capoeira and Zumba.

There’s plenty more activities on the schedule, which you can see in full here. There’s no need to RSVP for the free event, but you can let ’em know you’re coming here. Have fun sweating your way through the car-free streets, friends!

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