This man turned beach garbage into a full-fledged gym

April 30, 2017 6:38 PM

The ocean’s trash is his treasure.

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You’ve heard that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, but

Soares lives in Cape Verde, an island country off the coast of West Africa, and he tells CNN's Great Big Story that he dreams of becoming a professional athlete. However, the construction worker can’t afford to join a gym—so he’s created his own. (Interested in keeping it DIY? Here are 20 ways to build a better home gym.

Soares uses trash and debris that he finds on Santa Maria beach and turns it into exercise equipment. He’s created his own version of Muscle Beach with weights, pull-up bars, and a bench, all fashioned out of stuff he’s found on the shore. It looks like a real gym on the sand, and it gets a lot of action from members of the community who also use it to work out. Like him, many of them can’t afford to work out at a more traditional gym.

“The fact that a gym like this exists in Santa Maria no only for me, but for the people here, is very important,” he says.

Soares says he’s also glad to help clean up the beach in the process. “I feel proud when I see a clean beach,” he says. (If you're feeling cluttered yourself, here's how you can organize your garage with a trash can.)

Although Soares’ gym is pretty impressive-looking, he says he’s not done with it. “My dream is just to try and make the gym just a bit better,” he says. “For as long as I live, I’ll continue to use it. Train, then go swim in the ocean, and the day is complete.”

Check out the gym in action here:

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