Ukrainian photographer Kirill Golovchenko has portrayed more or less athletic buffs in an open-air gym as they wince funnily and strike strange poses while performing their workout.

“Kachalka” is a famous outdoor gym in Ukraine. Founded by a private initiative 35 years ago, it today offers free training facilities across 10,000 square meters of floor area for anyone who wants to get in shape. Working out on these mostly homemade, archaic-looking machines is an equalizing experience, with people from all social strata rubbing shoulders here. The photographs taken by Kirill Golovchenko not only document the universal bodybuilding rituals that can be observed in emblematic form at Kachalka. The Ukrainian bodybuilders both young and old in his pictures also serve as a powerful and ironic visual metaphor for the ambitious spirit of awakening in this country.

Kachalka is a photobook published by Kehrer Verlag. Buy it here.