Full of energy: Adlershof is on the move
Fitness, ball games, or running – the campus offers plenty of options. How passionate is its scientific community about sports?
Taking advantage of the callisthenics park for an active break: software developer Faruk Garic © WISTA Management GmbH
Building muscle: Martin Holtzegel (right) explains how EMS training works © WISTA Management GmbH
Theresa Heinemann is always on the move © WISTA Management GmbH
Urai and Timo Schneemann welcome students to their new yoga studio ONEy © WISTA Management GmbH
Three’s a team: Justus Wese, Magdalena Krause and Janek Musculus (from left to right) are volleyball enthusiasts © WISTA Management GmbH
While working from home, Faruk Garic came to the callisthenics park at Alexander-von-Humboldt-Weg during his lunch break. “I live just one street away with my family. I’ll do exercises for arms, shoulders, and core strength—my main sport is basketball.” The software developer enjoy the options Adlershof offers for freestyle sports. He goes jogging, skating, and rides a scooter in the landscaped park. “All this creates a certain athletic culture that’s present everywhere,” says Garic. It’s also an ideal environment for his eight-year-old daughter. “I love this area and would love to live here even longer.” After a 20-minute workout in the sunshine, he grabs his T-shirt, water bottle, and towel and heads home—back to his desk.
The Bodystreet EMS studio on Herrmann-Dorner-Allee is slowly turning into a neighbourhood fitness hub. “We are like the hairdressers of the fitness industry,” says owner Martin Holtzegel with a wink. “We notice people coming together here who didn’t know each other before but gradually become more friendly with each other. It’s a nice atmosphere, like a small family.”
Holtzegel is a Bodystreet franchise partner and instructor, running the Adlershof studio with four employees. He himself grew up in the district and loves the area. He sees the EMS (electrical muscle stimulation) training concept as a perfect fit for the technology park. “People here mostly work sitting down but are also open to new training methods, technology, and digitalisation.”
Clients slip into a smart suit that sends electrical impulses at 85 hertz into the nervous system. This accelerates muscle growth. Twenty minutes per week is enough. The average client is female and about 47 years old, in Adlershof and other places.
Holtzegel has been on the site for ten years and is glad about the way its developing: “Across the district, lively local areas are developing around a new baker’s or restaurant. People are now moving here not just for a job but because they want to live here. This makes it more attractive for us as well.”
The landscaped park directly opposite is a huge plus for the team. They enjoy walking, jogging, or do outdoor training wearing their EMS smartwear.
Like Theresa Heinemann. She lives by the motto “Use it or lose it” and recommends “always staying active and doing what you enjoy.” As an orthopaedic surgeon specialising in sports medicine, she regularly comes to Adlershof to exercise—jogging in the landscape park and to do fitness once a week. “When the weather’s good, I prefer to do my EMS training outdoors in the park.”
The park is well-loved, also by her children. The skate park is especially popular. “When they were little, we used to go to the sports hall on Merlitzstrasse for children’s gymnastics. Now they swim competitively in Neukölln and play football in Johannisthal.” Heinemann knows first-hand that the area has sports offerings for every age group. The only thing she hasn’t discovered yet is a yoga studio.
When, in fact, it’s there for her to discover. Urai and Timo Schneemann have lived in Adlershof for a year and a half and opened their own yoga studio, ONEy, three months ago. Their concept combines yoga, personal training, and a touch of Buddhism.
Urai Schneemann can hardly believe her luck: “At home in Thailand, I meditated and practised yoga since I was seven,” she says. “I dreamed of becoming a yoga teacher and travelling to Europe, to a faraway country… Now I’m here in our own studio in Berlin.” Her husband Timo Schneemann, a mechanical engineer by trade, worked in Asia several years before meeting his wife in Thailand five years ago. Affordable rents, proximity to the airport, and plenty of nearby green spaces brought them to Adlershof. The students arriving at their modern studio on Hermann-Dorner-Allee are greeted by the motto: “Meet your strongest self”.
“We need to tune into what we feel. It’s like immersing yourself in a source of power,” explains Schneemann, and her husband adds: “We love workouts, running, cycling—but yoga is our go-to for strengthening the nervous system. It makes you feel balanced, not burnt out.”
A student of IMP (informatics, maths, physics), Magdalena Krause and her friends love volleyball. “Somehow, we all started playing at the same time.” The many facilities on campus might have helped that along. “We often play on the beach volleyball court,” they say, all three are nodding. “If we decide to go spontaneously, we can always borrow a ball at Café MoPs, the student café. Our student council has also bought some balls now.”
Her fellow student Janek Musculus plays volleyball and basketball. “I live in Mitte and like to cycle to Adlershof.”
Justus Wese is studying physics at master’s level. He played football for many years but switched to volleyball two years ago. Meanwhile, he even runs a volleyball course at the Humboldt-Universität sports centre on Rudower Strasse. The three-court hall offers everything from volleyball to ballroom dancing and gymnastics. Krause takes two volleyball courses there: “I think the sports offerings here are fantastic and there are many things that interest me. But, of course, I can’t do everything.”
Jördis Götz for Adlershof Journal