A healthy community is a strong one, and empowering your community with resources is one of the best ways to encourage good health. Parks are a great place for members of the community to gather and stay active, so why not make your park even better with the best park fitness equipment?
Outdoor park gyms give everyone in the community easy access to the equipment, but choosing the right equipment is key. If you need help choosing outdoor gym machines for your park, here’s
Benefits of Adding Fitness Equipment to Parks
Physical fitness is one of the biggest keys to your health and wellbeing, but that’s not the only benefit you get from exercising. Exercising also offers other benefits, including:
- Reducing the risk of obesity and disease
- Enhancing mental and emotional health
- Reducing stress
These are just a few of the benefits you get from an indoor gym. When you’re exercising outside, you also get the benefit of sunlight that helps your body produce vitamin D to regulate your mood. Plus, you can breathe the fresh air instead of being stuck in a stale, air-conditioned gym.
Public park exercise solutions also help strengthen your community by giving everyone a central place to come together and exercise. Since everyone has access to public parks, you’re not barring anyone from working out and socializing based on their social status.
Planning for Your Park Gym
Before you start looking at the best park fitness equipment, you need to have a plan in place for your park gym. Let’s take a look at some of the things you need to think about before you start shopping for equipment.
Start by figuring out how much space you have. Ideally, you want to find a large paved area where you can install all your equipment. If you have a large patch of grass or dirt, you can pave that space. The size of this space determines how much room you have for your equipment.
Next, think about the types of people who use public park exercise solutions in your area. What’s the average age in your community? Are there a lot of families in the area? It’s best to design your public park fitness area around the people who are going to use it.
The last thing you need to figure out is your budget. Don’t just look at how much you have to spend on exercise equipment — consider the cost of paving (and potentially fencing around) the area, adding lights and more.
With a plan in place, it’s time to start looking at equipment.
Upper Body Equipment
A strong upper body can improve posture, boost athletic performance and make it easier to lift heavy objects. Every outdoor gym should include upper body equipment.
Chest presses and shoulder presses are great ways to work your upper body and build strength in your chest and shoulders. Our Overhead Shoulder Press and Seated Chest Press are two of our most popular machines.
For a more comprehensive workout, you can add our Seated Lat Pull into the mix. Lat pulls strengthen the largest muscle in the back, so they’re a key part of preventing back problems.
You may also want to include Horizontal Bars, Parallel Bars and similar equipment so people can work their upper body the way they want to.
Lower Body Equipment
As important as upper body strength is, lower body strength is one of the most important aspects of your overall health. From squats to leg presses and lunges, there are tons of ways to strengthen the lower body.
Squats are one of the most important exercises when it comes to your lower body, which is why our Squat Press is among our most popular machines. Squats are simple and effective, and just about anyone can do them.
Our Leg Press and Leg Extension machines are designed to work different parts of your lower body. Leg presses work the quads, hamstrings and calves while leg extensions focus on your quads.
Miscellaneous Equipment
While upper body and lower body workouts are what you commonly hear about, there’s more to staying fit. Consider adding some miscellaneous equipment so everyone can exercise the way they want to.
When it comes to saving space, our Accessible Multi-Gym is some of the best park fitness equipment. This machine combines four stations in one, allowing up to four people to use the machine at once. A wheelchair-accessible design makes the Accessible Multi-Gym perfect for community use.
For cardio, there are several machines to choose from. Ellipticals are ideal if you want to strengthen your body while getting your cardio in, but we also offer a standard Exercise Bike for reduced impact.
Plyo Boxes are a simple way to build explosiveness, and users can choose how they want to use them. From box step-ups to box jumps and box push-ups, there are tons of ways to stay fit with Plyo Boxes.
If you have lots of children in your community, simple equipment like Balance Beams and Multi-Bars are easy ways for children to stay active and have fun.
Tips for Choosing the Right Outdoor Fitness Equipment
Get input from your community
Choosing the best park fitness equipment isn’t about what you want — it’s about what’s best for your community. If you want to make sure you’re choosing the best exercise equipment, ask people in your community what they want. You can send out a community survey with a list of exercise equipment to figure out what people want most, that way you know what to invest in and whether you need to buy duplicates of any machines.
Choose accessible equipment
Look for public park exercise solutions that are designed for accessibility. Our outdoor fitness equipment is designed for safety and ease of use, utilizing a portion of your body weight to create resistance without free weights. We also offer several wheelchair-accessible machines that give everyone in your community equal access to exercise.
It’s also important to keep in mind that seniors often need a less intense workout. Things like Tai Chi Spinners and seated stations are ideal for low-impact exercise.
Look for space-saving equipment
Some of our equipment — like our Eight-Person Modular Series — is designed for multiple users at once. Choosing outdoor gym machines that include several stations is a great way to make the most of limited space.
Maintaining Outdoor Fitness Equipment
Even the best park fitness equipment needs routine maintenance. You should clean equipment regularly and inspect the paint for any chips or cracks that could lead to corrosion. Any moving parts should be lubricated to prevent wear and tear and ensure the equipment is working properly.
If there’s any damage to the protective coating on your park fitness equipment, you should refinish it. Since we use a durable powder coating on our outdoor fitness equipment, it’s best to hire a professional to refinish your equipment.
Transform Your Park With Outdoor Fitness Equipment From TriActive USA
Park fitness equipment is a great way to transform your public park and give your community access to the resources they need to stay physically fit. However, it’s important to take the time to choose safe, accessible equipment that can be used for a full-body workout.
At TriActive USA, we have a wide selection of park fitness equipment to choose from. All our equipment is made of steel with a durable powder coating to protect against harsh weather, and it’s safe since it uses your body weight for resistance.
Check out our catalog to find out how you can transform your public park with outdoor fitness equipment.
