Outdoor gym

Outdoor gym in Torremolinos, Spain

The outdoor gym is a gym built outside in a public park, with the all-weather construction of its exercise machines somewhat modeled on playground equipment. It is similar to the 1960s-1970s proliferation of fitness trails, which continue to be created particularly in the USA and Europe. In some instances, trails used for fitness are referred to as outdoor gyms.^[1]

Outdoor gyms have been used in China as a national fitness campaign prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics.^[2] The government has rolled out over 20,000,000 square metres (220,000,000 sq ft) of outdoor gymnasiums across China^[2] Currently a third of the sports lottery is dedicated to funding this concept. In China they have a similar survey to the Active People Survey. The participation levels in physical activity have been steadily on the increase since the outdoor gym concept has been introduced to China.

Types of Outdoor Gym Equipment

Types of outdoor gym equipment may vary according to the nature of parks, locality and the visitors. There is no fixed list as which can include all of the machines or fixtures used in different parts of the world for outdoor recreation. These fixtures or machines can also be categorized into strength training and simple fitness or resistance training. Some basic outdoor exercising installations used commonly all over the world are pullup bars, balancing beams, parallel dip bars, etc.^[3]

See also

• Chin-up bar
• Fitness trail
• Obstacle course

References

1. Randall, Laura (2008). Day and Overnight Hikes: Palm Springs Menasha Ridge Press, ISBN 978-0897329811. Retrieved 2010-07-15.
2. Olympic passion turns into "exercise fervor" in China Chinese Embassy in the U.S., 29 August 2008 Xinhua News Agency. Retrieved 2010-07-15.
3. "Best Exercising Machines to Look For In the Playground - BDL Fitness".