New free city fitness park to help citizens get healthy

Harborough District Council, UK, has joined up with play and fitness equipment providers, Proludic, to create a new outdoor fitness zone in a public park to help local authorities and healthcare providers save money on gym referrals and increase patient access to free fitness facilities.

The Social Fitness Zone aims to help patients recover from small operations and to also help those that need to lose weight yet can’t afford gym memberships.

“A request by a local resident triggered the concept,” Michael Hoenigmann, Managing Director of Proludic, told Cities Today. “She was on an eight week exercise referral programme and pointed out that she could use the facilities in the park instead. The only problem was that she didn’t know how to use the equipment, so the council asked Proludic to put in some signage.”

The public-private partnership is now set to provide additional equipment with new signage and QR codes linking to virtual coaching videos. An exercise programme is also being developed which will allow progression and monitoring of the patients’ activities.

Proludic is adamant that even without a partnership approach the fitness zone is still relatively affordable and can be put in place for as little as £5,000. The zones are flexible enough to be installed in small areas, meaning it can be incorporated into the landscaping and design of most community areas.

Six further zones have opened in city parks across the UK, including Bracknell, with the company looking for new partners to open more across the UK.

“The UK spends so much money treating people’s health once there is an issue rather than on easily implemented preventative schemes,” added Hoenigmann. “This would be a much wiser use of public funds and for as little as £5,000 every park should have a social fitness zone.”