Florida Playground Top News

Gimme Shelter

Tue, 27 May 2025 12:09:41 GMT

Gimme Shelter

At the very beginning of each episode of ‘Naked and Afraid’, just after the contestants decide where they’re going to set up camp, they quickly get to work on building some kind of shelter. I would probably find something to wear, but I guess that’s not how the show works.

Alongside food and clothing, shelter is one of the three basic human needs, providing protection and privacy. It’s a physiological need that fuels a psychological attraction that is seated deep in our DNA.

We not only need shelter, we’re drawn to it.

From caves to skyscrapers, basic to elaborate, shelters transform a landscape. What was once just an open space, is now a place to meet, socialize, relax, eat, play, or work, as we subconsciously experience a sense of calm and comfort.

A well-designed and well-built structure will protect us from rain and sun as it withstands those elements and more over time. While that’s all well and good with our limbic system, the part of our brain that’s concerned with such things, what really engages us is its aesthetics. Our Neo Cortex wants to know what this thing looks like. Is it cool?

While this seems trivial, it’s very important.

An aesthetically appealing shelter can feel more welcoming and pleasant, boosting our mood, reducing stress, and even improving our cognitive abilities, while a visually unappealing space can have the opposite effect.

Aesthetics add emotional and psychological depth to experiences, making them more meaningful and pleasurable. Yeah, so it’s kind of a big deal that your bamboo lean-to, in the middle of nowhere, has well defined lines, even though there are no neighbors to gossip about its curb appeal.

An ICON shelter is the perfect blend of aesthetic form and durable function backed by high-quality materials, expert engineering, and artful craftsmanship.

If we’re talking shelters, pavilions, gazebos, amphitheaters, arbors, clock towers (you heard me), and even large-scale custom structural art, make it iconic and go with ICON.

I hear Sir Mick Jagger in the background, “… gimme, gimme shelter …” “it’s just an ICON away …”; I’m paraphrasing.

Stay cool and dry, my friends.

Outrageous Recreation

Tue, 11 Jun 2024 16:27:41 GMT

Outrageous Recreation

When we think of recreation, certain things come to mind: Bocce ball, cornhole, playgrounds, pool volleyball, camping, pickleball and so on.

But, what about being angry? Well … not actually being angry, but being “angry” for the sake of recreation. There’s a term for this and it’s called Recreational Outrage.

It’s an indulgence of self-induced anger and public venting over such topics as politics, religion, the fact that all the doors in that new neighborhood are yellow, and so on. Whatever. Recreational outrage is now a hobby.

Hey, some people play shuffleboard.

It reminds me of the Monty Python skit with the Argument Clinic:

“Is this the right room for an argument?”

“I’ve told you once.”

“No, you haven’t.”

“Yes, I have.”

And it goes hilariously on from there.

Like the Argument Clinic, will we see themed outrage areas in our local parks & recreation facilities or on a playground? A place to picket, yell, scream, wear incendiary t-shirts, glue our hands to art, and so on?

Speaking of France …

“You weren’t speaking of France.”

“I was.”

“No, you weren’t.”

Anyways, in France complaining is quite normal. In fact, it’s an appropriate conversation starter. Complaining is everywhere and you begin to wonder if anyone is actually happy there. I mean, it can’t be good for your health, could it?

Well, a 2011 study from the University of Texas found that bottling up negative emotions can make people more aggressive and cause health issues, so complaining can have an alleviating effect.

But … there’s a nuance to it all. The French will complain about many things, such as the weather, bad wine, the government, and of course, tourists. What they don’t do is complain about their own lives. According to Emily Monaco of the BBC, they don’t catastrophise and for the most part, don’t really have a goal or resolution in mind. It’s just complaining. It’s not a means to an end.

“Bonjour Charles, have you ever seen such dreary weather as this?”

“Not in my four years on this terrible planet.” They start early, I’m assuming.

Another study at the University of Oklahoma showed that complaining may have a positive impact on connectivity and human engagement and found it a useful tool for bonding, because it feels authentic.

Let’s go over the rules once more: 1) The sky isn’t falling, so no catastrophic craziness. 2) Steer clear of your own personal lives and maybe others’ as well. 3) Complaining is not a means to an end, so don’t attach it to one. It’s just complaining for recreational purposes.

Recreational Outrage, on the other hand, sounds like outrage for the sake of outrage, but there’s a dangerous attachment to a belief that expressing outrage is actual action, as if it will change something. It won’t. When nothing changes from their efforts (or lack thereof), the outrage gets worse.

Not good for your health, not good for connecting with other happy humans, and it’s no way to live life.

I’d rather complain with friends that I missed those last three cornhole shots and seriously, “did they make this wine from raisins!? It’s so dry!”.

Now that’s recreation!

Photo by Andre Huner on Unsplash

5 Reasons that Outdoor and Indoor Fitness Equipment Are Not the Same and 4 Tips to Design the Best Outdoor Fitness Area

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 14:39:46 GMT

Five Reasons that Outdoor and Indoor Fitness Equipment Are Not the Same and Four Tips to Design the Best Outdoor Fitness Area

Back when I was in the commercial fitness equipment industry, we did a lot of R&D, prototype design, testing, and product development. And that’s just for one machine; say an arm-curl/biceps machine.

These are called single-station strength machines, which means that one entire machine is specifically designed for one muscle or muscle group, like the upper arm/biceps. Then there are like twenty other machines to hit the rest of the body.

But one entire machine, just for one specific exercise. Then we would take the “finished” product to the next trade show to see how an actual human related to it. These people ranged from gym owners, to fitness enthusiasts, to professional bodybuilders. And they were quite critical.

“The resistance falls off at the end”, “I don’t like the weight ratio”, “the range of motion isn’t fluid all the way through”, and so on. At a fitness equipment trade show, before the actual hall opens officially, there’s a time period in the early morning hours, referred to as “early morning workouts”, where you could come in and get a workout on the new machines. As representatives of the manufacturer, our job was to get feedback from the users.

One year, we introduced a new leg press machine. A gentleman who owned a Gold’s Gym came into the booth to try it out. He got on it, adjusted the weight and the distance to accommodate his height. He pressed it once and stopped, projecting a thoughtful, discerning face. I walked over. He pressed it again and back. I asked, “What do you think?” He said, “It puts a lot of pressure on my calves.” And I said, “Good, because it’s a leg press machine.” Not the best salesy response, but we ended up having a good conversation.

The thing is, these manufacturers are in very serious competition. Everyone makes their own version of an Arm Curl Machine, and so on down the line. I visited one R&D department and there was a professional runner dressed in a full body motion-capture suit (mocap), while a kinesiologist studied and mapped his motion on a computer. That’s how high-tech it is.

So, if you’ve ever been to a gym and worked out on any of the equipment there, the quality of the joint angles, range of motion, anthropometrics (how it fits the human form), smoothness, ease of use, comfortability, adjustability, and biomechanics are what you experience.

Then, one day you notice that your local park has put in some outdoor exercise equipment. You get on the elliptical and quickly realize it’s nothing like the one at the gym. You get on the chest press machine and realize it’s nothing like the one at the gym. The quality of the exercise is terrible.

That’s because it’s nothing like the equipment at the gym, nor for the most part can it be. If outdoor fitness equipment was on par with what goes into a health club, you might find it in a health club, but you won’t. You won’t because it’s not even close to the same quality, design, feel, adjustability, and so on. Not even the same resistance mechanism.

Here are a few reasons why:

In an indoor environment, the equipment can have many adjustments to accommodate most heights and builds. An outdoor environment is subjected to harsh elements, misuse, and vandalism. Adjustment mechanisms, just won’t hold up.
Indoor strength machines use cables, pulleys, cams, and weight stacks. Again, it just wouldn’t hold up in an outdoor setting.
Plush padding in seats and backs are traded out for hard plastic. Not very comfortable.
Highly technical and electronic cardio machines wouldn’t last a day outdoors. To duplicate a treadmill for outdoor use is nearly impossible and to make an elliptical trainer feel like an indoor elliptical trainer, it must first have an ellipse (an elliptical motion mechanism usually at the pedals or in the front). Then there are flywheels, motors, computers, and so on that all come together to make the machine feel and operate the way it does. Can’t do that with an outdoor product.
Most outdoor fitness equipment is designed and developed by a playground manufacturer or with that approach. The science in R&D isn’t there. Does it look like an arm curl? Yes. Can you do arm curls on it? Yes. Same quality exercise? Not even close.

So, what to do?

You’re outdoors, so change your mindset. This is not a plush air-conditioned gym. However, being outdoors has way more psychological, emotional, and physical benefits than being indoors.
If you’re designing an outdoor fitness space, stick to equipment where our bodies move, not the machines. Pull-up bars (a variety of grips and heights), parallel bars, push-up stations with various levels, an overhead traverse ladder (a requisite skill in most obstacle course races), plyometric steps, and elements to connect exercise bands, straps, and use medicine balls. As you can see, these are solid fixed elements with no adjustments or built in resistance mechanisms. This is real whole-body functional exercise.
As far as cardio goes, most people either walked, jogged, or biked to where this station is. We don’t need machines outdoors to get cardio. The more the machine has moving components, the more things go wrong and it’s just not a good quality design anyway.
As a park planner, the last thing you want is your visitors to be disappointed and talk badly about your exercise equipment. You can avoid that by sticking with number 2 above. If you have an “elliptical” cardio machine in your park, it will be very disappointing for the user. They’re used to the highly sophisticated machine at the health club.

There are a couple of outdoor fitness manufacturers now making resistance-based machines that are biomechanically functional and user-satisfying and we represent those lines.

For more information, questions, or advice on outdoor fitness, please email rob@toplinerec.com

Thanks and have a great workout!

Architecturally Harmonious Furnishings and the Beastie Boys

Thu, 07 Mar 2024 17:10:26 GMT

Architecturally Harmonious Furnishings and the Beastie Boys

I worked at McDonald’s, back when we could get a cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke for $1.45. It was when cordless landline phones were new and Hot Pockets, Fruit Rollups, Nintendo, and the Beastie Boys didn’t quite hit the shelves yet. Yeah, times were tough.

I worked the graveyard shift; 10:00pm – 6:00am. One night, I was sitting with the manager in the “dining room”, as they called it. I said, “Man, these seats are NOT comfortable”. In fact, they were quite ugly; harsh colors and cold-war styling, illuminated with diffused fluorescent lighting.

My manager replied, “Yeah, that’s on purpose.”

“Why?”

He said, “Because we want people to eat and leave. We don’t want lingering or loitering.” I was just a young teenager, but even then I thought, “well, that’s not very welcoming.”

That kind of, “we don’t want you staying here” philosophy is still in play at many places and I don’t get it. Starbucks got it right with “the third place”. Howard Shultz’s ideas was that there’s home, work, and Starbucks. Please come in, gather, share great coffee, and deepen human connection.

Customers would gather, linger, relax, talk and spend $5 on a white-mocha misto. Crazy, right? How did they encourage this kind of behavior in a world of “get out”?

Atmosphere. Warm lighting, a friendly and welcoming staff, and stylish and comfortable furniture. Imagine a chair or a bench that was comfortable and a table where you didn’t smash your knees when taking a seat. I still feel it on rainy days. A place where the furnishings weren’t donated by the local high-security prison.

I see this in many outdoor site furnishings. A steel bench that if you think about it, could double as a pit barbeque. Even benches with backrests look like they came from a dystopian world where everyone wears the same utilitarian boots and the skies are always gray. You’re wearing a jacket, but it’s not even cold and for some reason, there’s an air-raid siren in the background. Who wrote this script? Yikes!

What if the outdoors; a city-scape or a park was a “fourth place” (I didn’t want to steal Starbucks’ spot), or another place where we would feel comfortable gathering and relaxing? The lighting is already pretty awesome, so really it’s about the furnishings.

A bench, chair, or table that brings us together, makes us feel welcomed, lowers our collective blood pressure, and uplifts our spirit. Did I overshoot that?

Equiparc site furnishings creates an outdoor environment that is more enjoyable, welcomes us, celebrates the human form, and encourages us to stay a while. Combining design with quality and durability for over 40 years, Equiparc elevates the outdoor experience.

The sun is breaking through the clouds, the kids are playing frisbee with the dog, and I’m pretty sure I hear ‘Three MCs and One DJ’ playing in the background. Not sure why that guy is wearing a jacket though.

Life is good.

International Darwin Day and the Evolution of Playgrounds

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 13:24:15 GMT

International Darwin Day and the Evolution of Playgrounds

International Darwin day is February 12^th, so in honor of that, let’s take a look at the evolution of playgrounds.

In the grand scheme of things, the late 1800’s wasn’t that long ago. We had cars, cameras, telephones, record players, electric lighting, and typewriters, but pretty much no playgrounds. They weren’t a thing.

Very uncommon and if you did find one, it was what the name says; a place (ground) where children played. The idea was to give kids a place to play that wasn’t in the street.

Cars evolved from the three-wheeled Benz, of Mercedes fame, that didn’t even have a proper steering wheel, to the luxurious, practically self-driving, AI machines of today.

Cameras are phones. Wait … phones are cameras? Actually, phones are also “record players”, but vinyl is making a huge comeback. Lighting went from that single brownish incandescent bulb that didn’t really illuminate the far corners of the house to the multi-hued, multi-colored, variable brightness, illumination experience we fully control with our … phones. Typewriters are now a software program or app that’s downloaded onto powerful computers we take for granted. Remember typing class in school? Now it’s just inherent.

And “playgrounds” evolved from sand gardens that were basically an open lot between buildings, to the elaborately designed and constructed destination play-plexes we see today. I should copywrite that: “Playplex”.

Back in 1905, the director of the Washington DC playground system and the director of physical education of the New York City school system, got together and formed the Playground Association of America.

The PAA’s basic belief was “that inasmuch, play under proper conditions is essential to the health and the physical, social, and moral wellbeing of a child, playgrounds are a necessity for all children as much as schools.”

Hmm. Sounds well and good, but their literature dictated that an ideal, proper (see, there’s that word again) playground, would have separate play sections, and not only would it be supervised, but there were instructors (on a playground?) to teach children necessary (necessary?) lessons and organize their play.

They pretty much ruined the very definition of play. Play is imaginative, full of discovery, not structured, actually fun, mentally and physically engaging, while decompressing from the regiments of life. They made it regimented. They took play out of play.

Early playground apparatuses weren’t very safe. In fact, they could be quite dangerous, so maybe the supervision part was needed. Everything has a starting point, so in the case of playgrounds, evolution is a good thing. Through the years, playground manufacturers used better materials and safety in components and overall design became a thing.

In the 1970’s we had the brilliant idea to stop using asphalt, you know … what we make roads out of, as playground surfacing. We started coming up with more resilient, softer, and less bodily-damaging surfaces.

Today, we have committees, standards, compliance in design, and so many other safeguards that would make you think the next evolution in playgrounds is a padded room.

Instead, playgrounds are more elaborate with more play value, inclusivity, challenging, engaging, inviting, and lots more fun than their ancient ancestors.

The evolution of playgrounds has come a very long way in a short period of time.

Happy Darwin Day!

Even Monkeys Fall From Trees

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 14:02:01 GMT

Even Monkeys Fall From Trees

Climbing, swinging, sitting, eating, socializing, playing, and living in trees isn’t just second nature to monkeys. It’s their way of being.

But … “Even monkeys fall from trees”. – Japanese Proverb

Humans fall from “trees” too. We slip, stumble, and fall literally and metaphorically. Many times we’re embarrassed and our confidence takes a hit. We hope no one noticed, we assess the damage, take emotional and physical inventory, and mentally process the moment. Sometimes we’ll dwell on what just happened; “should I ever go back up in the tree?”

Well … do you know what the monkey would tell us? Not much, I’m afraid. It’s a monkey and they tend not to speak.

But, they would be back up in that tree, looking down at us, not understanding why we’re still sitting there. Because when monkeys fall from trees, they shake their head, regroup, and get back up there, because it happens.

Even experts make mistakes. It happens.

Kids are experts at playing. And they’re experts at making mistakes. It’s their nature. It’s how they learn, develop resiliency, make adjustments, build confidence, and realize that falling or making a mistake or misstep is not the end of the world. Sure, we might get a little embarrassed, but we shake that off too and the other monkeys quickly forget.

As we get older, we tend to hold on to those mistakes and lose some of that resiliency. The best thing we can do is keep playing. Just because we become adults, as if it’s some kind of cosmic transition, doesn’t mean we stop playing. The activities and approach might be different, but we need to maintain our ability to fall and get back up in the trees.

Keep playing. Keep climbing. Stay resilient.

Photo by Jared Rice on Unsplash

The Positive Health Benefits of Our Uncommon Thanksgiving Traditions

Wed, 08 Nov 2023 20:07:12 GMT

The Positive Health Benefits of Our Uncommon Thanksgiving Traditions

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and you know what that means. Yep, you guessed it: John Madden tournaments with the cousins!

Wait … what? Bear with me; I’ll bring it back around. Did you know that there’s more to thanksgiving traditions than turkey, the Macy’s parade, and Black Friday?

With just a little research we found close to a hundred not-so-uncommon Thanksgiving traditions, such as: Playing a board game with family, hanging by the fire pit, cornhole, running a turkey trot, bocce ball, or other outdoor leisure games, and taking the kiddos to the playground just to name a few.

In our family, the John Madden trash talk starts right around this time. Then on Thanksgiving day, first thing in the morning, you can hear John’s voice, “Boom”! And the gaming has started, followed by lots of yelling. At some point during the day, John’s video game character will say something like, “Here’s a guy who’s 6’,4”; which means at his height, he’s taller than the other players who are shorter than he is.”

Great stuff. We’ll play Madden all day, only taking a break to eat with the whole family.

The common theme here is quality leisure time with family and friends. Whatever the activity, the benefits come from social interaction while letting go of the pressures of everyday life. Laughing, playing, interacting, and just enjoying each other’s company is so good for us.

Leisure, recreation, and play with others reduces stress, decompresses our mental pressures, alleviates anxiety, enhances positivity, and heightens happiness. Overall, our mental, emotional, psychological, and even physical health is restored and upgraded. Literally, our joints, muscles, blood pressure, heart, brain, immune system, lymphatic system, organs, digestion, and so much more are all positively affected through play and leisure with others.

Maybe not a cure for eating turducken, but it helps.

Thanksgiving gives us a reason to do all this, but once a year isn’t nearly enough. We can’t go to the gym for nine hours once a year and expect to be healthy and fit. But going for 30 minutes every day will. Same with play and leisure time. All those benefits come from relaxing and decompressing on a regular basis. Still do the full-day on Thanksgiving of course, but throughout the year, we really need to play.

Taking our kids to the playground for 30 minutes on a regular basis increases their learning capacity, alleviates stress, enhances focus and attention, and it positively affects their overall productivity. But more importantly, all those health benefits.

Regular bouts of play and leisure with others isn’t just for kids and it’s not just for Thanksgiving. Neither is turkey, by the way. And neither is Madden NFL Football.

Let’s play. Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo by MART PRODUCTION: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-brown-sweater-sitting-on-brown-leather-couch-7330165/

Burke, NRPA, and the Importance of a Big Purple Party

Thu, 19 Oct 2023 14:25:00 GMT

Burke, NRPA, and the Importance of a Big Purple Party

Fun is only done right for the sake of fun with no peripheral agendas, hints of business, or underlying purposes. Otherwise, it’s “fake fun”. When fun isn’t real, we don’t get the full benefits.

“We need more moments where we’re simultaneously in the zone and feeling ourselves, but not for work.” – Catherine Price; Author of The Power of Fun

Real fun; unadulterated fun, brings us happiness and joy. We’re enjoying ourselves in the moment, being fully present, without our brains being attached or distracted otherwise. Experiencing happiness and joy on a regular basis is more powerful than genes, nutrition, and exercise for overall health and longevity.

Add friends or a group of friendly, fun people and the effects are multiplied. I used the word “unadulterated” because as adults, we tend to do fun things from time to time, but not fully. We convolute it with thoughts of things we have to get done, “important” stuff (whatever that is), and other obligations. Children get fun right. It’s very important that we do as well.

After 15 years in the parks, recreation, and playground industry, I had the pleasure of attending my first Big Purple Party by Burke. Business and marketing sure, but when it was purple party time, that’s what it was. It was just fun for the sake of fun. It was observable and apparent in the 1,800 people in attendance.

Great band, great music, and dancing. I caught myself a couple of times thinking the music is just a little too loud to have a conversation with someone. Crazy, right? It’s like playing pool volleyball, wondering if the water could be less wet.

This is the playground industry. We promote play and fun. Everyone at the party was a professional working in the parks and recreation industry. It sounds like working in a field with the words “parks”, “recreation”, and “playgrounds” would be all fun and games. While it’s fulfilling and can be fun, it’s a lot of work, stress, moving parts, red tape, politics, management, organization, delegation, responsibilities, and a hundred other things.

It was so good to see all these professionals letting go and just having a good time. We can get caught up in day to day responsibilities and making fun available for others, while we lose track of our own fun. We all need to recharge, reinvigorate, and decompress. This is what I saw at Burke’s Big Purple Party.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at next year’s party.

Play hard!

The Art, Science, and Consequences of Playground Color Schemes

Wed, 04 Oct 2023 14:05:00 GMT

The Art, Science, and Consequences of Playground Color Schemes

If we need a hammer drill, would we go to a furniture store? How about a suit or a dress? Would we go to Best Buy? We wouldn’t go to GameStop for a ping pong table no more than we’d go to an appliance store to buy a watch or a purse or makeup or shoes or … okay, you get the picture.

What if there was a store like that? Well … there was and it was called Sears. One of the biggest reasons Sears ceased to exist is that they became everything and nothing at the same time. Sears lost it’s identity because, according to George Troy, author of the Five Laws of Retail, upper management focused on financial shell games to enrich themselves personally and to appear successful in the short term. They profited, but at the cost of killing Sears.

Back in the 1980’s Pepsi’s marketing department launched the Pepsi Challenge. Pepsi vs Coca Cola in a blind taste test and guess what; most people picked Pepsi. Great for marketing, but here’s the problem; it was a one-sip test. Pepsi was much sweeter than Coke and in the short term, our senses loved it. In the long-term though, too sweet is just too sweet and people went back to Coca Cola. Even today, Coca Cola is worth $65-Billion more than Pepsi, even though Pepsi is a much larger company with many more different brands. Hmm.

When we mix all the paint colors together on a palette, we don’t get an explosion of color. Instead, we get a drab, gray sludge. Some colors and various shades of those colors are more colorful than other colors. Individual colors can compliment other colors, making each even more vivid. Doing this strategically makes the whole more colorful.

At the back of a Playground catalog, there’s a color palette with examples of playground designs in different mixes of colors and they’re brilliant. There’s an art and science to it, but many years ago, I got the idea that I was smarter than that and created a playground with various colors that I picked. Looking back on it, it was like pushing Bob Ross aside, while slapping various paints onto the canvas. I had no idea what I was doing and when I saw the finished product, I realized I created a gray sludge with no artistic theme or identity. All of the individual colors lost their value.

Sears tried to be everything to everybody and became nothing to nobody. Pepsi won the battle but lost the war. Well they’re not exactly losing by any stretch, but you get the analogy.

Instead, consider the audience. What does this playground design mean in this space, in this community, in this park? What are we trying to accomplish? Narrow that down and get real focused on the “why”. Is it about nature and outdoors, is it about a colorful wow factor, is there a theme to this area that relates to certain colors?

Maybe there isn’t any of that, but in any case, going to a color palette that was designed by a trained and experienced expert is probably the best way to go. They know color schemes and how certain colors affect other colors, creating an identity for each design so that it will engage with the human spirit.

Otherwise, we might get an unappealing gray sludge with no identity and no staying power.

Photo by Chaewon Lee on Unsplash

Rust. It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way

Wed, 27 Sep 2023 17:17:00 GMT

Rust. It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way

Fe₂O₃_•H₂O. Hydrated Ferric Oxide. Rust!

Why do things rust so easily?

Steel is made of iron and carbon and iron can’t help but rust, because all it wants to do is go back to its thermodynamically-favored state of being, which is iron ore. When we mine iron, it looks like rust, because it is rust. When we make steel, we’re forcing it to be something it doesn’t want to be and rust is iron’s way of defying our efforts. Here in Florida, that fight is even tougher.

So to counteract that, we clean, treat, coat, paint and so on. But, that only slows down the process. On most outdoor fitness equipment or playground products, we first see rust occurring at the welds.

Why there?

The process. One of the best ways to fight rust is galvanization, but it’s rust-resistance qualities are compromised during the welding process.

When galvanized steel is welded, it is exposed to extremely high temperatures, typically exceeding the melting point of zinc (419°C or 787°F). During welding, several key factors can impact the integrity of the zinc coating and the overall corrosion protection: Zinc vaporization, oxidation and depletion, spatter and contamination, heat affected zones are compromised.

BeStrong Outdoor Fitness Equipment uses a different approach.

Post-Weld Galvanization: Galvanizing after welding, ensures that all component parts, including the welded areas, receive the necessary surface treatment for corrosion protection.

Thickness: BeStrong’s galvanization is 2.5 times thicker than competing products.

Grinding: After welding and before galvanizing, our craftsmen employ precision grinding techniques to refine the appearance and aesthetics. While it provides and exceptional visually appealing product, it removes even the smallest burrs and pits, further protecting any chance of rust sneaking in.

Sandblasting: BeStrong adheres to the stringent standard SA3, where cinder, rust, and other surface impurities are completely removed, setting the stage for a flawless finish.

Primer: Before final surface coating, Epoxy Resin Powder is applied at 2.36-3.14 mil. thickness. E-coating is commonly used in industries such as automotive, appliances, and furniture for corrosion protection and as a primer coat for additional coatings.

Top Coat: Lacquer with Weatherproof PES Powder, provides the ultimate protection against environmental factors.

Beyond the process: High quality standards in material selection, advanced material cutting techniques to ensure seamless assembly, and highly skilled welders using state-of-the-art equipment to join each piece to create a solid and dependable framework.

BeStrong – Outdoor fitness equipment of the highest quality.

Photo by Rémi Jacquaint on Unsplash

Albert Einstein's Formula for Success

Wed, 06 Sep 2023 15:33:00 GMT

Albert Einstein's Formula for Success

“We don’t stop playing, because we grow old. We grow old, because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw.

In a 1929 interview with the New York Times, Albert Einstein presented his simple formula for success. It goes like this: A = X + Y + Z

“While A represents Success, X is Work, Y is Play, and Z is Keeping Your Mouth Shut.”

Hmm … “Keeping your mouth shut” provides some insight as to where his head was at. We can read into that some other time, but in this important formula, there’s Y. Play.

Play relieves stress and makes us more resilient. Resiliency is a huge deal. Play improves brain function, stimulates our mind and boosts creativity and overall competency. It improves our relationships and interactions with other humans. It greatly improves and fosters emotional and psychological stability and overall health. Maybe more importantly, it keeps us young and energetic.

Play is so vitally important to human nature, overall health, and longevity, but in terms of success, it’s a must. Play makes our work better. Without our “down-time”, leisure, and active play, any time we spend “working” will suffer in quality. It’s not so much about time spent working; it’s about how much we’re actually accomplishing.

This is why recess is so important. Well, adults need recess too. Maybe more so.

Play! It might just be the fountain of youth as well as the key to success.

We’ll see you on the “playground”.

The Human Benefits of Mindless Play

Thu, 24 Aug 2023 16:11:09 GMT

The Human Benefits of Mindless Play

Mindfulness is a popular go-to term these days: “We need to be more mindful”. Maybe, but it’s grossly misunderstood.

Mindfulness is not a mind full of chatter, thoughts, worries, expectations, multi-tasking, distractions, perceptions, ego, and a thousand other things. That is overwhelming and most of us kind of live that way. We don’t “notice” it, because we think it’s normal, but it does take a detrimental toll.

So what then? Mindlessness?

That’s actually hilarious, but no. Mushin. In the movie, “The Last Samurai”, Tom Cruise’s character while being trained in the way of the sword, is getting thrown all over the place, no matter how hard he tries. After one of the hard falls, he’s approached by a fellow student, who tells him “Too many mind.”

“Too many mind?”

“Hai; you mind the sword, mind the people watching, mind your enemy. Too many mind. No mind.”

“… no mind.”

This is Mushin. Mushin is the Japanese concept of mind of no mind. When a person’s mind is free of thoughts, judgement, fears, ego, anger, and so on during combat, as well as everyday life. This is acting accordingly to the situation at hand, without the burden of conscious thought.

How do we do that? Mindfulness. Wait … what?

Mindfulness and Mushin are like yin and yang. YinYang is not about balance between opposing forces. It’s about interrelated harmony of those forces. This is the same with mindfulness and mind of no mind. We cannot be mindful, if our head is full of “too many mind”. Mindfulness is being in the moment, within reality in real time, as in unfolds dynamically. Mindful of being there in the now. Do this so well, we achieve Mushin.

We may not see it, but this is what happens in children as they play. Climbing a net, traversing a horizontal ladder, swinging, spinning, balancing, sliding, and running while interacting with others. No adulterated egos, worries, or outside distractions. They are there. Completely.

It calms the nervous system, we uptake and utilize oxygen better, our brains are more powerful (because they’re not clogged up), pain is reduced, sleep is better, concentration, balance, and emotional and psychological health is better. It keeps us more youthful.

This kind of play is harder for adults, because we have adult responsibilities, problems, and so on. True, but sometimes we can allow too much or blow things out of proportion. So we practice Yoga or Martial Arts, which both require Mushin/Mindfulness to do effectively. But even in pickleball, if our head isn’t in the game, we’re not going to do very well. Same with everyday life.

Mindfulness, yes. Mushin, yes.

Be there or be square.

Photo by Robert Collins on Unsplash

Get Out

Wed, 16 Aug 2023 14:22:00 GMT

Get Out

We humans spend most of our time indoors, under artificial lighting and most of that lighting is highly efficient fluorescent tubes and LED bulbs. But, efficient hardly ever means better.

We can’t sense it, but the flicker from CFL and LED lights can lead to eye strain, headaches, stress, poor concentration, and fatigue. In fact, according to an article from the National Library of Medicine, a 2010 study found that exposure to fluorescent lighting causes a heightened central nervous system arousal. Not good.

LED bulbs may be even more irritating to the eyes and brain, whereas although not detectable, LEDs dim by 100% with each flicker, while fluorescents dim about 35%.

Beyond that, there’s artificially conditioned air, electronic white noise, wifi signals, computer screens, and lots of sitting. First-graders, high school students, college students, and most adults all the way through retirement age.

So, what do we do when we’ve spent most of our day in this environment? We go to the gym where there’s artificial fluorescent lighting, reconditioned air, electronic white noise, wifi signals, and even more screens to stare at. And, unless we’re on a treadmill, we’re probably sitting on some machine.

Hmm … we need a better place to decompress and recharge, and it’s outside. In Florida? Yes, even in Florida where we love our air-conditioning.

Just being in a natural environment has been shown to decrease tension, blood pressure, anxiety, and depression. Natural sunlight elevates mood, happiness, positivity, and mental health. Fresh air raises serotonin levels, which helps regulate natural sleep cycles, and it’s an anti-depressant.

And that’s just being outdoors but, add exercise and movement and we’re positively stimulating the cerebellum. This part of the brain that processes movement is also the exact same part of the brain responsible for learning. Movement makes us smarter.

So many studies have shown aerobic exercise improves many aspects of cognitive function, such as memory, decision-making, problem solving and attention.

Resistance training has been shown to improve “executive function,” such as the ability to selectively pay attention to your professor instead of our iPhone and the ability to think before we act – inhibitory control – cognitive flexibility, and the capacity to hold information in our mind and manipulate it.

You see where this is going: Outdoor fitness helps us to decompress, relax, improve sleep, fight depression and anxiety, while elevating mood, positivity, and overall mental health. It improves brain function, neuroplasticity, memory, problem solving, attention and cognitive flexibility.

Rick Ruben said, “a painting is just a painting until we put a frame around it and hang it on the wall”. Then, it becomes art. It attracts our attention, draws us in, and becomes more valuable.

When we create an outdoor fitness space with the right equipment, that space becomes more valuable in ways that are immeasurable to all the human benefits it provides.

Let’s get outside.

The Real Reason that Prince and Burke Live Purple

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 12:21:00 GMT

The Real Reason that Prince and Burke Live Purple

Microsoft’s default or core color is blue. The official Apple colors are black and grey. And Google covers basically everything, everywhere, all at once with the primary colors of paint and light.

But really, what’s in a color?

Microsoft’s blue represents security, trust, and loyalty. Apple’s black is about sophistication, power, and mystery. Hmm … mystery. And Google? It’s plausible that the real reason is Google’s first server was built with Lego, in blue, red, yellow, and green.

So, what’s with Burke’s purple?

The tagline of Burke’s playground and recreation products is “Play that moves you.” But, not just in a physical way. So much goes into research, design, and development in each play element and product and how it fits into an overall system to ignite cognitive, social, emotional, and imaginative skill development. It’s more than just a “playground”, but we’re not supposed to know that. We should see it as an awesome thing to climb on, slide on, swing, jump, and laugh on, while leaving the technical stuff to the experts.

Purple is a color that encourages the mind, body, and soul to live in harmony. It brings together balance of mental clarity with emotional stability. It’s the color of enlightenment, welcoming all schools of thought. It’s unbiased and civilized, as it promotes understanding and acceptance.

Yep, colors have meaning. I didn’t know how much, until I went down this rabbit hole.

Did you know that purple is the most powerful visible wavelength of all the colors of the rainbow? It stimulates our mood while it calms the mind and nerves. It’s uplifting, as it encourages imagination, creativity, playfulness, and uniqueness. This is why many musicians, writers, poets, and artists respond well to purple.

But, that’s not why Prince embraced the color. Purple represents royalty and according his sister Sharon Nelson, it made him feel more “Princely”.

Royalty, strength, prestige, ability, and innovation are all represented by purple, while on a more human scale, empathy, peace, happiness, compassion, spirituality, and inspiration.

What’s in a color? Well … more than meets the eye, apparently.

Wait, I hear Prince playing in the background; “I only want to see you laughing in the purple rain …”

Three or More Very Important Reasons We All Should MOV

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 13:17:05 GMT

Walking has many positive biological benefits, such as blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol regulation. It helps in body fat management, improves mood, reduces stress, and improves brain health, and so much more. Walking is good for the human body and mind in so many ways it should be a part of our daily routine. But it’s kind of a passive movement. It’s so natural, we’re sort of on autopilot, even though our brain is calculating and coordinating so many functions to move us forward.

Our brain tells our body how to move. Movement improves the health of our brain. MOVMNT by Burke encourages the focused, active interaction between the brain and the body and the benefits are beyond measure.

How?

Kinesthesia, of course. What?! Kinesiology is the study of movement and kinesthesia is the ability to know where parts of our body are and how they are moving. Spatial awareness, timing, coordination, focus, precision, and adjustments in real time.

The more we do it, the better we become. This is kinesthetic learning.

According to an article by the National Math Foundation, kinesthetic learning encourages, physical activity, bolsters cognitive, social, and emotional development, enhances the brain’s capacity to retain information, and develops not just individual capacities and strengths, but also self-confidence in those capacities.

When we focus our attention while moving, neurons stop signaling in sync with one another and start firing out of sync. This sounds bad, but it’s a good thing. This helps us to respond accordingly to different types of sensory information, allowing us to identify, categorize, and respond to sensory input that’s more important or less worthy of our attention.

This is our cholinergic system at work, which is involved in the regulation of attention and higher-order cognitive processing. When we “exercise” our cholinergic system, we improve brain health and stave off cognitive decline. It improves skill, reaction time, decisive action, visual acuity, hand-eye coordination, physical ability, problem solving, reflexes, and so much more.

Then there’s neuroplasticity, the brain’s capacity to continue growing and evolving in response to life experiences. Our continued ability to form new connections in learning, maintain a healthy brain, and improve cognition. Functional neuroplasticity is how well our neuronal connections are performing. While all forms of exercise and movement improve neuroplasticity, focused, attentive movement, engaging the mind and body together can be even better.

Focused attentive movement engages the mind and body together to perform physically skilled tasks. MOVMNT encourages, engages, and exercises our cholinergic system, kinesthesia, and neuroplasticity. It burns calories, and improves our strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular health.

We hear and see the lighted button, quickly move towards it, position ourselves to perform a spatially aware skill that involves dynamic focus to effectively press the button to score and immediately get ready for the next one.

In other words, it’s fun and really good for us. So, let’s MOV!

How Stress Keeps Us from Falling Over

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 14:10:00 GMT

Stress Keeps Us from Falling Over

Inside Arizona’s Biosphere 2, the trees grew very rapidly, more so than they would outside of the dome. But, before they reached full maturity, they would simply fall over. They would reach a certain height; and, it’s not that they reached the literal glass ceiling, but at a certain height, they would fall over.

At first, the scientists couldn’t figure out why. But after some research, they found the answer. It was a complete lack of stress that made the root system, the bark, and the entire tree weak.

In the real world outside of the dome, trees have to withstand wind and other elements, position themselves in a way to get more sunlight, and grow a deep and wide root system to get enough water.

In Biosphere 2, the trees didn’t have to do any of those things: no wind, plenty of water, no elements like heavy rain, never too hot or cold, and there was always enough UV light. All that comfort and ease produced weak trees that fell over.

Humans are kind of the same in this respect. When we play, climb, swing, slide, run, jump, lift, pull, crawl, and move our body and use our mind to maneuver in ways that “stress” us to a certain degree, we get stronger, more flexible, less fragile, and more resilient. We learn to make smart choices, mitigate danger, and safely navigate risk.

A well-designed playground, with challenging play elements, inspires children to grow stronger. While there are biosphere reserves in Florida, there’s nothing like the Biosphere 2 dome. Although a playground in mid-summer in Central Florida can feel like a greenhouse without air conditioning. But, that’s part of risk navigation as well. Awareness of the elements and making smart choices, is all part of the strengthening and resiliency process.

A Biosphere-2 tree would not survive in the real world; it doesn’t even “stand” a chance.

Becoming stronger and more resilient in our formative years, helps us to handle stress and even distress in the real world, outside of the protective dome. This is just as important in adults as well. Instead of finding ways to completely avoid stress or stressors, it’s better to learn to engage with stress, manage it, and even use it to our advantage. We’re less reactionary, we’re not devastated when the cheese is moved, we’re calmer, and more in control of our emotions. Our temperament becomes more temperate.

Outdoor exercise, even in Florida, is better than any pharmaceutical or supplement. So, let’s go play.