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:

1. 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.
2. Indoor strength machines use cables, pulleys, cams, and weight stacks.  Again, it just wouldn’t hold up in an outdoor setting.
3. Plush padding in seats and backs are traded out for hard plastic.  Not very comfortable. 
4. 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. 
5. 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? 

1. 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. 
2. 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.
3. 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. 
4. 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!

Rust. It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way

Fe₂O_{3 •} 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

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.