With the continued interest in outdoor fitness, PlayCore’s updated best practice guidebook release is a timely tool for providing communities with guidance to create meaningful outdoor fitness spaces.
The book, Outdoor Adult Fitness Parks, Best Practices for Promoting Community Health by Increasing Activity, was created with an expert advisory council, including Dr. Michael Suk, M.D., J.D., MPH, FACS, and Chairman of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Geisinger Health System, Danville, PA; Dr. Gary Liguori, Ph.D., Department Head of Health and Human Performance, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; and Dr. Thom McKenzie, Ph. D., Emeritus Professor of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences, San Diego State University.
The guidebook helps outline the need for and the unique benefits of outdoor fitness. In addition, it offers design best practices on creating outdoor fitness parks that align with total body fitness, proposes strategies for implementation and sustainability, suggests meaningful ways to maximize the investment in an Outdoor Fitness Park through maintenance and programming, then presents methods for tracking and reporting outcomes for continuous improvement.
The book also features several case studies of Outdoor Fitness Parks that have embraced best practices to create meaningful spaces where communities gather to increase physical activity and promote health improvement. PlayCore’s National Demonstration Site (NDS) program, established to recognize and promote community Outdoor Fitness Parks, is another meaningful element of the program that provides recognition to outstanding Outdoor Fitness Parks, and promotes them as model environments. PlayCore’s Corporate VP of Marketing, Anne-Marie Spencer, adds, “The NDS program recognizes Outdoor Fitness Parks that follow best practices in design, and provides them with mechanisms to measure community outcomes. This data can be invaluable in demonstrating the value of these spaces, and helping communities promote and procure funding for additional outdoor fitness parks.
To receive a copy of the guidebook, or learn more about building an outdoor fitness space in your community, check out https://www.playcore.com/programs/outdoor-adult-fitness. To learn more about becoming a National Demonstration Site for Fitness, or to obtain a copy of the Best Practice Guidebook, go to https://www.playcore.com/nds.
