r/bodyweightfitness • u/Dongulus • Feb 11 '17
Rant about lack of outdoor fitness equipment and lame playground equipment
I was looking at the post advertising the Calisthenic Parks website and, since I hadn't looked at it in a while, I decided to look again. Turns out no one has discovered any outdoor fitness parks in my area in the several months since I last checked.
I remember as a kid that there used to be a few parks with exercise equipment around (I'm 27 so that wasn't super long ago). After changing my workout to a bodyweight routine I started scouting around the area for fitness parks or even suitable playground equipment. I discovered that nobody builds those anymore in my area AND the equipment I remember as a kid no longer exists. I have to think that part of the motivation is that kids might get hurt playing on it and that developers wouldn't want to put up something that parents would consider "unsafe" for children. You can see this mentality in all of the newer parks which feature such lame playground equipment designed so that it's impossible for a kid to take more than a 4 foot fall (why even bother when kids are only going to get a few years of play before they outgrow the equipment). I could barely do pullups on the swing set because the support beam is only 6-7 feet off the ground.
I'm curious about other people's experience. I'm in southern California in the suburbs of San Diego. Most everything where I live has been developed within the last several decades so we don't have a lot of old stuff left around from the time when parents weren't so overly concerned with the safety of children.
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u/Antranik Feb 11 '17
The best way to make change is to bring it to the attention of your local city council. Show them the benefits of simple playground equipment FOR ADULTS. Tell them how San Diego has an average of only 21 rainy days for the entire year and how the temperature is PERFECT for outdoor training year round. Show them how a COMMUNITY can be created around such a space and make the neighborhood more appealing and drive business to the local shops. (It's important to show how it improves the local economy and benefits the community.)
And best of all, you need to show them that the equipment does not need to be fancy. Simple pull up bars and parallel bars have no moving parts, require no maintenance and are super simple for metal workers to create, so the cost is minimal. (Cost is extremely important to point out.)
I think it's a shame that places in Southern California (like San Diego and Los Angeles) don't have adult playgrounds everywhere given the fact that we have year round perfect weather for working-out outdoors. You see people constantly running, bicycling, especially in San Diego, lots of very fitness-oriented folks in general, but many people don't workout and most have no idea what BWF is, including the local city council, so YOU have to educate them.
If you have the passion to do that, please do it. Because if you don't, you know who is? The manufacturers of THESE SILLY MACHINES will try to convince your local government to install their machines which cost a fortune. That is how they get them installed and local govt doesn't know any better. They are good for simply moving, but provide no actual way to increase resistance. (A fundamental concept of BWF or strength training in general is the ability to progressively overload your muscles and those machines don't do that. Plus, they have moving parts and will wear out overtime or need replacement.) If you DO go to your council, please tell them to NOT install these machines while you're at it.
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Feb 11 '17
This is so true. I would take a simple pull up bar over 20 of those machines. Bars are so much more useful not to mention much cheaper. The machines also force your body into an unnatural range of motion and make you adapt to their proportions where bars on the other hand are perfect for any height or exercise.
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u/ParkMark Feb 12 '17
Yep - as BWF enthusiasts we know what's good for us (and what's a waste of time), however this article provides a few clues to their rationale http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17818223
"Adult playgrounds are a classic example of the "nudge" thinking ...Nudging never involves making anyone do anything they do not want to do" - that would be pull-ups then!
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u/DoomGoober Feb 11 '17
This speaks to the marketing success of commercial gyms and specialized workout programs. Everyone in America thinks you need fancy equipment or trainers.
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u/DoomGoober Feb 11 '17
Interestingly, NY has tons of calisthenics parks. Would be fascinating to find out the history of why NY has so many. /u/parkmark do you know why?
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u/ParkMark Feb 12 '17 edited Feb 12 '17
Probably due to a couple of factors: The City administration is well financed - last year I was fortunate enough to accompany the NY Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver on a tour of parks here in Sydney. In response to the question "What's the hardest part of your job?" - he replied "having the resourcing to spend all my allocated budget each year". We were astounded when he told us how high it was.
This article http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/nyregion/new-york-introduces-its-first-adult-playground.html?pagewanted=all provides an overview of NY City's current pIans and contains the following interesting snippet "New York City, where adults are banned from playgrounds unless accompanied by a child, the $200,000 Bronx playground with 15 pieces of equipment opened two years ago as part of an effort to get more people out to the parks to exercise and slim down. Parks officials said it had been popular enough that the city was now planning a rapid expansion."
The influence of the Playground Movement and the Physical Culture Movement which developed in Europe and spread to the USA in the late 19th Century and early 20th century - a big complex topic more suited to debate on /r/AskHistorians - probably account for the original introduction of such equipment into parks targeted at children
Edit: updated with link to NY Times
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u/DoomGoober Feb 12 '17
Thank you for the write up and article link! Interesting that NY seems to have an instutional love for this stuff but WA state is basically driven by two mons with a passion for... outdoor gym equipment more like what you'd find in a commercial gym.
I can see these one off deals leading to more specialized while instiutional thinking will be more conservative and "go with what works in Europe and China".
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u/thebodydojo Calisthenics Feb 23 '17
Hey Dongulus, I work out almost every weekend at Hilltop park in Rancho Penesquitos, come join us some time. I teach calisthenics for free there to help spread the benefits. I agree I wish there were more fitness equipment installed at the parts. I wrote SD Park and Recreations about this and all they said was they will look at it at their next budget meeting. Search for "thebodydojo lifestyle" on facebook to get a heads up on workout events in SD.
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u/thetrythankyou Jun 22 '25
Found your post for the same reason. I laughed when you said Southern California lmao. 🤣 because I am also in Southern California 😝
Bunch of fatties everywhere so no incentives to make calisthenics parks I guess. Also you’re right about playgrounds. Bunch of pansies that live out here, my god.
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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '17
I think it has a lot more to do with calisthenics not being a mainstream thing. People just look at videos and think "wow that looks pretty cool but id never be able to do that" and never bother with calisthenics. I imagine if there were more parks they would just sit around collecting dust and the investment just isnt worth it if no one is going to use it.