Getting fit is just a bonus

The city of Essen has succeeded in creating contemporary exercise opportunities for the young and the old — and all in the fresh air.

The Grug­a­park Essen was created to mark the first Great Ruhr Horti­cul­tural Exhi­bi­tion (Gruga) in 1929. After destruc­tion during the war, recon­s­truc­tion and expan­sion, the Federal Garden Show 1965 was held here, among other events.

In 2012, the City of Essen deve­loped the “Grug­a­park 2020 Park Deve­lo­p­ment Concept” to offer contem­po­rary exer­cise oppor­tu­ni­ties for young and old — all in the fresh air and in a protected space

The centre­piece of this project is the “health trail”, featuring twelve diffe­rent stations. The exer­cise course, the largest of its kind, is from playfit.

On the “health trail”, interested people of all ages can enhance their vitality and motor skills with a high fun factor.

The goal of the Park Deve­lo­p­ment Concept is “more move­ment for young and old”. To this end, a very impres­sive circular path has been created in the Grug­a­park, linking twelve stations. People of all ages can now test and boost their vita­lity and motor skills along this “health trail” in a playful and fun way.

In addi­tion to seven stations with a variety of diffe­rent chal­lenges, the Grug­a­park now also features five equip­ment courses. The playfit® trai­ning course consists of 17 pieces of equip­ment. This makes it the largest and most diverse loca­tion within the park.   

Promoting health ” quite incidentally” is the basic idea behind the offers in the Grugapark. This works very well.

The Grug­a­park is located close to the city centre, right next to Messe Essen (Essen Trade Fair). Cove­ring around 60 hectares, the park is used for local recrea­tion, as a place for play and sport and is also a venue for events. There are also lots of diffe­rent species of animals, and one of the largest sculp­ture exhi­bi­tions in Germany can be found here.

And by the way: Here, you can do a lot of good things for your health. This subtle message is the basic idea behind the new offe­rings: All of them are aimed at all visitor and user groups, such as children, senior citi­zens and people with diffe­rent handi­caps.

The playfit training course is the largest of a total of twelve stations on the health trail.

The playfit trai­ning course is the second of a total of twelve stations on the health trail. Here, all parts of the body can be trained in a targeted or playful way — as balance, strength and endu­rance trai­ning.

The 17 pieces of equip­ment also promote flexi­bi­lity and bounce. Some of them, such as the wheel­chair trainer, the Duplex shoulder trainer or the arm bike, are also desi­gned for use by wheel­chair users, marking an important contri­bu­tion to inclu­sion.

All the focal points of the health trail are brought together at one place in the playfit training course.

The health trail is divided into diffe­rent themes: “Balan­cing and equi­li­brium”, “Motor skills and coor­di­na­tion”, “Strength trai­ning and muscle buil­ding” and “Endu­rance and circu­la­tion”.

All these focal points are brought toge­ther in one place in the playfit trai­ning course. Several pieces of equip­ment are available for each of the areas. Instruc­tions can be found on the equip­ment as well as on infor­ma­tion signs. A display board featuring safety instruc­tions explains how to use the equip­ment correctly.

The individual stations are easy to find and yet secluded enough to allow for sufficient privacy during training.

The other four equip­ment courses in the Grug­a­park each offer two or three pieces of equip­ment, where the focus can be on balance, coor­di­na­tion, strength or endu­rance.

There is a wide range of acti­vi­ties at the other seven stations: A Kneipp faci­lity, a bare­foot path, a low ropes course, a calis­the­nics faci­lity, a rope rocker, a swivel disc and a gradua­tion house for breathing trai­ning.

playfit training courses make an important contribution to health promotion and inclusion — also in the Grugapark.

The idea of linking all the new exer­cise oppor­tu­ni­ties via a circular route is logical, and it works. The offe­rings take into account people’s incre­asing need for more health and exer­cise oppor­tu­ni­ties, and are equally appe­aling to all gene­ra­tions of visi­tors.

The health trail in the Grug­a­park, and the playfit trai­ning course in parti­cular, play an important role in promo­ting a healthy life­style and inclu­sion.