Get Fit — reloaded

How it all began

How it all began

The Get Fit move­ment of the 1970s can defi­ni­tely be seen as a forerunner of today’s fitness boom and the outdoor exer­cise course. Get fit trails were circular courses three or four kilo­me­tres in length with 15 to 20 exer­cise stations. The aim of the move­ment was not compe­ti­tive sport, but the affluent society plagued by obesity and circu­la­tory dise­ases.

The Lower Bavaria exer­cise courses with playfit equip­ment continue this success story with new concepts, offers and equip­ment.

Outdoor exercise course

An outdoor exer­cise course is ther­e­fore a leisure acti­vity that further deve­lops elements of the get fit trail and combines them with play­ground elements. Such systems consist of several coor­di­nated instal­la­tions in public spaces. They comple­ment the public leisure offer in parks and green spaces.

They are often speci­ally tail­ored to the needs and acti­vi­ties of older people. Then they are also called senior play­grounds or multi-gene­ra­tion parks.

There are basi­cally three factors that deter­mine the success of such systems.
1. The embed­ding in the envi­ron­ment
 2. The equip­ment with regard to the expected user groups
 3. The quality of the installed equip­ment

Aitershofen

The exer­cise course in the muni­ci­pa­lity of Aiter­hofen (3,650 inha­bi­tants) was created as part of the LEADER funding programme “Moving Lower Bavaria”.

The offer is aimed at all age groups, is easy to master and acces­sible to ever­yone. The devices include a duplex shoulder trainer, balance trainer, a massage-stret­ching station, stations for stomach and back, arm pulls and push-ups, as well as leg lifts and a balan­cing stretch.

The total costs of 51,500 euros were largely borne by the Bava­rian State Ministry for Food, Agri­cul­ture and Forests. The own contri­bu­tion for Aiter­hofen was only € 20,600.

Dingolfing

The multi-gene­ra­tion park in Dingol­fing was opened in 2016. It offers a total of 12 playfit devices, which were embedded in the attrac­tive area not far from the Isar. Another high­light is the rena­tured Mühl­bach flowing through the exer­cise park, into which a Kneipp basin has been incor­po­rated.

The park is an ideal place for exer­cise, play and commu­ni­ca­tion. At the same time, it serves as a rest zone, in which flower meadows and tree trunks as seating invite you to linger and relax. It can be reached without barriers and has state-of-the-art sani­tary faci­li­ties.

At the time, more than 1,000 visi­tors came to the opening to try out the equip­ment. At that time, playfit had speci­fi­cally expanded the poten­tial of its equip­ment to appeal to less active users. It paid off.

Hauzenberg

“Fit am Freu­densee” is the title of the East Bavaria tourism asso­cia­tion for the exer­cise course at the Freu­densee leisure area in Hauzen­berg.

The area is constantly being deve­loped, the course was opened in 2020. The park and the faci­lity are used by walkers and joggers. Both use the “outdoor fitness studio” with the seven coor­di­nated pieces of equip­ment balance trainer, arm pull-up trainer, 4‑person hori­zontal bar, balance stretch, abdo­minal / back station, knee flexors and leg lifters.

A swim in the lake is also part of the programme in summer.

Metten

Metten is five kilo­me­tres west of Deggen­dorf on the Danube. The special feature of this exer­cise course is that it is embedded in a resi­den­tial area and borders on a walking path.

Here, too, the course equip­ment was geared towards the needs of the expected users. That is why Metten mainly has children’s play equip­ment and fitness faci­li­ties for resi­dents and walkers in the district: leg trai­ners, full-body trai­ners, rowing machines, upper body trai­ners, parallel bars and a calis­the­nics faci­lity.

Pfarrkirchen

First a Nordic walking tour through the Rottauen, then (or in between) trai­ning on the equip­ment on the exer­cise course. Some­thing like that, the faci­lity, which opened in 2018, is often incor­po­rated into the excur­sion and sports programme of the resi­dents and visi­tors of parish churches. This is also due to its loca­tion in the garden of the Stadt­werke, in the imme­diate vici­nity of the cycle paths on the Rott.

The twelve playfit outdoor fitness machines are leg trai­ners, full body trai­ners, back trai­ners, duplex shoulder trai­ners, back massage machines, arm bikes, rowing machines, upper body trai­ners, abdo­minal / back stations, arm pull-up push-up trai­ners, squats and balan­cing stretch.

Reisbach

The special feature of the Reis­bach exer­cise course is its five diffe­rent loca­tions. These are spread over the entire area of the market town and its 7,770 inha­bi­tants, prefer­ably in combi­na­tion with play­grounds, green spaces or other offers for sport and leisure.

The total of 13 pieces of equip­ment on display include a calis­the­nics system, a hori­zontal bar, several bars, a slack­line and an abdo­minal / back station.

Vilshofen an der Danube

The exer­cise course in Ginkgo Park (Gingko is a tree species from China) offers cross-gene­ra­tional oppor­tu­ni­ties for exer­cise and encoun­ters, inclu­ding for wheel­chair users. This compre­hen­sive offer makes sense because the course is directly adja­cent to a large children’s play­ground. So, it offers young and old the oppor­tu­nity to train move­ment, coor­di­na­tion and strength in a playful way.

In addi­tion, the faci­lity estab­lished in 2018 offers four diffe­rent pieces of equip­ment for shoulder trai­ning, leg streng­thening, an arm pull and push-up trainer as well as a rowing machine. Thanks to its loca­tion, concep­tion and equip­ment, this playfit exer­cise course is also a very well-func­tio­ning, attrac­tive excur­sion and sports offer for the whole city.