A recent study by Oxford University has shown that half of British adults never do any exercise. The Telegraph reports that, ‘Forty four per cent admit to not taking part in any moderate exercise meaning that British fitness levels are among the worst in Europe’. This means that nearly five million adults spend the majority of the day sitting down. 10% of adults admitted to not even walking for at least ten minutes a day. Cambridge University studied 334,000 people for twelve years and found that inactivity was worse than obesity and caused more premature deaths. Research has found that 20 minutes brisk walking a day provides major health benefits.
Often the reason we don’t exercise as much as we should is because we are under the misconception that we need to spend hours exercising formally in the gym. Unfortunately this way of thinking results in a lack of motivation and feeling overwhelmed. The NHS Choices website has devoted a whole section to encouraging people to exercise for free by using the area around them and have suggested a wide range of activities including; walking, cycling, park games, home exercising, skipping and trim trails. Many of these activities can be undertaken anywhere including the local park or green area. Local councils can help to encourage people to do different types of exercises by installing equipment such as; outdoor gyms and trim trails.
Many councils have begun to address their citizen’s fitness levels by installing Trim Trails in their parks. Parks in cities like London, Manchester and Birmingham have trim trails available for everyone to use. Trim Trails include equipment that strengthen the upper body, lower body, improve coordination and get your heart beating. Trim Trails are such an effective form of exercise that some personal trainers actually incorporate the equipment into their training schedule. The main advantage of Trim Trails is that it is completely free to use them and walking between each piece of equipment allows you to exercise outside without even realising it.
When planning a Trim Trail for your park or green area you can choose as many pieces of equipment that suit your budget and the space you have available. Every Trim Trail is bespoke and unique to the setting it is in. At Playdale, we have thirteen pieces of Trim Trail equipment and two types of signs. The Playdale Trim Trail range includes; chin ups, hurdles, pole climb, ladder walk, vault, straddle jump, leap frog, sit ups, parallel bars, twin balance beam, step ups, arm stretch and press ups.
If you would like advice on how to plan your trim trail and organising your budget we would be very happy to help.
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