Adult fitness playgrounds spring up around LA

Posted: 07/20/2013 12:29:51 PM PDT

Updated: 07/20/2013 03:42:50 PM PDT

To Katherine Parker, the ribbon cutting at Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks Park last week came just in time.

"I love to work out, but I hate to be in a gym," said Parker, who has been walking at the park for more than three years to get exercise. "This way, I'll be able to get the same kind of exercise, and it will be outside. That's why we live here, right?"

Parker joined about a dozen adults and more than two dozen day-camp kids to witness Councilman Tom LaBonge's opening of the latest "adult fitness playground" at a city park.

"A lot of people can't afford a gym or don't want to go to one," LaBonge said. "This way, they can get exercise and we can make better use of our parks."

The city has been at the forefront of the movement to create adult playgrounds -- areas set aside for chin-up bars, rowing machines and other workout equipment suitable for grown-ups.

Expanding the exercise options at parks beyond the requisite swingsets, slides and seesaws began in the late 1960s, when Swiss architect Erwin Weckemann designed a then state-of-the-art parcourse in Zurich. These were running trails with stops along the way where people could partake of resistance equipment. For more dense areas with smaller parks, the notion of honing in on just the equipment stations proved immensely popular.

Last year, the national nonprofit land-conservation group Trust for Public Land issued a report called

"From Fitness Zones to the Medical Mile," addressing how urban parks can be used to promote health, Among its recommendations were mixed-use facilities that allow adults to have fun alongside their youngsters.

Los Angeles has embraced the idea, so far creating 40 of the adult playgrounds, with plans to expand as money becomes available. And there's been no objection from private sports clubs. "The people who use this wouldn't want to join a gym," said Jon Kirk Mukri, L.A.'s general manager of Recreation and Parks.

Surprisingly, the stations are not that expensive. The Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks project, with its 14 pieces of equipment, cost $75,000 -- $25,000 from LaBonge's office, $25,000 from the L.A. Parks Foundation and $25,000 from an anonymous donor. The trust has also contributed some funds.

"The private money helps us get these online more quickly," Mukri said. "Eventually, we would like to have them at nearly every park."

The Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks facility is unique because of its size. At nearly 70 acres, it includes a swimming pool with high dive, tennis courts, baseball diamonds and other amenities. LaBonge said there are plans to create two soccer fields as well.

He was motivated to support the effort after hearing from residents following the City Council redistricting last year, when he inherited the Sherman Oaks area. "This is one of the things people told me they wanted," LaBonge said. "I'm a parks guy. I go walking in Griffith Park every morning. The people have paid for this park, and we should do all we can to encourage its use."