What you need to know about
Outdoor fitness equipment
More and more people lead sedentary life styles: many people drive to work and spend the day sitting in front of their computer.
Even children spend more and more time in front of a screen.
At the same time, more and more people take up a gym membership or go out for a run or do other outdoor activities. Outdoor
fitness equipment that is free to use, fits perfectly in the latter situation.
The fitness stations attract people of all ages and walks of life, and invites them to enjoy exercising in a natural and relaxed
environment. Outdoor Fitness parks also have important social benefits. Promoting health improvement, integration and fun
fitness, makes the fitness park a natural and intergenerational meeting point.
Certification
Outdoor fitness equipment needs to be certified to EN16630, the European standard that defines safety requirements and test
methods for permanently installed Outdoor Fitness equipment. This standard supersedes the DIN79000 and PAS888 standards.
User groups
Outdoor fitness equipment can be used by various user groups.
In the case of Norwell Outdoor fitness, there are specific products for Adults, Juniors, Seniors and for people with special needs.
Norwell Junior, the products for young people are suitable for children from 140cm and over (approximately 9-14 year olds).
The activities and the dimensions of these products are suitable for this age range. The products are developed together with
Physiotherapists and Biomechanics experts.
Please read through the article on page 3 regarding the use of Outdoor fitness equipment by children.
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What you need to know about
outdoor fitness equipment
Placement and installation
In paragraph 4.1 EN16630 states that:
‘Fitness equipment is not intended for installation in the immediate vicinity of children’s playgrounds in accordance with the
EN1176 series. If installed in connection with playground equipment, on playgrounds or similar installations, they shall be
separated from general playing activities by an appropriate distance, fencing or other structural measures.’
Russell Play would recommend the above for all types of Outdoor fitness equipment, both the Adult as well as the Junior
equipment. It is best to make a clear distinction between play and fitness areas to prevent young children using the fitness
equipment.
Clear signage, distance, soft landscaping and the use of different surfacing materials is a friendlier way to distinguish the
different areas than using fencing.
Each piece of Outdoor fitness equipment has its specific movement space and training space. Training spaces of different pieces
of equipment shall not overlap with the exception of fitness equipment with multiple user stations.
Products with a free height of fall of more than one meter and products with forced movement need safety surfacing around the
equipment.
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What you need to know about
outdoor fitness equipment
Strength training for children and teenagers in Germany: Yes or No?
Despite many studies and new findings on strength training for children and teenagers is this topic still
approached with skepticism by many Germans. But what is the opinion of sport researchers in Germany?
Is strength training for prepubertal children effective at all or could it even be unhealthy? This paper aims at
clarifying the current research situation in Germany towards this topic.
Strength training for children and teenagers has been rated as effective and safe for a long time by international
organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American College of Sport Medicine (ACSM)
or the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). However, in Germany, health risks and general
effectiveness of strength training for children and teenagers are still discussed and presented in an outdated way
in textbooks. Dr. med. Dr. rer. nat. Michael Behringer from the Institute of Training Science and Sport Informatics
at the University in Cologne estimates that Germany is approximately 20 to 30 years behind the international
development when it comes to this topic. In his Phd thesis, which gives an overview over the current data in this
area, he comes to the conclusion, in contrary to general fears, that strength training for children and teenagers
is a trainings-­form with little risks. His analysis of 69 intervention studies shows that in non of the studies the
feared negative effects on bone growth occur. Also other injuries are very small with only two mild injuries in
contrast to the positive outcomes on health such as mineralization of bones, better body structure and positive
mental effects. However, there is still need for research in this area in order to get more knowledge on the
mechanisms of increasing strength.
Also the Bundesinstitut für Sportwissenschaften recognized the missing communication between research
and praxis in Sports and commissioned two scientific expertise. These were worked out by two groups under
the guidance of Professor Petra Platen (Ruhr-­Universität Bochum), Professor Ulrich Hartmann (Universität
Leipzig) and Prof. Dr paed, Dr hc mult Joachim Mester, Leader of the Institute of Training Science and
Sport Informatics at the University in Cologne. Their works summarize the “national and international well
founded, researchable knowledge of strength training with young people”. In further steps, a paper on the
standpoint of the current situation of strength training of children and teenagers was outlined and signed
by the most important organizations in connection to this topic. Despite knowledge gaps in this area, it is
clear to all authors that strength training for children and teenagers of all ages leads to an “improvement
of recruitment, firing rate and synchronization of motor functions and as such to an improvement of the
intramuscular coordination”, as long as the training is adapted to the individual state of development
of the children and teenagers trained. The latter, together with competent instructions and useful
dosage is to be of high significance. The “targeted training or maintenance of strength ability” under the above
mentioned conditions is, independent of gender and age and in high-­performance sport as well as outside,
beneficial and should “fundamentally play an essential role“. Furthermore can strength training be a prevention
for injuries and insures resilience for up-­and-­coming athletes as it can have positive impacts on the body:
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•
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decrease of blood pressure
improve of psychological features:self esteem, self assessment, self confidence
size, density and mechanical features of bones
decrease of amount of body fat
Even if the paper, amongst others in the above mentioned areas, sees reasons to research further, the
central statement on the current opinion of sport-­r esearch regarding strength training for children and
teenager is obvious: the effectiveness as well as the small health risks are clearly approved. According to
German researchers there is no reason for skepticism when it comes to strength training for children. Why
is the sport-­praxis still waiting?
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Issue date: 09/02/16