Fitness trail

Fitness trail station, North Bay Park, Ypsilanti Township, Michigan
Balance beam at Stanwick Lakes in Stanwick, England

A fitness trail, trim trail or parcourse consists of a path or course with outdoor exercise equipment or obstacles installed along its length for exercising the human body to promote good health. The course is designed to promote physical fitness training in the style attributed to Georges Hébert.

In general, fitness trails can be natural or man-made, located in areas such as forest, transportation rights-of-way, parks, or urban settings. Equipment exists to provide specific forms of physiological exercise, and can consist of natural features including climbable rocks, trees, and river embankments, or manufactured products (stepping posts, chin-up and climbing bars) designed to provide similar physical challenges. The degree of difficulty of a course is determined by terrain slope, trail surface (dirt, grass, gravel, etc.), obstacle height (walls) or length (crawls) and other features. Urban parcourses tend to be flat, to permit participation by the elderly, and to accommodate cyclists, runners, skaters and walking.

The more recent concept of an outdoor gym, containing traditional gym equipment specifically designed for outdoor use, is also considered to be a development of the parcourse. These outdoor exercise gyms include moving parts and are often made from galvanised metal.


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