Xccent Fitness’ outdoor fitness equipment brings healthy lifestyle opportunities to adults of all backgrounds and fitness levels, with communities, friends and co-workers enjoying fun and fitness... all outside in the fresh air. Read more about our outdoor fitness, general fitness and healthy lifestyle related stories...
Park Beats Gym: Study Shows Outdoor Exercise Better Than Gym
Regular outdoor exercise could halve the risk of suffering from poor mental health, according to a new study.
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Fitness Parks Catch On In Cities
No costly membership. Open 24/7. Doesn't take up any space in your home. And it's good for you.
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ICAA announces theme for Active Aging Week
In 2011, Active Aging Week, the International Council on Active Aging’s annual observance promoting a healthy and meaningful life, is being held from September 25 - Oct 1.
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TWO MINUTES OF EXERCISE A DAY CAN KEEP THE PAIN AWAY
DENVER – As little as two minutes of exercise a day can reduce pain and tenderness in adults with neck and shoulder problems, according to research being presented today at the 58th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine...
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Xccent Fitness Launches New Outdoor Fitness Equipment Line
Minneapolis-based Xccent, Inc is pleased to announce the launch of itʼs new Xfitness outdoor fitness equipment line.
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Park Beats Gym: Study Shows Outdoor Exercise Better Than Gym
Regular outdoor exercise could halve the risk of suffering from poor mental health, according to a new study.
Activities in natural environments such as parks and forests have a positive effect on stress, mood and fatigue, researchers at the University of Glasgow found.
The study showed that exercising in "non-natural environments" such as gyms does not protect against poor mental health.
Professor Richard Mitchell, of the Centre for Research on Environment, Society and Health at the university, said: "I wasn't surprised by the findings that exercise in natural environments is good for your mental health, but I was surprised by just how much better it is for your mental health to exercise in a green place like a forest, than in other places like the gym.
"Exercise anywhere is a good thing but exercise in natural environments has a greater benefit for mental health.
"Woodlands and parks seemed to have the greatest effect, so the message to doctors, planners and policymakers is that these places need protecting and promoting.
"The results suggest that making the decision to exercise in a natural environment just once a week could be enough to gain a benefit. Any additional use may have a bigger effect."
Prof Mitchell said 8% of people who exercised regularly in green spaces were likely to suffer poor mental health while the number doubled to 16% for those who did not exercise regularly outdoors.
The research team studied the use of natural and non-natural environments for physical activity, such as walking, running and cycling.
Outdoor exercise had a positive effect on biomarkers, which indicate levels of stress and fatigue.
Studying 1,890 entries to the Scottish Government's general health questionnaire, they looked at the association between the use of each environment and the risk of poor mental health.
Prof Mitchell added: "The information in the health survey gave us great information on a large pool of people but we did not have access to the type, duration or intensity of exercise.
"It would be interesting if we could conduct further research and establish a direct comparison between a run in a park and a run on a treadmill, for example."
The research has been published in the Social Science And Medicine journal.
Fitness Parks Catch On In Cities
No costly membership. Open 24/7. Doesn't take up any space in your home. And it's good for you.
Free outdoor gyms, the latest weapon in fighting the nation's obesity epidemic, are sprouting up in city parks across the country. Clusters of traditional fitness equipment from elliptical machines to leg press and sit-up benches are being installed in city parks, often in poorer neighborhoods that may not have access to healthful options.
Leading the effort is the Trust for Public Land, a non-profit land conservation group that created its Fitness Zones program about three years ago to help cities fund outdoor health playgrounds.
Accessible to anyone walking by, 80 fitness zones are either being built or in the process, says Adrian Benepe, senior vice president and director of city park development for the trust.
"It went gangbusters," he says. "Essentially, it's like an outdoor gym with new varieties of exercise equipment built to withstand the rigor of weather vandalism."
Zones usually have six to eight exercise units but some, such as one in New Orleans, has 18.
The concept is appealing because outdoor gyms use available park space that municipalities already own. The trust not only helps pay for the zones but helps cities raise private funds.
And most important, they're free to anyone who wants to use them.
"That's what defines them," Benepe says. "They're in a public park and accessible to the public. ... You can be outdoors with friends and neighbors."
Nearly 50% of Americans get less than the minimum recommended amount of physical activity, and 36% of U.S. adults engage in no leisure-time physical activity at all, according to the trust. While many variables can account for these statistics, "fitness deserts" — areas where residents don't have access to exercise opportunities — are high on the list.
St. Petersburg, Fla., opened three Fitness Zones in the past year with the help of the trust and there are plans for two more. One, the Azalea Park Fitness Zone near the Veterans Hospital, is the first in the nation to have equipment that is wheelchair accessible.
"In 30 years as parks and recreation director, I have never seen as much of an immediate impact," says Sherry McBee, St. Petersburg's parks and recreation director. "One of our goals is to improve the health of our citizens. It's just really been a win, win, win, win. ... I have never gone by one of them that they haven't been heavily in use."
Florida has 17 of these open-air gyms. Sprawling Los Angeles County has 41.
"They tend to lend themselves to warmer-weather cities, but they're also being installed in cold-weather cities" such as Newark, Denver and Minneapolis, Benepe says.
Improving Americans' health has moved up most cities' agendas. In Florida's Dade County, there are 11 Fitness Zones — eight that opened in the past year alone.
"We want to put them in all 40 parks," says Jack Kardys, director of Miami-Dade County's Parks, Recreations and Open Spaces, which has been on a health campaign and has banned high-sugar content snacks from recreation centers.
The concept of outdoor space for exercise is common in Asia and Europe. Now, a Swedish company has created stainless-steel sculptural structures that double as workout equipment.
Catarina Rolfsdotter-Jansson of Malmö, Sweden, designed City Art Gym as "gender-neutral outdoor fitness that's beautiful:" a sphere, a bridge and a bar in stainless steel that can be used for at least 17 exercises that use more than one muscle group.
"Some fitness equipment doesn't make the city more beautiful," says Rolfsdotter-Jansson, a former basketball player. "I wanted to create a fitness structure that was beautiful."
In Malmö, there's a City Art Gym on the waterfront and one in a town square near a medieval church. Now, U.S. cities have inquired, she says, including New York City, Salt Lake City and Sarasota, Fla. Cost: $22,000 plus tax and shipping.
Jennifer French, a member of the Paralympics U.S. sailing team that won a silver medal this year, lives in St. Petersburg and is a city volunteer who advocates for people with disabilities.
A quadriplegic, French has used the Fitness Zone that is wheelchair accessible and is working to expand it to other parks.
"Fitness for people with mobility impairment is very hard to find," says French, 41. "Having this outdoors and the ability to use it and in your own time is great. ... It's right in a shaded area so you're not in the beating sun."
"It's brought people to our parks who in the past were not regular users," McBee says. "Grouping equipment together in a visible location makes more people comfortable using it. It's somewhere you could watch your child in the playground while you work out."
ICAA announces theme for Active Aging Week
In 2011, Active Aging Week, the International Council on Active Aging’s annual observance promoting a healthy and meaningful life, is being held from September 25 - Oct 1.
Active Aging Week, the annual observance developed by the International Council on Active Aging®, is held each year during the last week of September. Organized locally, Active Aging Week is celebrated nationally in the United States and Canada. The message is universal: people can live as fully as possible throughout the life span.
Read the full article here: http://www.icaa.cc/media/press2011/active-aging-week-2011.htm
TWO MINUTES OF EXERCISE A DAY CAN KEEP THE PAIN AWAY
Small amounts of daily exercise prove to ease pain, tension in neck and shoulders
DENVER – As little as two minutes of exercise a day can reduce pain and tenderness in adults with neck and shoulder problems, according to research being presented today at the 58th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine and 2nd World Congress on Exercise is Medicine®.
In this study, a team at the National Research Center for the Working Environment in Copenhagen, Denmark measured neck and shoulder pain and muscle strength in 198 office workers. Participants were either assigned to groups performing two or 12 minutes of exercise per day, five times per week, or to a control group getting no exercise.
After ten weeks, the two-minutes-per-day exercise group experienced significant reductions of neck and should pain (decreased 1.4 points out of ten) and tenderness (decreased 4.2 points out of 32). The 12-minutes-per-day exercise group had slightly larger reductions in pain and tenderness, an extra .5 and .2 points respectively, but these additional gains were not significant.
“Regular physical activity is the cornerstone of many rehabilitation programs, but many people struggle to adhere to their exercise routines,” said Lars Andersen, Ph.D., lead author of this study. “If people can achieve significant benefits in less time, they’ll be more likely to start and stick with their exercise regimen.”
Muscle strength improved by approximately six percent in both two- and 12-minute exercisers.
“These results are a welcome indication that quality counts over quantity in exercise,” said Andersen. “For adults suffering from frequent neck and shoulder pain, as little as two minutes a day of daily progressive resistance exercise can result in clinically relevant pain reductions.”
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The American College of Sports Medicine is the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world. More than 45,000 international, national and regional members and certified professionals are dedicated to advancing and integrating scientific research to provide educational and practical applications of exercise science and sports medicine.
The conclusions outlined in this news release are those of the researchers only and should not be construed as an official statement of the American College of Sports Medicine. Research highlighted in this news release has been presented at a professional meeting but has not been peer-reviewed.
-American College of Sports Medicine
Xccent Fitness Launches New Outdoor Fitness Equipment Line
Wyoming, MN - June 10, 2011 - Minneapolis-based Xccent, Inc is pleased to announce
the launch of itʼs new Xfitness outdoor fitness equipment line.
Targeted at providing healthy lifestyle opportunities to a variety of age groups spanning
late teens, Gen-Xʼers, Baby Boomers and up, the product line includes a variety of
Cardio, Flexibility and Muscle-Strengthening equipment; for use outdoors in community
centers, parks, trails, senior-centers, housing developments, corporate campusʼ,
medical facilities, hotel/resorts, universities and military housing, etc.
John Mathiesen, Xccentʼs CEO, is passionate about health and fitness to the activeadult
demographic. “As an active-adult myself, we are the most active older-adult group
in history, and much of the focus of our new Xfitness line is on maintaining flexibility,
strength and mobility, so that we can maintain independence in our day-to-day activities;
and thus allowing us to enjoy long, fully active lifestyles. Xccent is proud to be able to
play a small part in helping foster these health and lifestyle benefits.”
“Although many people today are aware of the health benefits of even the smallest
amount of time engaged in fitness activities, our busy schedules and/or available
budgets don't always allow a trip to the local health club. Our new line allows
communities to offer folks real fitness equipment with real fitness benefits, to be used at
their leisure and at their own pace outdoors in local community parks, recreation and
active-adult centers. And while other uses include offering these same “fitness breaks”
to companies for employees, medical facilities for staff, hotels/resorts/campgrounds for
guests and housing developments for residents (etc), the bottom line is giving real
fitness opportunities to people otherwise without the time or budget to realize the health
benefits of the use of comprehensive fitness equipment . . . all outside in the fresh air.”
Designed specifically for use outdoors, Xccentʼs 35-year history of manufacturing
outdoor recreation equipment and site furnishings provides “Maintenance-Free” usage;
with a industry-leading warranty covering usage in any climate conditions.
Xccent, Inc has been involved with the design and manufacture of outdoor recreation
equipment for over 35-years; with a focus on play, recreation and commercial site
furniture and furnishings. For more information contact:
Tom Casey
Director Business Development
Xccent, Inc
5240 257th Street
Wyoming, MN 55092
651-462-9245
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
www.xccentfitness.com
