Imperial Beach trying to open a futuristic outdoor gym
Imperial Beach is on a health kick.
In 2018, the city will host an Ironman triathlon, an international Crossfit competition, and the first San Diego Yoga Festival. Six months ago, they were the first city to have dockless bikes and LimeBike has already helped people in Imperial Beach shed 400,000 calories.
Now Imperial Beach is trying to be the first city in San Diego County to have a futuristic outdoor gym that lets people track their workouts online and see how they stack up with people from all over the country.
The National Fitness Campaign, a nonprofit that designed the gyms, plans to install 100 throughout the U.S. in 2018 and 100 more in 2019. When choosing where in San Diego to have one, Imperial Beach was a natural spot.
“They are a gorgeous beachfront community with lots going on so it was a really appealing community for us,” said Bianca De La Paz, Campaign Manager for the National Fitness Campaign. “They have a lot of active residents so this would be right up our alley.”
The gyms are free to the public and don’t require any personal equipment. Each gym has seven stations designed to exercise a specific part of the body. Completing the cycle gives people a full-body workout.
A free app lets people track their progress and compare their workouts with friends or people using other gyms anywhere else in the country. The National Fitness Campaign plans to have regional and national challenges. The top 100 scores will be features on their website.
“What we’ll be able to do is bring all sorts of programming for body weight training supported by the court and the free app,” said Cree Larson, a member of the Activations Team at the National Fitness Campaign.
Imperial Beach plans to install their gym on the beach and hopes it is ready before the end of the summer. However the land is owned by the Port of San Diego so they have to get permission first.
“Once we get permission from the Port then we will go to the Council for financing and then reach out to businesses that might be interested in contributing money towards the gym in the form of sponsorships,” said Ed Vea, Manager Analyst for Imperial Beach.
The gyms cost about $100,000 and the National Fitness Campaign offers grants to help pay for the costs. Other cities have raised money through fundraising campaigns and sponsorship deals.
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