Fresh Air Fitness is a multi-award-winning, expert and pioneer in the UK outdoor gym equipment space.
Providing outdoor gym solutions to a variety of open-air settings in schools, colleges, universities, parks, prisons, hospitals, mental health facilities and community spaces is our speciality.
With our unique end-to-end service, our expert team provides every customer with a personalised site inspection, product selection advice (adult, accessible and child sized ranges), funding recommendations, tidy and professional installation and comprehensive after care – including free workout planners, video animations and an app. Fresh Air Fitness is a multi-award-winning, expert and pioneer in the UK outdoor gym equipment space.
Providing outdoor gym solutions to a variety of open-air settings in schools, colleges, universities, parks, prisons, hospitals, mental health facilities and community spaces is our speciality.
This year, we celebrate 17 years in business by looking back at our journey so far.
23rd October 2024
17 years ago, this month, Fresh Air Fitness was founded. 3 months later, our first outdoor gym was installed.
Outdoor gym sales rapidly picked up traction and naturally seemed to link up to other open-air facilities such as multi use games areas, running tracks and play parks to collectively promote active healthy lifestyles across the UK.
Educational settings, hospitals and managers of green spaces explained to us that they saw a direct correlation, following the installation of our outdoor gyms, to improvements in social cohesion, community health and a reduction in anti-social behaviour, loneliness and isolation.
2010 Launch of Disability and Accessibility Equipment
Identifying a need for anyone to be able to access and enjoy outdoor gym equipment, the company introduced further outdoor gym pieces which would be specifically designed and manufactured to be completely accessible to wheelchair users or those living with limited mobility.
Accessible Combi: Chest Press and Lat Pull Down is our double user, strength building station and the Accessible Arm & Pedal Bike is our piece of equipment focused on cardiovascular exercise for the upper and lower body. We also offer Accessible Parallel Bars, for upper body strength, as a bespoke extension to our Training Rig.
In 2013, we launched our eagerly anticipated outdoor gym equipment range sized specifically for primary school aged children.
Schools found pupils used our outdoor gyms to participate together without having to compete, meaning every child, irrespective of fitness level, could get involved.
Our gyms also promoted imaginative play, physical literacy and fitness with fun. Children queued up excitedly to use their outdoor gyms and they quickly became a healthy hub of activity for schools.
We also introduced a range of complementary, supportive materials for schools, including instructional animations, lesson planners and user guides to support teaching staff.
The 17-user Big Rig is innovative because it provides the benefits of group exercise, for beginners through to advanced users. In one product, we built a solution which provides exercise options for the whole community, from young people all the way through to seniors.
The Big Rig is a one of a kind in the UK marketplace and offers a unique mix of dynamic and static pieces, which address all key areas of fitness from strength and cardiovascular to balance and flexibility. The piece is also very space efficient and can be installed in a 10 metre by 10 metre space.
The Resistance Range comprises of 6 products which were designed to provide a full range of strength levels for a much tougher workout.
The variable resistance dial on each piece of equipment allows each user to select their desired level of resistance to make for a more challenging workout experience.
The resistance range includes: - the Stepper, Shoulder Press, Leg Press, Squat Station, Bicep Curl and Bench Press.
As part of our commitment to healthy school communities, we carried out our 2019 Primary Schools Survey.
Children were selected from various year groups between years 3 to 6 and all from schools which had a Fresh Air Fitness outdoor gym installed onsite.
The questions we asked highlighted the attitudes and behaviours children have around the outdoor gym equipment. Levels of enjoyment, motivation and confidence in using the outdoor gym equipment, all key to the new Active Lives Survey (Sport England 2018). Questions were also posed to identify any perceived positive links between health, wellbeing and attainment, identified as significant to Public Health England (2014).
The results truly support our view - outdoor gym equipment can have a highly positive impact on children of all abilities and those with special educational needs or disabilities.
In Summer 2023, we were proud to launch our new Training Rig, offering more than 80 exercise options with six workout stations, allowing 8 people to work out together.
Users enjoy a whole-body, demanding workout based on the principles of calisthenics – which relies on bodyweight alone.
Calisthenics is a highly effective form of exercise, that involves ‘compound exercises’ which use multiple muscle groups at once.
This year we surveyed over 150 women for our whitepaper entitled: ‘Women, Outdoor Gyms and Spatial Equality in the UK’. The findings underscore the need for outdoor gyms that are strategically placed and designed to address the specific needs of women. Privacy, safety, accessibility, and social support are critical factors that can influence the usage of these facilities by teen girls and women. By addressing these factors, outdoor gyms can become more inclusive and supportive environments that encourage regular physical activity.
With more than 25,000 products installed and used by communities nationwide, we now look to the future and our continued commitment to Getting Britain Fitter, including further innovation, more product lines and further industry-specific research.
To learn more about installing a Fresh Air Fitness outdoor gym in your green space today, contact the Fresh Air Fitness South Office on 01483 926593 or the Fresh Air Fitness North Office on 0151 3293550, who would be delighted to assist you with your enquiry.
Back to all blog posts