Moundsville Outdoor Fitness Center Pulls Its Weight

|Photo by Emma Delk| The John Marshall High School Monarchs mascot gets a back workout in at the new Moundsville Outdoor Fitness Center.

Moundsville residents can now forgo the weight bench or treadmill at the gym and instead work up a sweat at the city’s new Outdoor Fitness Center.

The $160,000 center at East End Park contains seven workout stations where residents use their body weight to exercise.

During Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting for the event, local fitness instructor Marcy Harler demonstrated the various exercises residents ages 14 and older can try at each station.

The seven stations are “core” for abs, “squat” for legs, “push” for chest and arms, “lunge” for legs, “pull” for back and biceps, “agility” for cardio and “hyperextension” for stretching.

Residents can make workout plans for the center or use the Fitness Court app for guidance. The app allows users to input information, such as age and fitness level, to receive a personalized workout plan at the center.

The National Fitness Campaign runs the app, and the outdoor fitness court is one aspect of the NFC’s program to encourage healthy activities in communities nationwide. City Manager Rick Healy said he first came across one of NFC’s outdoor fitness centers in the spring of last year and immediately brought the idea to the city council.

Following the city council’s approval of the center’s creation, the city received a $30,000 national grant from the NFC as the first step towards creating the court. In addition to NFC grant funding, the city received three major sponsors for the court of WVU Medicine, The Evan G. Roberts Trust and the EQT Corporation. The city covered leftover costs for the center using money from the Recreation Fund paid for by the 1% sales tax.

At the ribbon cutting, Healy said he and Parks and Recreation Director John White had been working on the project for “over a year.” Other city officials and employees gathered on Wednesday with the court’s sponsors to celebrate its addition to the city.

“This truly a wellness partnership started by the city, bringing in our partners and allowing this to spread to all of our community,” Healy said. “The fitness court is a great example of partnership across the public and private sectors to help break down barriers to accessible community programming, living a healthy lifestyle and taking preventative measures to reduce the risk of developing chronic yet preventable disease by practicing healthy habits through regular exercise.”

Mayor Sara Wood-Shaw noted a wide variety of Moundsville residents could use the court, as it was designed to accommodate factors such as fitness level, age and mobility. Workouts at the court are adaptable for all fitness levels, and residents can move at their own pace through the stations.

“Under the direction of our Parks and Recreation Director John White, we have made a lot of improvements for individuals of all ages to be able to have fun at our parks and live a healthy lifestyle,” Wood-Shaw said. “This is another addition that we’re excited to welcome to our parks and recreation infrastructure in Moundsville.”

Wood-Shaw was excited to see local fitness instructors conduct fitness classes at the court in the future.

“Marcy [Harler] was talking about holding classes here, so I’m excited for the court’s future,” Wood-Shaw said. “I think it’s not only an opportunity for individuals to come out and exercise, but there’s an opportunity to have fitness classes here at the center and then maybe additional fitness classes, such as yoga in the park, for different options to increase people’s health and wellness.”