SPRINGDALE -- Squat. Push. Lunge. Pull. Bend.
Free outdoor fitness is coming to Murphy Park with equipment for all of those movements.
Through the National Fitness Campaign, the city will install the campaign's trademarked exercise court in the city's oldest park.
The exercise court will include 30 pieces of permanent, durable, tamper-resistant equipment in the outdoor body-weight training circuit, explained a video shown to City Council members last month.
The fitness campaign offers a seven-minute, seven-movement workout that uses one's own body weight for resistance.
The National Fitness Campaign has provided the city with a $30,000 grant to be used for construction of its outdoor fitness court.
The City Council on Tuesday approved spending $125,000 of park "set-aside" funds to complete the court.
The council each year "sets aside" $200,000 out of its budget to be used for equipment, maintenance, improvements and programming at the city's seven parks, explained Colby Fulfer, the mayor's chief of staff. The council instituted this measure years ago, he said.
The parks fund held $482,000 as of Tuesday, Fulfer said.
The training program has seven zones of equipment that can be used in thousands of ways, the video touts. The court can hold 28 people working out at one time.
"Adults at every age level, every fitness level and every ability level should be able to use the equipment and the training," said Trent Matthias, the campaign director. "And more and more people are wanting to move fitness outside into the fresh air. And that's what it is all about."
The Fitness Campaign also will train members of the city's Parks and Recreation Department staff to use the equipment, instruct residents, and lead classes and camps, Matthias said.
A phone app also provides classes and training, which are updated every month, according to the video. The app also allows for personal data entry, tracking and challenges against others using National Fitness courts across the country.
The National Fitness Campaign was started in 1979 with an outdoor exercise court in the San Francisco Bay area, Matthias said.
Today's sport courts have been updated, and the group will install its 500th exercise court this year, he said.
Installation in Springdale should begin this fall and take about 30 to 45 days, Mayor Doug Sprouse said.
One of the fitness campaign's leading corporate partners is based in Fort Smith, Matthias said. A campaign leader working in Fort Smith suggested Northwest Arkansas.
"We are really excited by the current growth of the area," Matthias said.
The Springdale location is fantastic with Murphy Park in the center of the city that is walkable and accessible by trails, Matthias concluded.