Outdoor workout area, opened during pandemic, caters to baby boomers

Key Takeaways

Montgomery County, Md.’s recreation department is helping its aging population stay active with its Holiday Park Senior Center, the first of its kind in the region.

Research shows that exercising outdoors has a range of benefits over working out in an indoor gym, including “greater feelings of revitalization and positive engagement, decreased tension, confusion, anger and depression,” according to a study published by the American Chemical Society. 

The county previously lacked an outdoor workout area specifically geared toward an aging population, so the Holiday Park Senior Center saw an opportunity to fill a void when the COVID-19 pandemic left older adults — the most vulnerable group to the virus — without a way to exercise while socially distanced. Another benefit to the outdoor nature of the fitness area is that people can use the space outside of the center’s hours of operation, which fitness room where they’re still a little fearful to be around people,” said Sara Swarr, who manages the Montgomery County Recreation Department’s senior programs and facilities. 

“It also has generated a lot of response that now seniors can our open hours, as long as it’s still light outside, they can still feel very comfortable coming in using the outdoor fitness equipment.”

Dolors Ustrell, the center’s recreation specialist who spearheaded the outdoor fitness area, has a background in social gerontology, which focuses on social participation among the elderly and helped inform her research on what workout equipment is best suited for senior citizens, she said. Ustrell said growing up in Catalonia, where outdoor fitness areas are the norm, inspired her to look into how the county could cater specifically to its older residents. All of the equipment is also ADA compliant, according to Swarr. 

“Some of our machines are universal, where seniors could sit and use a hand bike, but then also wheelchair up if you come from the reverse side to utilize that as well and we have a lot of pieces that focus a lot on flexibility, stretching and mobility,” Swarr said. “We have a few pieces that might have some weight to it, but the weight is adjustable and it only goes up to 40 pounds to be more friendly and easy to use for the older population.”

While the outdoor fitness area was created specifically with people aged 55 and up in mind, it’s open to any Montgomery County resident who wants to use it. The senior center shares the county’s recreation building with the youth development office, and Swarr said she’s noticed kids will come over and use the equipment with the seniors while they’re waiting to get picked up — another element of socialization, she added. 

The outdoor fitness area is an addition to the center’s existing services, which include social programming including writing classes, board games and special interest seminars and an indoor gym and computer lab that offers technology training. 

James Monteith frequents the center and  said he’s seen improvements in his health since utilizing the outdoor workout space, specifically in regulating his blood pressure. It’s nice to see the county investing in its aging population, he added.

“I gravitate toward the life[cycle] machine because of my arthritis,” James said. “I have a sports doctor and he says, ‘When you have arthritis like that, work it.’ In other words, don’t strain it, but exercise. It increases the flexibility in my leg and I can walk up and down the stairs fine, and that’s why it’s important that we have things like this.”