Though many fitness trends of the 80’s are best forgotten (G-string leotards anyone?) the Par Course is one innovation that deserves a comeback tour.

The Par Course is a fitness playground for adults, made up of wood or metal apparatus set into parks, fields or other open spaces. The basic course usually includes various heights of pull-up bars, push-ups bars, downward slanting sit-up boards, and squat and step-up platforms. I’ve also seen balance beams, adult sized monkey bars and rings. The equipment can be spread out along a trail or clumped together like an outdoor gym.

To witness the hey day of the mighty Par Course in the US you would need to click the heels of your high-top Reebok aerobic shoes together and travel back to 1985, when there were over 5,000 courses. Since then, many have fallen into disrepair and been reduced to fitness ghost towns, with splintery wood, rusty bolts and missing instructional signs. The decline and fall of the Par Course is a huge shame because this fitness movement was way ahead of its time in offering a challenging, versatile, full-body workout with a view.

I hope that we can get a Par Course renaissance going and bring these sturdy, reliable work horses back to the forefront of fitness.

Reasons to find an existing course or ask your employer or local municipality to install one:

• Once installed a Par Course is free to use and available to anyone with the energy and gumption to take advantage of it.   
• The Par Course is a great alternative to the gym, especially if you already have a foundation of fitness. Body weight exercises such as push-ups, squats and pull-ups develop balanced, full-body strength that is difficult to duplicate using fitness machines.
• It’s outside, which can be such a blessing in our indoor, climate controlled world. Get your dose of Vitamin D while you get into shape.
• Have a Par Course picnic! Since most courses are in park like settings why not relax and enjoy afterward.
• Each course offers practically endless variations and challenges. Try jumping rope, doing sprints or sun salutations between stations. Bring your own gear (hand weights, medicine balls, or resistance bands) to add even more variety and isolate specific muscle groups.
• Your progress is easily measurable. Keep track of how many push-ups, sit-ups or pull-ups you can do and recognize your bad a#* self as you get stronger and fitter.
• You will gain functional, athletic strength that will easily transfer to sports and daily life.
• It’s fun! Exercising in a playground like setting with others who are happy to be getting fit too. What could be better?

Find a Par Course near you, slap on some sweat proof sun block and get busy!

These two movements develop explosive pushing power and core strength. They also offer the  society enhancing benefit of quickly defusing feelings of homicidal rage. I often day dream about enjoying this  combo while engaging in more frustrating endeavors (usually involving a phone or computer).

What you need: a good sized medicine ball and something to bang it in to (a heavy punching bag, a solid wall or a partner who can catch).

Step 1: After a warm-up including loosening up your upper body, hit the ground for a challenging set of push-ups. Do enough to feel the tingle and get a little grunty, but not so many that you can’t get up.Step 2: Stand up and grab your medicine ball with one foot slightly in front of the other and knees soft. Think boxing stance. You are now ready to release the rage! To do a chest pass put one palm on each side of the ball and hold it against your chest at the nipple line. Arms should be bent and nearly parallel to the floor. To execute the pass extend your arms and thrust the ball forward in an explosive pushing motion. Focus on using your chest muscles, but make sure you keep your core/abdominals drawn in and tight and ground your legs into floor.Beginners: Do 10 modified push-ups (on your knees) followed by 15 chest passes. Rest one minute and repeat (for a total of two sets).Intermediates: Do 20 modified push-ups or 10 regular (on toes) followed by 20 – 25 chests passes. Do crunches for a minute and then repeat (for a total of two sets).Advanced: Do 20 – 25 push-ups followed by 30 passes (or 30 seconds of passing). Do crunches for a minute and repeat twice (for a total of three sets). Add a minute of jump roping between each set if you really want to sweat.Now get busy my little rage puppies and let me know what you think. 

If you died in a freak treadmilling accident and were forced to eternally haunt the gym where you took your last gasping breath, your ghostly self would notice something very quickly. The average gym would be a damn boring haunt. Most people do the same workouts week after week; moving like unenthusiastic robot slaves from one machine to the next. They travel at the same slow, monotonous pace, lift the same weights, choose the same settings and listen to the same music. Then they go home to their spouses and complain about how bored they are with the gym.

This trend of boring sameness is the reason why gym ghosts spend most of their time in the locker rooms hoping for a little skin related excitement. It is also the reason why many people give up on the gym and take advantage of an all access membership to their couch instead. Not only is doing the same workout over and over death to your spirit; it sucks for your body as well. The body responds best to varied stimulation and happily adapts when it encounters new challenges.

Eventually even the horniests of ghosts gets tired of watching the guys work it in sauna and floats over to the cardiovascular machine area. This is the room with all the stationary bikes, treadmills, stair-masters and other torture devices of the moment. Most people are staring off into space, zoning out on their Ipods and going at about the same pace and resistance for their entire workout. In fitness speak this type of workout is called long, slow distance (LSD) and it is effective for many things; but it is generally not recommended more than once a week. It is also not the most efficient use of gym time for the harried professional. And it is about as exiting to do as watching a sweaty t-shirt dry.

Float down and put your finger on the up arrow of one of treadmills until the poor sucker on the belt has to sprint to avoid flying off the back. Watch him closely and when he seems about ready to drop move your finger to the down arrow and give him a break. Now he thinks the machines are taking over. He’s a little scared for the future of humanity and he’s breathing heavy and sweating profusely. Repeat this cycle until your ready to head back to locker room and you’ve just helped random treadmill guy to have his best workout in months. He burned a ton of calories, challenged all his energy systems, increased his power and speed and was mentally engaged as he switched intensities. If he could see you, he would be thanking you and giving you a big sweaty hug.

Intervals workouts are based on change and have been proven to burn more calories in the same amount of time. They do take a little more effort and planning then their long, slow boring counterparts, but they are worth it. The constant changes will keep your mind and body stimulated and challenged. You will also burn a boat load of calories and improve your ability to catch runaway strollers and rapidly departing busses.

Here’s a basic 21 minute workout to give you a taste of interval fever. It can be adapted to any cardio machine. This is strenuous so if you haven’t done anything in a while check with your doctor:

3 minute warm-up at an easy pace
Alternate 1 minute hard (talking is difficult) with one minute recovery (easy setting) x 8
2 minutes cool-down at an easy pace
Wipe the sweat off your machine and feel superior to all the robot slaves around you.
Stretch!