Fitness-Focused Playgrounds Making Headlines

The Washington Post focused their story on how playgrounds in D.C. are helping fight childhood obesity with purposefully designed playgrounds. And in addition to the children receiving health benefits, the reporter also mentioned how HealthBeat® was providing teens, parents and caregivers and opportunity to stay active while at the playground. Read the full article to see how the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation initiative, Play D.C,. has allowed the city to spruce up 45 play spaces.

Here's a selection of the article:

With the agility of a squirrel, Zoe Antczak-Chung, 8, bounded across the monkey bars at Palisades Recreation Center in the District. She slipped her lanky legs through the bars, released her hands and dangled upside down with glee.

“Did you catch that?” Zoe asked before jumping down and heading to the pull-up rings. In a matter of seconds, she leapt up, grabbed the rings and completed a set of pull-ups that would put most grown-ups to shame.

“She’s gotten quite good at those,” said Agni Chung, Zoe’s mom. “Her twin brother likes the climbing wall, goes up and down like 25 times. It’s a great outlet to release some energy.”

Palisades has one of the area’s several fitness clusters, a type of playground designed for kids to improve their balance, agility and strength. These are not your average swing-and-slide sets; they’re more like mini-military training grounds in crayon colors.