Fitness stations coming in spring to Naperville's Nike park
Nike Sports Complex in Naperville will offer one more way to get healthy starting next spring: fitness stations.
The park already has fields for lacrosse, baseball, softball and soccer, a playground, sand volleyball, basketball and tennis courts, and - most importantly for Fran Krumlauf's idea - a walking path.
Krumlauf is helping Naperville Park District choose between six and 10 fitness stations to be installed at the park on Naperville's north side so users can walk or jog between the simple machines to get a complete cardio and strength workout. She originally pitched the idea of adding fitness stations to the downtown Riverwalk, but stewards of the 1.75-mile path thought the stations would fit better elsewhere in the park system.
Krumlauf, an exercise physiologist, said she's satisfied with Nike Sports Complex as the site for the future fitness stations, which will offer warm-up activities, strength training and stretches.
"It's got great facilities and it's one of their newer parks," Krumlauf said about Nike, which was expanded and improved in 2011 with $7 million worth of synthetic turf fields, lighted courts and the new walking path. "This will fit in actually real well for the park district."
The fitness stations are estimated to cost $30,000, and Krumlauf said the Edward Foundation will foot the bill as part of its mission to promote preventative activities and good health. The cost for the stations was increased from an original projection of $6,000 to $10,000 so the equipment can meet standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act and be easier for the park district to maintain, she said.
Krumlauf, who runs Klass Konditioning in Naperville and is an adjunct faculty member in exercise science for North Central College and Benedictine University, said she still is working on layout and design of the fitness stations. But she plans to offer classes in the spring to teach people how to use them. She's unsure how much distance will be between each station, but the exercises will be ordered to progress from warm-ups to strengthening exercises to cool-down stretches.
"That's the way you should go about health-related fitness," Krumlauf said.