New micro-gym which connects to free fitness app installed at popular Milton Keynes lake in UK first

    A micro-gym has opened at Willen Lake, which connects to a health and fitness app.

    Two outdoor Swing Fitness micro-gyms, connected to a Swing Fitness health and fitness app, were installed at Willen Lake last week and will be trialled by the company in parkland beside the water throughout summer.

    The micro-gyms are designed to promote wellbeing, ease health inequality and the rising cost of living.

    The workout stations, by Swing Fitness, each contain 160kg of strength and training equipment (dumbbells and kettlebells) in a 3mm thick carbon steel chassis reinforced plastic case that doubles as an adjustable weights bench. 

    The gyms can be unlocked by user's smartphones.

    The app is completely free to download and has no monthly membership fee.

    App user's can also have access to 45 workout videos, including 15 strength exercises, 15 power exercises and 15 cardio exercises. The app also allows users to locate a Swing Fitness micro-gym and reserve it for ten minutes, while collected data will show them the most frequently used workout stations.

    Swing Fitness micro-gyms are typically accessed for £1, each time they are opened, with 10 pence charged for each minute of equipment use thereafter.

    However, Swing Fitness is offering Milton Keynes residents access to its digital workout stations at half price for their first five visits to the stations by using the discount code MK50.

    Plans are also afoot to allow city healthcare providers to prescribe use of the Swing Fitness gym boxes to Milton Keynes residents.

    Co-founder and CEO of Swing Fitness Ian Nagle, 33, said: “Milton Keynes is a forward-thinking, modern city, the newest in the UK, so it’s fitting that it becomes the first city to adopt Swing Fitness for its residents. With so much green space around Milton Keynes there is an obvious synergy between the city and our new health and wellness concept.

    "The pilot scheme will run for the summer before we evaluate the data collected with Milton Keynes Parks Trust and hopefully install more micro-gyms in other parkland areas around the city.

    “Reducing health inequality and promoting green space exercise are two of the big directives from Public Health England and Swing micro-gyms do those things.

    “We've incorporated the three most commonly used pieces of gym equipment in the world and made them available at a very low price to the public. With those three pieces of equipment we can devise enough workouts that users need never do the same one twice.

    “There’s no monthly membership, no constant overhead. The user only pays for the time that they're using the equipment. It’s entirely flexible to the cost of living and for a 30 minute workout you're around the price of a cup of coffee.”

    The former rugby union professional added: “Our workout stations are designed for local parks. The benefits of outdoor exercise are widely documented. Now that more people are working from home, local green spaces are where they go to escape the desk. Or they finish work at seven or eight in the evening and realise they haven’t been outside all day. Swing gives them another reason to get outdoors, into nature and exercise quickly and efficiently to support their wellbeing.”

    Play Area Manager of The Parks Trust Milton Keynes, Natalie Dewhirst, said: “Swing Fitness will be a fantastic addition to what’s on offer at Willen Lake and we’re thrilled to be home to their first micro-gyms in the UK.

    “Exercising outside in local parkland is something that MK residents are very switched onto, and we look forward to seeing how visitors to Willen Lake make use of these innovative outdoor workout stations.”

    Swing Fitness users must be 18 or over to sign up to the app with ID scanned through recognition software, a bank card, a selfie and a confirmation code sent to their mobile phone.

    The Swing Fitness app is available from Apple and Play stores.

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