An outdoor fitness pod for Ward 20 in Toronto will be installed at the Birchmount Community Centre during the Spring of 2021 — so you may want to cancel your gym membership around that time.

The fitness pod will be designed as a circuit with three exercise stations that can accommodate twenty-four different exercises for both beginner and advanced fitness levels. 

The equipment components will be adaptable and have no moving parts, which will increase the equipment’s overall safety and minimizes the need for frequent maintenance.

The pod will have six facilities which include push up bars,
three step-up benches in different sizes, two pull-up bars, six hurdles, a long bench, parallel bars and four information panels with fitness program options.

Ruthanne Henry, the senior project coordinator said the information panels have been designed to cater to people's different fitness and learning abilities, with a digital aspect included.

A rendering of the new fitness pod, which will be equipped for 24 different types of exercise. Image via City of Toronto.

One side of the information panels will detail a more extensive and intense workout with graphics while the other is designed to be more accessible and inclusive. In addition to the pictures, both have QR codes that would enable the user to view the workouts on a video.

An app, Trekfit, also has a menu section that offers users the option to choose workouts for wheelchair users, adults or seniors. It also has a fitness pod locator to find other outdoor facilities in the city.

The community in the area showed interest in an outdoor fitness pod within a local park and the location was determined based on a survey conducted in August. 

Henry said the pod is just one part of a phenomenon that has been taking place across the city installing outdoor fitness facilities with several others planned for the future.

A similar idea was completed in 2018 in Ward 17 through the implementation of the Brian Village Fitness Route. The five-station circuit is a 3.75 km route spread throughout the neighborhood. Each station has different equipment spread throughout different sections of public park space. 

The layout encourages people to walk, run or bike around the neighborhood to complete a comprehensive workout.

There may be minor adjustments made to the final configuration and layout of the equipment.