Get Healthy Outdoors; Fit Park Takes All Comers

Who says playgrounds are just for kids? Whatever your age or ability, come out and play on the equipment at the AARP-sponsored fitness park in Manchester’s Derryfield Park.

Try the cardio stepper, do crunches and chin-ups, or use your resistance bands at different heights on the ladder climber. Prefer yoga or group exercise? There’s plenty of rubberized floor space for family members and friends, of all generations and fitness levels, to get in shape together.

The best part? No gym membership is needed.

AARP New Hampshire and Manchester’s Parks and Recreation Department teamed up with national nonprofit FitLot to build the outdoor fitness park in July.

To commemorate its 60th anniversary, AARP plans, by 2021, to open similar parks in all 50 states; Washington, D.C.; Puerto Rico; and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The park is another example of AARP New Hampshire’s commitment to healthy aging and livable communities, said Jamie Bulen, its communications director.

Signs at the park explain how to tailor the fitness equipment to your own ability, but training sessions are planned, too. For updates on these and other AARP events and discounts, sign up for monthly news at aarp.org/yes2emailNH.

—Natalie Missakian