Would You Exercise to Generate Electricity?

What’s the Latest Development?

An outdoor gym in northwest England, which links its workout equipment to electricity generators, may represent the future of exercise. The park in which the gym is located invites anybody to come and “spin hand bikes, recumbent bikes, and fitness bikes, to generate enough power to light the installation at night. And, in time the hope is that the gym will also recharge people’s phones and music players, and even send some power back to the grid.” If it were to generate enough electricity, it could offset its upfront and running costs. 

What’s the Big Idea?

Georgie Delaney, creative director of the Great Outdoor Gym Company, which has installed the gym in the English city of Hull, says the company’s outdoor gyms give people a new reason to get out of the house and exercise. “A lot of people find exercise a waste of time,” she said, “but when you’ve got something tangible you can take away, you feel like you’re contributing.” Delaney also says the installations can teach people about renewable energy in interesting ways. So how about it? Is the ability to charge your phone with your own energy enough incentive to make you exercise? 

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