NANCY BRUNING, BA, MPH

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Outdoor Fitness Programs

Fitness Alfresco program in Fort Tryon Park
(photo by Aliza Holtz)

Fitness Alfresco: Workouts with a View


For a breath of fresh air, take your workouts outdoors.

After years of being a gym rat, I've seen the light, so to speak. Parks are becoming a logical alternative environment for those who want to add variety to their work outs, or who just don't like the gym. And, it's an affordable way to increase physical activity opportunities, because there's nothing special to build.

Exercise with a view, in natural sunlight, with green scenery all around bestows health benefits that can’t be found indoors. Scientific studies have shown that the pleasure of being outdoors for example gives your brain, psyche, and immune system an extra boost.

So, who can argue with the pleasure of push ups with a view?


Year-round New York City
Outdoor Fitness Programs
that I created:

Fort Tryon Park
(Washington Heights)
Featured in the Manhattan Times, October 2007

Marcus Garvey Park
(East Harlem)

Saint Nicholas Park
(Central Harlem)

Central Park
(Upper West Side)


To view a clip of the Fort Tryon Park Program, click here
For information about these programs, click here.

Would you like a Fitness Alfresco program where you live or work?


If you'd like to find out how to create a Fitness Alfresco program for your organization, workplace, or community, click here.

A workout with a view

Yoga in Fort Tryon Park

I began leading outdoor fitness groups in 2003. Since then, I have created programs for nonprofit organizations and for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and Parks and Recreation. I have also created a yearly Sunset Yoga Program through Friends of Fort Tryon Park and the NYC Parks Department.

Biophilia: The tendency for humans to be attracted to nature.

Green exercise: Physical activity in a natural setting, found to have synergistic health benefits.

European countries such as England and Scotland are already promoting “green exercise” because recent studies show that adopting physical activities while being exposed to nature (“green exercise") has a synergistic health effect. They realize that providing safe effective exercise opportunities in parks would be much more cost effective than building an equal number of new health clubs and could potentially encourage many more people to be physically active while complementing existing facilities.

Click here for Friends of Fort Tryon Park

Click here for the Fort Tryon Park Trust
E-mail me


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