When I was in Sydney a month ago I held a Design Technology Workshop for Year 11 SCOTS College boys where I told them about the outdoor exercise equipment in China. I drove for three days from Beijing to Xi'an in April 2011 as part of the Mercedes F-Cell World Tour and we needed to stop at large truckstops along the way to refuel the hydrogen electric B-Class I was driving.
Every time we stopped there would be some form of basic exercise equipment for public use. The general wear and tear suggested some serious usage but despite some rust and corrosion everything was holding together well. In researching the equipment I read that it is a stated country policy to have at least 40% of the population in regular exercise by 2010. US statistics suggest that 33% of the American adult population engages in leisure exercise while in Australia 2005 statistics report that only 30% of adults aged 15 or over engaged in moderate to high exercise.
I took some rough footage of the equipment I saw, and in my workshop with SCOTS the boys designed a piece of hardy, outdoor equipment that would be useful to fatiguing drivers at a rest stop but that could also generate energy to grant a reward for a certain amount of exercise. So - if we can just get McDonalds on board and have the Big Mac roasted via 25 minutes of pedal energy...imagine the difference we could make!
Every time we stopped there would be some form of basic exercise equipment for public use. The general wear and tear suggested some serious usage but despite some rust and corrosion everything was holding together well. In researching the equipment I read that it is a stated country policy to have at least 40% of the population in regular exercise by 2010. US statistics suggest that 33% of the American adult population engages in leisure exercise while in Australia 2005 statistics report that only 30% of adults aged 15 or over engaged in moderate to high exercise.
I took some rough footage of the equipment I saw, and in my workshop with SCOTS the boys designed a piece of hardy, outdoor equipment that would be useful to fatiguing drivers at a rest stop but that could also generate energy to grant a reward for a certain amount of exercise. So - if we can just get McDonalds on board and have the Big Mac roasted via 25 minutes of pedal energy...imagine the difference we could make!
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