With the weather beginning to warm up and COVID starting to dissipate, the OCCC Detention Pond walking trail, located on the northeast side of the campus is a place where the OCCC community can take a nice stroll out in nature.

To enhance the walking trail experience, the college will be installing workout equipment near the college pond by the end of this summer.

OCCC will be spending over $40,000 on outdoor workout equipment, which will be placed at eight different locations along the trail. 

Mike Shugart, Director of Recreation and Fitness will be overseeing the installation of the workout equipment. 

Shugart said that Rec and Fit had decided to invest in the new outdoor equipment as they had wanted to find a way to improve the walking trail and help the community at OCCC. 

“The outdoor equipment was a gift from us to all the people in the community, not just OCCC students and staff,” he said. 

The equipment consists of a body curl station, a sit up station, an overhead ladder, parallel bars, a horizontal chin up bar, accessible chin up bar, and regular chin up bar, which will be placed strategically around the walking trail. 

“We built this outdoor equipment to broaden OCCC footprint within the community and at the same time, we are giving our students and staff more wellness opportunities at the college,” Shugart said. 

Walkers can enter the trail between OCCC Parking Lots A and B. There is a path that leads into the trail, for those who don’t want to walk down a steep grassy hill. 

The trail is just under one mile (.873 miles, to be exact). 

Shugart said that he and the rest of the Rec and Fit staff will be making sure that all the equipment is properly maintained. 

The project was approved to be completed by mid-summer.  

Station one will feature the body curl station, which allows a user the opportunity to train their core muscles, such as sides, back and stomach.

The user lays on a horizontal platform with their heads positioned higher than their feet while holding a handrail above their head.

Users can perform a variety of leg lifts and core exercises. 

Station two will feature a sit-up area.  The equipment is a flat bench with a bar to hold your feet in place. 

The sit up station users will improve the strength of the abdominal muscles and the flexor group of muscles of the hip and upper thigh.

Station three will feature an overhead ladder, also known as monkey bars.

Users there can do work that promotes upper body muscle strength, hand-eye coordination, grip strength, and overall physical endurance.

Station four will feature parallel bars.  There are three bars, with the middle bar having two bars at different heights to allow larger and smaller individuals to easily use the equipment.

The parallel bars are used to train the upper body and core stability. 

Station five consists of a horizontal chin-up bar, Users place their feet on a platform, lie down beneath the chin-up bar, grasp the bar with both hands and pull their body up. 

The focus of the horizontal chin up bar is on developing strength with the minimal use of momentum.

Station six consists of an accessible chin-up bar, which is a standard chin up bar where the user will jump up to the bar, with no platform to assist them. 

The accessible chin up bar is used to increase strength of the upper arms, specifically the biceps. 

Station seven consists of another chin-up bar, which are two bars at different heights to accommodate both tall and shorter individuals. 

Station eight is a push-up bar, which increases the users’ range of motion in an exercise which improves strength and builds muscle faster.

Shugart said that he and the rest of the Rec and Fit staff will be making sure that all of the equipment is properly maintained. 

The project was approved to be completed by mid-summer.