The fact that benches in public places are not only used for sitting, but also for young people in particular for various forms of physical fitness has been both common and disliked for generations.
There is too much concern that the seating furniture could be damaged.
This is different in the case of the fitness bench, which Moritz Fuhrmann from Dreieich developed and which is now bringing onto the market with his Mainz start-up company Moveuments.
Jochen Remmert
Airport editor and correspondent Rhein-Main-Süd.
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You can sit very quietly on this bench.
Actually, it is supposed to encourage you to train the muscles of the arms, legs and torso.
The call is aimed at young and old people alike.
They should all complete the exercises that are explained to them in pictures and short texts on the backrest according to their individual desire and ability.
Shorten the time with a few exercises
As a customer, Fuhrmann not only has municipalities with public spaces in mind, but also schools, universities and companies.
Because you don't have to work up a sweat right away with all exercises, he can also imagine that, for example, passengers could shorten the time until boarding with a few exercises, says Fuhrmann.
The same would therefore be imaginable at train stations or motorway service stations.
In Dreieich and Neu-Isenburg, the mayor Martin Burlon and his Neu-Isenburg counterpart Herbert Hunkel (both non-party) immediately agreed to each set up one of the benches in a pilot project.
In Dreieich one can now be found in the Bürgerpark, in Neu-Isenburg a fitness bench supplements the calisthenics facility, in which fitness enthusiasts work on steel scaffolding with the weight of their own body on the optimal shape.
Good for the body and the environment
So that the benches survive the gymnastics undamaged, they have a basic structure made of strong stainless steel tubes. The satined surface prevents slipping. Sturdy handles are attached to the seat, which allow additional exercises. According to his own admission, the sports scientist and personal trainer, who is currently doing his master's degree in Mainz, has also thought of the environment: the seats are made from the very resistant wood of robinia, which is grown exclusively in plantations in Germany. According to Fuhrmann, the stainless steel also comes from low-CO2 production. The benches are manufactured by Playparc, a company near Paderborn, which specializes in the construction of all-weather sports and leisure facilities.
Fuhrmann did the preparatory work for his start-up in the course of his bachelor's thesis: Among other things, he examined how such an offer of physical activity is received by people. Fuhrmann, who was born in Darmstadt in 1995, interviewed almost 40 men and women between the ages of 39 and 80, and received such a positive response that he quickly developed the now patented fitness bench. A bank costs 3500 euros, plus the anchoring in the ground. There is now also a variant that can be easily dismantled, for example in the event that a site is closed in winter.
Fuhrmann has also thought of contemporaries who smear objects with destructive intent: The surfaces of the backrest on which the exercises are explained and illustrated are coated with a protective film. This makes it easier to remove paint smears without great effort and damage.