Bar Walk parallel bars, Work-fit wooden fitness trail station

The Bar Walk parallel bars are the bodyweight support station of the Work-fit wooden fitness trail, built from glue-laminated Scandinavian pine with AISI-304 stainless steel fittings. The installed unit occupies a safety area of 422 x 380 cm, roughly 14 m2, with a maximum free fall height of 0.40 m and a capacity of one user at a time. Spare parts availability is guaranteed for ten years.

Exercises and placement on the trail

Parallel bars are the most versatile station on a wooden trail because the same two rails serve four different populations. Younger and stronger users perform dips, swings and static holds; older users walk the length of the bars with a hand on each rail as a supported gait exercise; rehabilitation groups use them for balance and weight transfer work.

• Upper body pushing: dips and supported holds for triceps, pectorals and anterior deltoid
• Core work: knee raises and leg holds in the support position
• Supported walking: gait re-education and balance for older users
• Trail sequencing: placed after a running or walking leg, before a stretching station
• Natural settings: timber construction suited to woodland, riverside and park routes

Technical specification

Timber, stainless steel and service life outdoors

Class IV autoclave treatment is the specification written for timber in permanent ground contact, which is what a fitness trail post is. Combined with glue-laminated sections, it gives a structure that stays dimensionally stable through wet and dry cycles instead of splitting along the grain like sawn softwood.

The choice of AISI-304 stainless steel for the brackets, rails and fixings matters more than it first appears. On a timber structure the fasteners are the parts that fail first, because water tracks along the metal and into the drilled hole. Stainless fixings remove the rust staining that disfigures a coated-steel installation after two or three winters and keep the joint tight for the life of the timber.

Because the station is one element of a configurable range, the Bar Walk is normally quoted as part of a route. Combining stations along a single circuit lets the safety areas share surfacing and lets the whole trail be signed as one facility. See the rest of the wooden fitness trail range and the wider outdoor fitness trail catalogue.

Frequently asked questions

What surfacing does the 0.40 m free fall height require?

A free fall height of 0.40 m is at the low end of the impact scale, so grass or an equivalent natural surface is generally acceptable over the 14 m2 safety area. Where the trail runs through a play area or the client specifies a tested surface, the surfacing is designed against EN 1177 for the stated free fall height.

Does the timber need annual treatment?

No. The class IV autoclave impregnation is applied under pressure through the section, not brushed onto the surface, so no seasonal re-treatment is scheduled. Annual inspection covers the stainless fixings, the rail surface and the ground line of the posts.

Can the station be combined with other Work-fit modules?

Yes. Work-fit is designed as a kit of parts so a route can be assembled from walking, running, balance, stretching and strength stations in any order. We draw the circuit, position each safety area and price the complete trail in one quotation.

Send us the length of the route, the ground conditions and the user profile you are equipping for, and we will return a scaled trail layout with each station costed individually. Wooden fitness trail quotations are issued within 24 to 72 hours.