Basic Training Launches Outdoor Pop-Up Fitness Pod to Inspire Community-Based Fitness and Healthy Living

Tomorrow, Basic Training opens its highly anticipated Hayes Valley fitness hub, with its ‘Grand Opening’ party sponsored by Fitbit, at PROXY. Both SF-based, health-focused companies believe the outdoor, public Hayes Valley location will inspire people to lead healthier, more active lives in diverse, community-driven ways. Basic Training led the crowd-funding campaign back in October of 2013, collecting over $40,000 to bring this space to fruition. Thereafter, Fitbit has been vital to the pop-up’s launch event, raising awareness of both company’s commitment to health and fitness.
 
With Fitbit’s support, the fitness pod comes to life tomorrow through an event complete with Basic Training classes, an all-inclusive after-party with giveaways, food, and drink – but above all, a celebration of community health and happiness. The event is sponsored in part by Aether Apparel, Alternative, Biergarten, Juice Shop, PROXY and R3 Builders. To RSVP to the event, you can do so here.
 
“We built this space because we believe fitness should be free and accessible to everybody,” Jennifer Pattee, founder of Basic Training, said. “We hope to make the daily routines for people in Hayes Valley a little less work and a lot more fun, and offer a space where people can take in all the beauty that San Francisco has to offer. With this project, we can inspire other communities, as well as governments and urban planners, about what’s possible for the cities of the future to encourage health and wellness.”
 
The pop-up fitness hub includes a large exterior steel structure to support a 20-foot monkey bar wall, a bike locker with steel wrapping to work as “urban furniture” used for jumping, as well as climbing poles and a GlobalTap water refill station. The ground of the space is being used artfully and effectively, with an all-encompassing painted stencil graphic that is both visually appealing, but also precisely laid out to offer agility drill patterns and exercise markers for fitness routines and classes. The poles supporting the monkey bar wall will eventually double as the securing border of an outdoor movie screen, one that Envelope A+D is currently developing as a “walk-in” movie theater.


The entire space epitomizes Basic Training’s mantra that exercise doesn’t have to be about fancy equipment or feeling trapped in a gym; fitness can be fun, social, and beautiful. Working out should be something everyone looks forward to – think about it: when was the last time you laughed with the person next to you on the elliptical?
 
“People are using cities in new ways, ‘hacking’ into urban environments in unexpected ways to move, play, and exercise, and this is a good thing,” Pattee said. “Muni bus shelters are becoming pull-up bars, park benches being used for tricep dips, crosswalk signs becoming chin-up bars; the list goes on. We believe this is the evolution of fitness. People are tired of sitting all the time, and are looking for creative ways to interact with their environments. It’s part of a social movement that’s happening everywhere, and it will elevate the health of our communities, especially where fitness options are not always available. Converting parking lots into open space where people can get together and move and play, 24 hours a day, is just the first step any community can take if they want to increase the well-being of the people who live and work there.” 
 
To be a part of the grand opening of Basic Training’s Fitness Pop-Up, RSVP via the Eventbrite link. The event happens tomorrow, June 7, 2014 at the Hayes Valley PROXY in San Francisco. Admission is free for the first 750 guests who register through Eventbrite, and admission is $10 per person after that. All guests must be 21-years or older. The event kicks off at 8 am with Basic Training classes at the top of every hour until noon. At noon, the party will start and continue until 4 pm with free drinks, food, music, and prizes such as Basic Training t-shirts and tanks, Fitbit products, and gift cards from Aether Apparel, Sports Basement, and San Francisco Running Company, among other giveaways.
 
Special thanks to the following companies for their donations and partnerships to help make this event and outdoor fitness space a reality: Aether, Alternative, Ape Do Good Printing, Biergarten, Richard Blum, Fitbit, Envelope A+D, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, and PROXY.
 
To learn more about Basic Training, visit www.basictrainingsf.com.
 
ABOUT BASIC TRAINING
Basic Training is San Francisco’s leading outdoor fitness organization that encourages people of all ages and fitness levels to get active, get social, and have fun. Disregarding the notion that a gym is contained within four walls and houses tons of expensive, complicated equipment, Basic Training takes their trainers and clients to the streets of their very own city to turn an hour of fitness into a time where relationships are made, fun is had, and fitness goals are met. Visit www.basictrainingsf.com to learn more and register for classes.

Contact Information

Bekka Grites

PR Manager

Potluck PR

potluckbekka@gmail.com