Mitch Menaged and the National Fitness Campaign

Entrepreneur and member Mitch Menaged invented the Fitness Court in 1979 to bring outdoor fitness training to the public. He raised more than $100,000,000 in the largest public and private partnership for community-based fitness of its day. The partnership created a new conversation about the value of fitness in people's lives and ended successfully after a ten-year international campaign in 4,000 cities in three countries.

In 2012, Mitch decided that Americans fighting diseases related to obesity and lack of fitness were in need of new community-based fitness tools. Thus, Menaged engaged a world-renowned team to redesign the Fitness Court for a new age and a new population. Working without salary in a new social enterprise, his goal is a network of powerful new Fitness Courts as well as a fit America.

More than 40 years later, he is preparing the National Fitness Campaign’s 500th court, with goals to make fitness accessible to everyone across the country. SHACK15’s Journal spoke with Menaged about his plans for 2022, and how attitudes toward fitness have changed since he first began.

SHACK15: What was the idea behind the first Fitness Court? What inspired it?

Menaged: The idea has always been to bring people outdoors to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air, to support a healthy lifestyle. Outdoor Fitness on a “Free” World Class Outdoor Gym!

We were fortunate to get help at Stanford, where we designed our first Fitness Court, and Wells Fargo Bank helped us turn hundreds of Fitness Courts into a National Fitness Campaign, which created a movement that grew in thousands of cities across America. We got millions of people excited about fit living in our first campaign in the eighties. We launched again in 2012, with a redesign of our Digital Fitness Court, which delivers workouts and promotions in cities and colleges on our Fitness Court App. We’ll be planning our 500th location this year, working towards Fitness Courts within a ten minute bike ride of most Americans by the end of the decade. So we’ll need to build support for 10,000 Fitness Courts, and we’ve got a talented energized team dedicating to achieving our goal. Now we’re also supported by Blue Cross and other large health insurance companies, who help us fund and activate our Campaign.

SHACK15: Fitness Courts are now in so many cities. How have people's attitudes toward fitness changed since you first started?

Menaged: Fitness and wellness are now recognized as essential for happiness and longevity, but our country struggles with obesity and diseases born of inactivity. Our cities were built for cars, which makes pedestrian movement difficult in many cities. Our campaign is dedicated to rebuilding the built environment to make healthy choices easier and free Fitness Courts accessible for people everywhere.

SHACK15: How do you see fitness evolving in the years to come?

Menaged: Fitness is evolving to wellness as healthy people want longer, happier lives. So we want to avoid disease rather than cure. We see the possibilities of extending active and vigorous years filled with second careers exploring exciting new journeys. Soon we’ll see lives stretching to ages that seem like fantasy today, as we learn more about aging. Seventy Is the new fifty. You’re going to live longer, maybe much longer, soon!

SHACK15: How has the pandemic changed fitness?

Menaged: Look who were hit hardest by the pandemic. People who were overweight and had serious health challenges. It’s clear that people who invest time in being healthy saw a huge advantage in protection against Covid. It also validates the power of outdoor Fitness Courts that promote physical and mental health—resilience in tough times.

SHACK15: What are your goals this year for the National Fitness Campaign?

Menaged: Our goal is to continue our work bringing people outdoors, everyday, to walk, jog or bike to a Fitness Court, like the one at Marina Green, to encourage people to prioritize movement that supports healthy living. A Healthy Person Has A Thousand Dreams- A Sick Person Only Has One!