Some of the barriers to exercise are:
• Cost
• Not knowing what to do
• Not having access to suitable equipment
Gyms can be intimidating places for those who are taking the first step into exercise. Paying for gym membership is not necessary if you know how to exercise effectively in a park. London has many accessible parks and green spaces, even in the most deprived areas and importantly, access to these parks is free. In a gym if you need advice about exercise, you can ask someone who works there, however in a park there is no one to ask and the lack of obvious gym equipment makes it harder for a beginner to know what to do to exercise effectively.
Our idea is to provide people with a training program designed by professionals customised for the park’s layout. Based on a walking circuit of the park, different landmarks or locations within the park would be designated exercise stations, at which participants would perform one type of exercise. Exercises would be designed for all ages to introduce people who are currently inactive to some moderate exercise and to increase their mobility.
In the interests of neighbourhood cohesion and to promote safe access to the capitals parks and green spaces people could be encouraged to set up their own meet up groups, which would come together at certain times and on certain days to do the exercise circuit together.
To encourage people to make a start, free induction lessons could be run by fitness professionals to take people through the circuit at set times, for example at 12pm every Saturday.
These inductions could be advertised with leaflets distributed in certain postcodes to inspire the least active groups to attend.
Anyone would be able to access the circuit information by printing out the plan from a website, picking up leaflets at the park itself or accessing the information via a mobile device.
Once a user has completed a circuit, they will be able to post their achievement on facebook or twitter using their mobile phone, thereby encouraging their friends to also take part and to spread word of the scheme. This would give a measurable indication of the campaign’s take up within a community.
This idea will be easily scalable, replicable and sustainable because the required infrastructure is already in place and no special equipment is needed.
This post was submitted by Scott Laidler.
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Super Knowledge
Many people would like to do something to improve their health and well being but simply don’t know where to start.
There are so many myths regarding nutrition and exercise that are propagated in the mass media that it is very hard for the average person to separate fact from fiction.
The prevalence of ill-informed dietary choices and exercise routines are alarmingly common, if this misplaced effort were channelled correctly it would achieve real results instead of disappointment and de-motivation.
For those who can’t afford to hire a personal dietician or exercise trainer this knowledge gap is very difficult to overcome.
Our idea is to place suitably qualified nutritionists (registered with the nutrition society, for example) and fitness professionals (qualified to REPS level 2, for example) in the larger supermarkets in the most deprived areas of London.
They would act as a point of reference for anybody in the community who wanted free advice regarding sensible food choices or exercise plans. They could also help dispel some of the common myths surrounding weight loss that many people believe.
A permanent feature of the store, they could also provide exercise classes and nutrition talks for the staff and customers alike to help foster a community spirit. Increasing the knowledge of staff members would lead to higher morale and lower health insurance costs. Hopefully, some of this knowledge would also work its way back into the community. Particularly in deprived areas, supermarkets act as a community focal point and many of the supermarket staff live within the community that they serve.
This post was submitted by Drew Price.