Community fitness offers a wonderful opportunity for you to work alongside other like-minded individuals in order to meet your health and fitness goal.
With the Commonwealth Games in full swing, many people have been prompted to consider taking up a new sport or to pick up a former passion and set new goals. For some, the prospect of joining a local club can be daunting. Mental images of high-tech gadgets (Garmin what?), designer kit and smug, super fit people lunging for fun can be intimidating, especially when you lack a little confidence. If you’re worried whether you are ‘good enough’ or ‘ready’ to join a group, the answer is yes!
There are hundreds of local community fitness groups to get involved in – whatever your interests from running to yoga, from team sports through to open water swimming - there is something for everyone
Joining a local club is one of the best things you can do to progress your fitness, so with this in mind, at FFA we have compiled a list of the reasons why:
You are your environment. By joining a club and surrounding yourself with experienced, enthusiastic people, you’re more likely to maintain fitness long-term, instead of depending solely on your own motivation. Seeing what others have achieved will inspire you to keep training.
Clubs will encourage you to vary your training. For example, running clubs usually organise different sessions; e.g. Monday night – trail running, Tuesday night – medium length run, Thursday night – speed work, Sunday morning – long run. Training by yourself means it’s easy to get in a rut of the same routes at the same old pace – inevitably your progress will plateau unless you change it up a bit.
You will develop new friendships with people who share your passion for exercise. The demand of work or education and family commitments means it can be tough to meet new people. Local groups are a fantastic way to meet people that you can train with, outside of club or personal training sessions, which can be particularly useful on those dark winter nights!
You could discover your competitive streak. Even the least competitive person is pushed by participating with other people, and as you get to know a group and their individual abilities, you will know who to set your sights on beating! This edge can really drive you on and lead to improvements in your performance.
If you want to get out for some alone time too, the local area offers beautiful routes over Chorleywood common and beyond. Whether its woodland or open spaces, picturesque villages or varying terrain you are looking for, Apps such as Map my run and Strava are great for not only tracking your own progress but for discovering new routes at distances to suit you.
At FFA our focus is always on ensuring that we demonstrate proper form, this ensures that your muscles reap the most out of every exercise, and it also helps eliminate potential injuries. .As well as 1-2-1 sessions where we can focus on your unique goals and physical requirements, FFA run a variety of local group sessions you can take part in such as cross-country running sessions through Whippendell Woods on Sundays, the specific O.C.R and running technique H20 sessions at Merchant Taylors in Northwood and the new outdoor sessions at The Farm in Elstree.
For more information on local Fit For Anything events and group training check out the FFA Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/fitforanything.net/ or for help finding a club or group near you can also check out the free online tools like:
http://clubfinder.englandathletics.org or http://www.greatrunlocal.org/