UK National Fitness Day Guide

Fitness Day

National Fitness Day 2017 is on the 27th of September

For many of us, fitness is already a big part of our lives. It can be easy to forget that for millions of people, it is not.

UK Active, the non-profit dedicated to getting the UK fitter and healthier now run National Fitness Day. The concept is simple. Get people moving, enjoying fitness activities in coordinated events around the country. The hope is that many of the people involved will continue leading active lives.

This page is my (tiny!) contribution. I hope that some readers of FitnessReview.co.uk will find out about National Fitness Day via this article, and go ahead and get involved.

Here is how this page is organised.

First a quick overview of the types of activity that will occur on the day. After that the ways you can get involved – as an event organiser, participant or on social media. Finally, a little more on UKActive, who are behind the event.

This page is a summary / quick overview. If you prefer the full details, then I recommend the comprehensive https://www.nationalfitnessday.com/ website.

National Fitness Day 2017 – What Will Happen on the 27th of September?

In short, communities, gyms (and other fitness organisations) and workplaces are going to get active. There will be 100’s of events up and down the country. More events are being added to this list all the time. One thing you can be sure of is that nobody will be left behind. Whether you want to participate in a kid’s event, an intensive ‘plank-off’ or treadmill challenge – or would prefer something more gentle like a walk with new friends, National Fitness Day is for you.

Here are some of the types of event already mentioned on the main website:

  • Plank-Offs
  • Yoga
  • Pilates
  • High Street HIIT
  • Treadmill Challenges
  • Dance-Offs
  • Walks

I am sure there will be many more, especially when cross-fit boxes, local gyms and people doing martial arts start to get involved.

National Fitness Day started in 2011. This was originally set up by a gym chain called Energie Group. They realised that they were on to something big, and handed over the event to the Non-Profit UK Active for the 2014 event. The UK National Fitness Day has been growing every year since then.

How to Get Involved in This Year’s National Fitness Day?

You can get involved by running an event, or by participating. If you’d like to run your own event, then this can be listed on the National Fitness Day website. When people then search by postcode, they will find your event – and hopefully get involved.

There is a benefit to people who make a living from fitness as well as those enjoying the activities. If you can dream up an interesting event, it will be a good opportunity to showcase yourself to people who are interested. After all, the whole idea of the day is to get people involved in fitness activities for the longer term.

As a participant, you will be able to search for events near you. If you are unsure of what type of fitness activity is best for you, this will be an opportunity to try out a few different types and see what suits you the best.

At the moment, the database of activities is not live. What you can do is sign up for the e-mail list. This will give you information on how things are progressing with the day as a whole. You will also be alerted when the activities are ready to be searched by postcode.

#fitness2me

Get Involved Over Social Media

There are some hashtags set up for this event. One I really like is #fitness2me. People are using this to post a few words (via a picture of them holding paper) about what fitness means to them. I will look to do one of these closer to the event, and thousands of people have already participated.

Other hashtags include the main #fitnessday one, which will help bring together all those people and organisations involved.

The best way to get involved is to head over to the main website, sign up for the e-mail list and (if it applies) clicking the ‘register event’ button.

You can also get involved proactively. Start spreading the word among friends, family and work colleagues. Let them know about the day and try to get people who would not otherwise be interested in sport or fitness to get involved. Sure, it will not work for everyone, though if only a smaller percentage of those who try things out continue to keep fit, it is a win!

Here are the main social media accounts:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NationalFitnessDay

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FitnessDayUK

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitnessdayuk/

About UKActive

UKActive is a non-profit organisation made up of people from the fitness industry, communities and public service. Their mission is to increase the number of people engaging in sports and fitness related activities. There are now more than 3000 members. You can find out more about UKActive via their website here.

Next Steps / Updates to this Page

I’ll update this page closer to the time (anticipating early September), when we should have a full range of activities scheduled to talk about. If anything interesting happens in the meantime, I’ll also update here. Note: Pictures from this page came from the National Fitness Day Facebook page.

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