Lazy Southampton?

Last week I came across an article on the internet about a recent survey carried out by Adapt Nutrition (a supplement brand) which ranked the fittest and laziest cities in the UK.

According to this survey Southampton is the second laziest city in England with only 23% of inhabitants visiting the gym at least once a weak – and I think the phrase “visiting the gym” is key in this survey. It would seem that the survey disregarded other forms of staying active, many of which can take place outside of the gym.

I may not be an expert on physical activity but I can see the huge variety of exercise that is happening all over the city virtually all of the time. Some people may say that being at university provides opportunities for sport which you otherwise wouldn’t have – and yes, there is an incredible range of sports societies at the university. Anyone can buy a gym membership and use the facilities and classes, and even join certain societies. And if you don’t fancy that then there are lots of leisure centres and sports clubs in and around the city including cheerleading, karate, yoga and netball as well as many more. You can even learn how to ski on the dry ski slope.

What about all the parks and open spaces? The Common, Riverside Park, Weston Shore and the New Forest are all practically on our doorstep and are all ideal for walking, running and cycling. Parkrun takes place on the Southampton Common every Saturday at 09:00 and is completely free to attend. I have recently started going regularly myself and the amount of people that go (769 last week) and the positivity and encouragement still amaze me every time. This is also the place where I see many people representing their running clubs – which I think counts as physical activity. I’m also pretty sure that cycling as a form of transport counts as staying active, and there seem to be hundreds of people cycling through the city every day.

And if the usual sports are not your cup of tea, there are quite a few dance schools about offering anything from pole to Bollywood.

I may be biased considering I live here but Southampton really doesn’t appear to be lazy to me. I think it would take a survey with a bigger sample to persuade me.

Here are a few photos I took of the parks in Southampton in the last year or so.