Winter Weather Forces Fitness Freaks Indoors

It is a familiar story for Brits who enjoy keeping fit outdoors. Although living in the UK means we don’t have to live with the threats that our American and Australian cousins do with their snakes, spiders, mountain lions, earthquakes and hurricanes, we do have to put up with the miserable and cold, grey winter months every year. The ‘London tan’ is a phrase often used by Australians to describe the pallid grey skin of a person having spent a winter (or even a summer...) in London, which is pretty depressing.

For many people, the period between September and April is a bit of a write-off as far as outdoor fitness goes. Although some hardy souls continue to run and cycle whatever the weather most people will look towards indoor sport as a sanctuary from the cold. For most people this will be the gym, London has much more to offer though.

Fitness classes are a hugely popular alternative and the range of options available is extensive. Zumba, step, body pump, boxercise, pole dancing, circuit training...the list goes on and on. One of the great benefits of fitness classes is that they are typically pay-as-you-go which means if you prefer outdoor sports and don’t want a 12 month gym membership you can just pay for the classes you go to during the winter and then get back to outdoors sports if and when the British weather picks up in spring.

Many of these classes do actually take place in a gym London can offer. However there are also loads of small, independent studios which offer a great personal service if you can actually find them! Although the classes they run are great fun, the people that run them are not always best at promoting their services and online searches will only display a handful of what is on offer.

If you are willing to put up with the sale people at a gym London can offer, then this is of course a great option too. The challenge is to either find a gym that you can visit on a pay-as-you-go basis, or one that does not try and force you into a long term contract when all you want is some temporary respite from the weather! Thankfully on this front London is improving as more and more gyms seem to be recognising the increased flexibility many people need. Many people prefer doing outdoor sports and just want to go to the gym when it is raining or cold and gyms are much more open to accepting people like this.

However, if classes are not for you and you don’t like the gym, London has one final trick up its sleeve to keep you fit! Indoor team sports are hugely popular and many schools and colleges now hire out their sports facilities to clubs and leagues to earn some additional revenue. If you fancy some indoor football, netball or even korfball then London has a huge community of sports fans that are involved in such activities. Because of the sheer population of the city there are leagues on every night of the week with teams of all different standards so that there is something for everyone.

The weather outside may be frightful, but in London the options for indoor sport are genuinely delightful.

By: Jenna Bush

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Visit payasUgym.com for gyms in London. PayasUgym was launched in February 2011 and currently has over 150 gyms available, with plans to expand the network to Manchester and Birmingham by the end of 2011.