Rain or shine, we train outdoors all winter

Bootcamp SE16 trains outdoors in the rain, and that is not a slogan. Sessions at Stave Hill are only ever called off when conditions are dangerous, meaning serious storms or high winds bringing branches down in the park. Grey, cold, wet and muddy is just a normal Tuesday.

The question we are asked most between November and February is whether tonight is still on because of the rain. If you have been with us a while, you already know the answer. The coaches layer up, grab a waterproof and get on with it. Steph has been coaching here since 2013, and the number of sessions lost to weather in all that time would not fill a page.

Why we do not cancel

Part of it is practical. We know this park. We know which corner shelters you when the wind comes off the river, which paths hold water, and where the ground stays firm. Nothing we do needs a roof.

The bigger part is that a session which only happens in good conditions is a session you cannot build a habit on. If training depends on the forecast, January quietly takes six weeks out of your year and February takes a few more. Fitness does not survive that. Training regardless is the entire point.

If you can train in the pouring rain in January, you can train anywhere, in any month, for the rest of your life.

What a wet session actually feels like

Better than you are imagining. The first two minutes are miserable and then they are not. You run up the steps, your heart rate climbs, the cold air hits your lungs and you warm up fast. The mud down by the shed becomes something to laugh about rather than something to avoid. Nobody looks glamorous and nobody cares, which is a large part of why people stay.

Then you walk home in the dark with that particular post-session feeling that no indoor workout quite matches. We will politely ignore the wet socks.

What training through bad weather gives you

• Consistency, because your training stops depending on a forecast.
• Daylight and fresh air in the months when most of us get very little of either.
• Confidence, the practical sort that comes from doing something you did not fancy doing.
• A group that expects you, which is a far better motivator at six in the morning than willpower.

Members tell us the resilience does not stay in the park. If you can get out of the door on a wet January evening, the difficult meeting and the long week feel a bit more manageable.

What to bring in winter

• Trainers with grip that you do not mind ruining.
• A waterproof jacket, ideally one that breathes.
• Layers you can strip off ten minutes in, because you will want to.
• Gloves and a hat for the start, and dry socks for afterwards.

We bring the kettlebells, bands, tyres and mats. You bring yourself and a reasonable attitude to mud.

Sessions run mornings, evenings and weekends at Stave Hill Ecological Park, about ten minutes on foot from Canada Water station and roughly the same from Surrey Quays, from £9 a session. If you have been waiting for the weather to improve before you start, that is the trap. Book your first session in the rain, and every other month of the year will feel easy.