Start outdoor fitness in SE16 this summer
Summer is the easiest time of year to start training outdoors in SE16, which is the best possible reason to begin now rather than promising yourself you will sort it out in September.
Most people who join Bootcamp SE16 have thought about it for months before they get in touch. What finally moves them is usually something small and practical. The evenings are light. The ground is dry. Leaving the house in a T-shirt at seven in the morning stops feeling like a punishment. Summer quietly removes about half the reasons people give themselves for not starting.
We train outdoors at Stave Hill Ecological Park all year round, through frost and drizzle as well as sunshine. But the summer sessions have a different feel to them. People stay behind afterwards to talk. New members settle in faster. Everyone is a bit more willing to try something they have not done before.
Fresh air beats a stuffy gym in July
Think about what a gym is actually like in the middle of summer. Recycled air, a queue for the equipment you wanted, someone else's sweat on the bench, and a room with no daylight in it. Then think about a coached session on grass with a breeze coming off the river and a view across to Canary Wharf.
The differences are not marketing. Daylight, fresh air and varied ground change how a session feels. Outdoor exercise tends to lift mood, and moving over uneven terrain asks more of your balance and your feet than a treadmill ever will. Most of our members do not think about any of that. They just notice they leave a session feeling better than when they arrived, which is the part that keeps people coming back.
You do not need to be fit before you start
This is the one that stops people. You do not need a base level of fitness to begin. You do not need to know what a kettlebell swing is. You do not need to have exercised since school.
Every session is coached from start to finish. The coach shows an easier version and a harder version of everything, watches your technique and tells you which one to do. The group is a genuine mix of ages, shapes and abilities, and the people who have been coming for years are usually the friendliest to the person on their first morning.
What a summer session actually looks like
- A gentle warm-up jog and mobility work around the park path, which is where most people realise they are not the least fit person there.
- Outdoor group training using kettlebells, bands, tyres, the steps and your own body weight, scaled to whatever you can do today.
- A finish, a stretch, and usually a conversation with someone who lives four streets away from you.
Sessions run mornings, evenings and weekends, so you can train before work while it is cool or train after work while it is still bright. Bring trainers, water and clothes you do not mind getting grass on. We bring everything else.
Where we are
Stave Hill Ecological Park sits between Canada Water, Surrey Quays and Rotherhithe, about ten minutes on foot from Canada Water station. It is five acres of woodland, meadow and a hill with one of the better views in south London. Members walk and cycle in from the flats around Canada Water, from Surrey Quays and from the streets down towards Bermondsey.
Start now and summer does the work for you
Six weeks of consistent training in June and July will leave you fitter and more confident by the time the clocks change. More usefully, it builds the habit while the weather is on your side, so that training in November feels like something you already do rather than something you have to start.
If you have been meaning to do something about your fitness, this is the easy season. Book a call and try a session.