Bicester Green Gym

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Green gyms

TCV created and runs Green Gyms® across the UK.

Green Gyms are fun and free outdoor sessions where you will be guided in practical activities such as planting trees, sowing meadows and establishing wildlife ponds

Unlike other conservation projects, the emphasis is very much on health and fitness - volunteers warm up and cool down in preparation for a range of light to vigorous activities to suit all abilities

In fact, almost a third more calories can be burnt in some Green Gym® sessions than in an average aerobics class!

GPs now prescribe Green Gym® sessions to patients to encourage them to improve their health and wellbeing. By taking part, participants are encouraged to make positive changes to their lifestyle, such as walking and cycling more.

Green Gym® helped me to regain the confidence to return to employment and I now have a full-time job

Green Gym® volunteer – Portslade Green Gym®, East Sussex

Green Gyms also enhance mental wellbeing through increased contact with nature, the social benefits of group activity and helping people contribute something positive to their community. TCV work closely with partners, including mental health charity Mind, to continually innovate Green Gyms to ensure that they maximise the benefits for participants.

The demand for Green Gyms® is growing with more launching each year - in urban centres such as London the number of Green Gyms® has grown by 500% since 2011. With the rise in physical inactivity, isolation and the resulting health issues Green Gyms® provide opportunities for individuals to connect with nature and their community, and co-create high quality and sustainable green spaces.

We are also working with Mind on an innovative new project called Pro-Active Minds. This will promote individual resilience and wellbeing for people who are at risk of developing a mental health condition or who have otherwise presented with emotional distress. Funded by the Department of Health this development phase will be delivered in key areas across London (Hackney, Hounslow, Enfield and Newham), and piloted nationally. Pro-Active Minds will utilise a sustainable volunteer-led, peer support model within an ecotherapy setting based on a framework of Five Ways to Wellbeing.

Love it! You always feel so much better after being out in the fresh air, getting your hands dirty... you always have a good laugh!

Roisin from the Benedy Gardening Club Green Gym®

Tempted to try it out? Why not join in with one of TCV's 100 Green Gyms® across the country, get fit, meet new people and transform your local environment and community.

The scaling up of Green Gyms across the country is being supported by Nesta and the Cabinet Office, through the Centre for Social Action Innovation Fund. The Centre for Social Action Innovation Fund supports the growth of innovations that mobilise people’s energy and talents to help each other, working alongside public services.
See more at www.nesta.org.uk/project/centre-social-action-innovation-fund

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Green Gym

Every Green Gym provides conservation volunteering opportunities, where the focus is on the physical health and general well-being of those taking part.  Most Green Gym sessions last from three to four hours.  The very first Green Gym was set up by TCV in Oxfordshire, in 1998, but there are now around 95 in the UK and 17 locally:

Berkshire:  Newbury & Thatcham, Reading

Buckinghamshire:  Milton Keynes

East Sussex:  Hastings, Portslade and Hastings/Rother

Isle of Wight:  Isle of Wight

Kent:  Ashford, Shepway

Oxfordshire:  Abingdon, Bicester, Chipping Norton, Sonning Common, Wallingford, Woodstock

West Sussex: Horsham

Please note that although TCV developed these Green Gyms originally, most are now independently run by local people in the areas where they're based.  To find out more about any of them, please contact their coordinators directly.  Details for all these Green Gyms

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Green Gym

The Scottish government is to invest more than £300,000 setting up Green Gyms across the country with the aim of encouraging people to "work out" in the open air, while at the same time improving their surroundings.

Organised by the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, the Green Gyms will give people the chance to ditch pumping iron in favour of tree planting, repairing footpaths or growing food on allotments.

People of all ages are to be offered training in digging holes and planting to improve their local environment and their fitness. They can also be given tips on how to grow food in their own gardens.

Organisers claim that working out in the fresh air reduces people's stress levels and risk of heart disease and stroke, as well as improving muscular strength and helping older people to lead more independent lives.

"It only takes 30 minutes a day of physical activity, at least five days a week, to gain enormous health benefits and help prevent many serious diseases such as heart disease, cancer and stroke," said Shona Robison, minister for public health and sport.

"Green Gyms are free for everyone to use, and for people who won't set foot in a regular gym, they offer a way to improve your fitness while meeting new people, learning something new and benefiting your local area."

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