Getting Active in Lambeth

Regular physical activity can improve your muscle strength and boost your endurance. Exercise delivers oxygen and nutrients to your tissues and helps your heart and lungs to work more efficiently - and when your heart and lung health improves, you have more energy to tackle daily life. 

There are many benefits for the mind as well such as: increased positivity, reduced stress and self-empowerment.

Exercise improves mood and boosts energy

Exercise combats health conditions and diseases

Exercise helps control weight

Exercise can be fun and social

Exercise promotes better sleep 

Being active isn’t just about going to the gym or doing competitive sport. It can include activities that are part of our everyday life, including:

• walking
• cycling
• dancing
• gardening

Lambeth has many different places and spaces that can help you get active. Whether you are looking to join a football team, learn a new skill or plan a day of activities for you and your family, Lambeth has it all!

Go to the next section to find out more.

Here are a few ideas for getting started:

• Why not try Couch to Fitness with Sport England - a free 9-week programme even for complete beginners

• Find support to get cycling in Lambeth - including local cycle routes, free cycle maintenance locally with Dr Bikes, and even free cycling lessons!

• If walking is your thing, get involved in free community walks around Lambeth - available in Brockwell Park, Larkhall Park, Peckham Rye Park and more. 

• Want to get fit and do good? GoodGym organise volunteering activities across Lambeth, combined with getting active.

• If you want to join a local gym, check out The Gym London Stockwell. Only a 5 minute walk from Stockwell Tube Station. If you’re looking for low-cost ways to work out, Green Legacy are free, outdoor community gyms. The closest are in Larkhall Park and Mursell Estate - find the full list here. For free indoor activities, a collection of free activities you can do at home have been created by the NHS - you can see them here.

• Learn a new skill - brainstorm and talk to friends about new skills you could learn either independently or as a group

There are many outdoor spaces in Lambeth to enjoy and get active in:

Brockwell Park Courts

Slade Gardens & Slade Gardens Outdoor Gym

Stockwell Skate Park

Stockwell Memorial Gardens

Norwood Park

Lorn Road Allotments

Stockwell SkatePark is open 24 hours a day! 

Get Social

Interested in joining a team or starting your own? Open Play helps you connect with other people to form teams in a variety of sports like Tennis, Hockey and Basketball. Just click ‘player finder’ on their website.

Want to meet new people and exercise at the same time? Check out Walk and Talk - the outdoor local walking club which focuses on low impact exercises for all abilities and ages.

Head to the Thriving Communities events page to find out more about local activities - including local basketball, football and more

Stockwell Park Community Trust offers Yoga classes at their amazing centre on the Stockwell Park Estate. Check out their amazing story here.

Fast and easy exercise

You can get the benefits of exercise by doing as little as 10 minutes:

• NHS 10-minute workouts
• Youtube 10-minute workouts by the BHF 
• Listen to the 10 Today radio for simple exercises 

Exercising through all stages of life is vital to maintain health and well-being. 

Older adults should do some type of physical activity every day as it will help to improve your health and reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Adults aged 65 and over should:

• aim to be physically active every day, even if it's just light activity
• do activities that improve strength, balance and flexibility on at least 2 days a week
• do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity if you are already active, or a combination of both
• reduce time spent sitting or lying down and break up long periods of not moving with some activity

Take a look at the Mysocial Lambeth page for a whole range of activities like:

45 minute chair based class with Ingrid

Social Dance class with Ingrid   

Beko’s chair based Thai Chi or Yoga

Ageless Grace

The NHS have great tips to help you keep active as you get older - check their guidelines here for what light, moderate and intense exercise looks like for adults over 65.

You could be part of the Lambeth Community Health Walking Scheme. Hear stories from people who have joined here.

There are many ways to get active together as a family in Lambeth!

Maybe Frisbee in one of Stockwell’s parks, Swimming at the Horizon’s Leisure Club or if you fancy an outdoor dip, check out the 50m Swimming Pool located in Brockwell Park.

A great place to get active outside is Grove Adventure Playground in the heart of Brixton. How about also trying Karting at Oasis Play or going to a glow slime workshop! 

If you are looking for something specific, try using the Lambeth Family Information Directory to help with your search.

You can gain confidence and learn cycling skills with a family cycling session at Cycle confident. Wheels for wellbeing also offer inclusive cycling sessions for people with specific physical needs.

ACTIVE TOGETHER

TRIANGLE ADVENTURE PLAYGROUND X OASIS PLAY

Have you heard?

The Triangle Adventure playground is part of a new project called Active Together! Active Together is an exciting joint project between The Triangle Adventure Playground and Oasis Play, funded by Sport England. 

Eight family fun sessions a week will be taking place at Triangle, Oasis and various locations throughout Lambeth which are all free! These include: football, boxing, capoeira and go karting! For those under 5 years old there are also terrific gymnastics sessions which are also popular with toddlers and mums.

The aim of this project is to get young people, parents and grandparents exercising and having fun together. Check out the timetable and book your place now!

Are you short on time? Do you enjoy the flexibility of doing activities at home when you want? 

During Covid-19 lockdowns we discovered together that our homes can be used in more ways than we thought possible! Whether you have lots of space or a small room, you can easily use objects around your house to create your own home workouts

Some examples on how to get active at home include:

• The Body Coach Joe Wicks has simple but effective free home workout videos that the whole family can enjoy! Discover videos here.
• Don't have weights? No problem, grab some water bottles and try your own boxing workout!
• If you want to introduce yoga to your daily routine, how about trying these free Yoga videos with Adriene
• Play active computer games, there are a few different gaming consoles that get you moving whilst you play!
• Dancing whilst you do household chores and activities is a great way to sneak in exercise, try and dance whilst you're cooking, vacuuming, or brushing your teeth
• Our Parks have developed 'Park to Fitness', a 9 week at home fitness programme for beginners. What's best is that it's free!

BBC Sport have some top tips to help you exercise at home. Click here to find out.