- Where to start
- Vivacity Leisure Services
- How Are You Peterborough activities
- Living Sport - Inclusive Activity Finder
- Peterborough Local Insight Map - viewable sports clubs, gyms and active recreation sites
- Parks and open spaces (including outdoor tennis courts)
- NHS services
- YouTube workout videos
- Other websites
After reading the other pages in this section, we hope by now you're feeling confident in your knowledge of the importance and benefits of physical activity.
The final piece of the puzzle is figuring out what we can do in our daily lives. We will highlight and explain the main physical activity recommendations, but we also remind you again:
Where to start
Listing every local activity would quickly go out of date, so instead use the guidance below to find what fits your life now and stays useful in future. Do a quick local search for venues, clubs and walking routes; check community noticeboards, library and leisure centre pages, and ask at your GP or local health services for referral schemes. Look for inclusive options, times that suit your routine, and low‑cost or no‑cost opportunities.
Here are resources that are available at the time of publication and will point you in the right direction.
Vivacity Leisure Services
Vivacity Leisure Services operates multiple leisure venues across Peterborough, including gyms, swimming pools, fitness classes and sports facilities. In addition, they also offer:
- Courts and pitches available to hire for a variety of different sports - e.g. badminton, squash, netball, football etc
- Inclusive and adaptive sport - adapted cycling, totally active club, boccia, archery and swimming
- Rehabilitation classes run by trained professionals to help support cardiac, stroke, cancer and heart failure patients
- Health and wellbeing sessions, chair-based sessions, weight loss support and wellbeing walks
- A Falls Management Exercise Programme for over 65s, commissioned by Public Health
How Are You Peterborough activities
The How Are You Peterborough activities directory has a focus on the wellbeing of residents in Peterborough. You can find information on open spaces, volunteering opportunities, clubs and classes for dancing and different sports such as yoga and bowls, plus places that offer arts and crafts.
Living Sport - Inclusive Activity Finder
Living Sport is a charity dedicated to improving health, happiness, and wellbeing across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
There are many sports clubs and organisations across the county that offer either disability-specific activities or inclusive activities and partner with Living Sport to promote these.
Living Sport's Inclusive Activity Finder has a list of clubs and activities for the Peterborough area. Examples include archery, adapted cycling and sensory swimming.
Peterborough Local Insight Map - viewable sports clubs, gyms and active recreation sites
Our Peterborough Local Insight map has viewable 'sport clubs, gyms and active recreation' sites in Peterborough which can be loaded by clicking on 'sport clubs, gyms and active recreation' from the services icon on the left of the website.
You can zoom in and click on any of the displayed red weightlifting person icons to find out more about what it is and have the option to open it in street view. The services shown have been sourced by OSCI Local Insight team from ‘The Geographic Data Service’. This map may not have every active recreation service in Peterborough, but is just to give you an opportunity to explore what exists.
Parks and open spaces (including outdoor tennis courts)
In Peterborough, we are lucky to have many parks and green spaces which you can use to get moving.
At Peterborough City Council, we manage parks such as Central Park, Itter Park, Manor Farm Park, Stanley Park and the Embankment. We also have six tennis hard courts available to hire at Central and Itter Park - four at Central Park and two at Itter Park. Visit our parks and open spaces page or our tennis courts page for more information.
Other outdoor spaces include Nene Park, Ferry Meadows and Thorpe Meadows. Visit the Nene Park Trust website for more information.
Central Park gardensNHS services
Live Well exercises and Fitness Studio videos
View the range of exercises available on the NHS website for more ideas and inspiration for how you can get moving. They have videos on how to improve your strength and balance, exercises for people with sciatica or knee pain, tips for how to warm up safely, plus aerobics, pilates and yoga.
Healthy Families Service, Healthy Child Programme and Healthy Steps
Families with children between 4 and 17 who are above their ideal weight on the BMI centile chart can enrol in a specialised programme.
We have commissioned the organisation Maximus (also under the brand ‘Healthy You’) to provide a new Healthy Families service. This service is for families who are looking to get support with healthy eating, weight management, portion size, physical activity and cooking ideas. All support is free to access. To find out more and register your interest, go to the Families page on the Healthy You website.
You may find the Healthy Child Programme (includes younger kids) useful, for information on topics such as healthy eating and physical activity. You can find information and fun ideas to help your kids stay healthy at the Healthier Families NHS webpage including easy ways to eat well and get in more movement.
Another way to help maintain a balanced diet and physical activity for your family is the NHS Healthy Steps email programme. Sign up for the 8-week Healthy Steps emails and you will be sent lots of low-cost simple tips, fun games, healthy swaps, and tasty recipes on a budget.
YouTube workout videos
If you want to find something you can do in the comfort of your own home, websites like YouTube can be invaluable. In your search, we recommend you include:
- Your age
- Whether you have a disability or mobility issue
- The length of time you want to exercise for
- Any preferences you have on intensity level
An example search from an older person wanting to work on their flexibility could be ‘10-minute yoga for seniors'.
