Walking, cycling, swimming and running look set for a boost in people participating as research shows an increased desire to get active after lockdown.
Throughout lockdown we’ve been commissioning surveys – carried out by Savanta ComRes – to understand people’s activity levels and attitudes towards sport and physical activity.
The latest results show that, on the eve of indoor leisure facilities and pools being able to reopen, walking, running, cycling and swimming are top of people’s lists to do.
Walking, running and cycling have proved popular throughout lockdown, but now 53% of people say they intend to walk, with 20% wanting to run, 19% keen on cycling and 20% saying they want to swim post-lockdown - up from 17% pre-coronavirus.
The research also shows 22% are looking forward to returning to the gym and doing fitness classes outside of their own home.
And that news has been welcomed by our executive director of insight, Lisa O’Keefe.
“With much of society now reopen, this weekend represents a milestone for sport and physical activity, as many people have missed going to the gym, swimming and playing their favourite sports indoors,” she said.
“From Saturday we have a real chance to build on the activity levels of the past few months, as we enter a new period of living with coronavirus (Covid-19).”
Activity levels initially held up well during lockdown, with people finding new ways to stay active, but as society has begun to reopen in recent weeks, there’s been a dip.
Our latest ComRes survey shows the number of adults doing at least 30 minutes of physical activity, five or more days a week, dropped from 30% to 27%.
