Physical activity resources
Key resources
Active Practice Charter
Signing up to become an Active Practice is the best way to demonstrate to staff and patients that you mean it when it comes to physical activity and health! For more information, please explore our Active Practice Charter webpage.
Active Partnerships
The Active Partnerships team (England) are experts in local physical activity resources and assets. They're aware of the Active Practice Charter and are here to help with all your requests related to sport and physical activity.
Couch to Fitness
For lots of people the idea of going to the gym or joining an exercise class is daunting.
Couch to Fitness is a fitness programme, a free, 9-week programme designed for complete beginners that can be done from their own home and at their own pace. The expert instructors will guide them through a 9-week programme to gradually build up their fitness. Enjoy getting fit from home by following our online workout that is suitable for all levels and flexible to fit into your schedule.
GoodGym
GoodGym is a unique and innovative community of people who get fit by doing good. Operating across England and Wales, they organise sessions in which people can run, walk or cycle to complete good deeds for local community groups, charities and isolated older people.
Participants might be sorting donations at a food bank one week, digging out a pond at scout hut the next, or collecting a prescription for a housebound older person. GoodGym redirects that energy used in gyms and puts it to good use in the community. By combining physical activity and volunteering participants benefit from all of the 5 ways to wellbeing: connecting with their community, getting active, taking notice of new people and organisations, learning skills like tree planting and of course giving back.
GoodGym is free to attend (although members have the option of making a regular donation) and you can sign up at goodgym.org.
parkrun practice
The RCGP collaboration with parkrun UK promotes the health and wellbeing of staff and patients. GP practices across the UK are encouraged to develop close links with their local parkrun to become parkrun practices.
Moving Medicine
An award-winning resource developed by the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine (FSEM) as part of Sport England and Public Health England's (PHE) Moving Healthcare Professional programme. The Moving Medicine website provides a platform and structure for clinicians to have conversations about physical activity with their patients.
Motivate 2 Move
A fantastic resource for GPs developed by Dr Brian Johnson and team. It brings together the best available evidence for physical activity in the context of specific medical conditions – Motivate 2 Move is essentially a free-to-access virtual textbook on everything a GP could ever want to know about physical activity!
Active employee toolkit
Our funding partners at Sport England have developed this Active Employee Toolkit which has information about how it’s a win win for people to be active at work. It includes useful tips and suggestions for how to develop an active culture in your workplace.
We are Undefeatable
We Are Undefeatable is a major national campaign supporting people with a range of long term health conditions, developed by 16 leading health and social care charities and backed by expertise, insight and National Lottery funding from Sport England. The purpose of the campaign is to support and encourage people to be active in ways that work with their conditions, not against them. The website is packed with ideas, facts and resources for patients and the medical teams supporting them - check it out!
Make your Move videos
A key message is that physical activity is good for everyone - particularly those who have existing long term conditions. From the team behind ‘We Are Undefeatable’ the Make your Move videos are aimed at people who are experiencing symptoms including pain, fatigue, stiffness and low mood. The purpose of these ~15minutes videos is to motivate and support people to be active in a way that works for them using simple, varied and FUN activities that are designed to improve strength, balance, coordination, energy and stamina and relieve stress. Please share the videos with patients!
Swim England
Getting in the water can sometimes be ‘far more powerful’ compared to other healthcare interventions. Swim England has teamed up with the RCGP to encourage healthcare professionals to consider recommending swimming and aquatic activity to their patients. The ‘Swimming as Medicine’ series of videos outline how transformative being active in water can be for individuals.
The following video features Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi, a GP in Leamington Spa and RCGP Lifestyle and Physical Activity Clinical Champion and tells the story of Darren Whitley, who spent an extended period of time in intensive care due to COVID-19 in 2021. Darren was significantly overweight and struggled with a range of health problems after discharge from hospital. Darren turned up at his local GP practice-led running group one day, intent on turning his health problems around and following discussion with Hussain, was guided towards swimming.
Hussain was able to witness Darren’s progress first-hand by visiting him during a session at his local pool and described it as a “rewarding experience”. “Seeing the impact patient conversations can have gives you the motivation to continue striving to encourage and support lifestyle change. At the Royal College of GPs, we appreciate just how important physical activity is for a healthy and happy life. Swimming has several unique qualities which mean it is a fantastic option.”
Regular swimming has been proven to help reduce the risk of chronic illnesses such as heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. It is also beneficial for those with arthritis, obesity, and joint pain, as the buoyancy of water reduces the impact on joints. However, despite the clear benefits of swimming to individuals and communities, it is an option that can be overlooked within healthcare circles.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP)
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) is the professional, educational and trade union body for the UK's 63,000 chartered physiotherapists, physiotherapy students and support workers. CSP have plenty of valuable resources for the general population on keeping active, exercise, managing your pain from home and plenty more.