Finding fitness inspiration within your local Community!!

The world we live in now is more health conscious then ever before.

As a society, we are well informed on what the positive effects will be on our lives if we choose to exercise regularly and nourish our bodies with healthy dietary choices, however, like most things in this world, what comes with all this positive awareness is a highly lucrative Health industry which continues to become more and more commercialised.

Each week a new gym seems to pop up on our local street corners, membership costs continue to increase in price with demand, a new wiz bang quick fix fitness fad seems to be blasted at us over social media and from a consumers point of view we are simply overwhelmed for choice which can be extremely intimidating for someone who just wants to get fit for summer!

The other component to consider is our world is becoming more and more digitalised and as a result we are at risk of losing our sense of community or perhaps our new communities are made up of "followers" or "Likers" on varies social media platforms these days?

With society continuing to socialise across digital platforms I believe a lot of us are missing those positive feelings associated with belonging to a physical group and feeling that sense of community!

So based on these observations I took some time out of my day to explore a new emerging trend I'm starting to see specifically in the running space...FREE Community based running groups.

I was already aware of a handful of groups in sydney but I soon uncovered a heap more of these communities inspiring participants to get out of bed on these cold early mornings and regenerating this sense of community I feared might have been evaporating.

These communities were really easy to find out information about which I was able to do in less than a day by simply getting out into my own local community and getting to know like minded people working in there local businesses.

Living on the Northern Beaches myself I started my morning search with the guys @ PACE Athletic Running Shop in Manly….while trying on a new pair of shoes, the team advised me of there Tuesday night FREE Running group. TICK!!

Later that day while getting my regular deep tissue runners massage I spoke to my guys @ The Body Mechanic in Lavender bay and the guys there mentioned to me they were getting a great turn out to there Wednesdays FREE lunch time running session. TICK TICK!

Finishing my day with a workout at my local gym @ CrossFit Manly Vale I spoke with one of the members who let me know about the FREE Saturday morning running group in Curl Curl called Park Run.TICK TICK TICK!!

This was to good to be true…3 FREE Running groups scattered nicely across the week all found in less than a day??!!! Awesome!!!

All these Free running groups popping up near me were not only inspiring me to get involved in them as a participant but they were also inspiring me to start my own Free running group…which led to my Free Hill Running group in Balmoral up Awaba St on saturday mornings with me haha

So if your looking for some healthy inspiration at no additional cost, start by looking within your own community first for Free Group Training options before locking yourself into a 12 month expensive fitness related membership.

Including the obvious financial benefits to this form of training, the other positive results associated with training within a group include…

- Instant motivation to exercise when your surrounded by like-minded individuals

- Training in this manor exposes you to the opportunity to form bonds and develop fantastic friendships with other group members

- You will inadvertently become more accountable to everyone else who attends the group training session and accountability is directly linked with you achieving your goals successfully.

- Setting up a scheduled group session every week in your routine will make it much easier to stick to a “plan of attack” rather than allow yourself to make the decision on when to train.

- and lastly and probably most importantly…feeling apart of a community via group training is really fun!! You will laugh, sweat, work hard with these people that will inspire you to be great!

If any of you are interested every saturday @ 7.30am I'll be down @ Awaba St Balmoral taking my Hill running group session .

The sessions are open to all fitness levels and age groups and are completely free!

Get yourself down to one of the most spectacular venues in Sydney this saturday morning and take on Awaba St one step at a time with me!!!

Allister Svendsen 
0404 821 223