What we learned from Couch to Fitness

We’ve worked with Our Parks to create a new guide with loads of tips and advice for anyone who’s interested in making their physical activity products or initiatives more inclusive.

‘Inspiring more inclusive physical activity interventions’ presents the learnings from Couch to Fitness, a free nine-week exercise programme aimed at beginners, which was built on insight from This Girl Can into the deep-rooted inequalities that persist in sport and physical activity, and funded by Sport England.  

The project was designed specifically to reach culturally diverse and lower socio-economic groups, who both had a greater increase in inactivity than White audiences during the Covid-19 lockdowns.

The programme helps people build confidence in their ability to be active from the comfort of their own home, with workouts available online and on demand.

Our new report outlines everything we learned and includes practical and creative ideas for building and promoting a digital offer for underserved communities.

Born Barikor, founder of Our Parks, said: "Couch to Fitness has been a game-changer for our mission to make physical activity accessible to everyone, allowing us to remove more of the barriers that stop people getting started.

"This report highlights our journey in creating a digital intervention that truly resonates with those who need it most.

"By putting our users at the heart of everything we do, we’ve been able to build a programme that not only helps them take the first steps to be more active but also fosters a sense of community and belonging.

"We hope this report encourages others to explore similar strategies and helps to close the gap in access and opportunity for underserved communities."

Whether you work directly in sport and physical activity, the charity or voluntary sector, healthcare or marketing, you can read our learnings in areas such as digital product development, community building and targeted marketing.

The report is in two parts:

There are tips throughout, backed up by case study examples from various Couch to Fitness campaigns. 

Dani Ward, Sport England's campaign activation manager, said: "We’re excited to share the impactful journey of Couch to Fitness and the learnings gathered along the way.

"Partnering with Our Parks, Sport England and This Girl Can are proud to support a project that provides a free, beginner-friendly initiative, as well as offering valuable insights for projects committed to inclusivity.

"We hope this report encourages more grassroots projects to find creative ways to help more people get active, especially those audiences who remain underserved by our sector."

Although we can't guarantee success from using the tips in this report, we hope they spark conversations and creativity into how they might work in your own interventions to help address inequalities that exist in our sector.

These methods worked well for us, so may be helpful for others working in sport and physical activity.

As well as reading the report, you can join a webinar session! Our Parks are running several dates across September and October sharing more about the findings.