Get flexible at Kensington Leisure Centre

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Need more flexibility in your life? For a fantastic range of activities and facilities, pay a visit to Kensington Leisure Centre in London. With great ways to save money you can stretch your limbs and your pennies at the same time!

Swimming

All ages can make a splash in the pool with special times for babies, tots and juniors. Want to learn or improve ? No problem, there are plenty of lessons for all ages and abilities.

Gym and Fitness

With the new investment in equipment, Kensington Leisure Centre offers top-notch facilities to help give you an effective workout. The gym team are also there to help develop the best workout programme for your individual needs, and to give friendly support and advice at all times.

With a large variety of fitness classes there is something for everyone. Options include:

• Aerobics
• Pilates,
• Bodypump
• Abs
• Spinning
• Junior gym classes
• Ladies morning

Sports Clubs

Fancy an extra challenge and a social touch? Kensington Leisure Centre has a fantastic selection of sports clubs to suit all ages and interests including:

• Badminton
• Wrestling
• Wheelchair basketball
• Martial arts – Karate, Tae-Kwon-Do, Ju-Jitsu
• Table tennis
• Teddy Tennis

Fun for children

Exercise should be fun, especially for the younger ones. So to keep your under 8’s happy and active, take them along to the Jungle area. Will they brave the slides? Take dives in the ball pools? Or sail high on the swings? Whatever your little monkeys get up to in the jungle you will be sure you can take them home exhausted and keen to return!

Structured activities including gymnastics and football are also available with guaranteed fun!
Parties – for birthday fun with loads of space and plenty of variety give the kids an occasion to remember. From £10 a head, you can have a sports, pool or jungle party including food and goodiebags. Other options include dance, makeover and Go Kart parties.

Save money

The great choice of membership options at Kensington Leisure Centre could help you save money with no commitment. With this great flexibility, how can you not be tempted?

• Ultimate membership. Do you just want to do it all? Unlimited access to the swimming pool, gym and fitness classes can be yours at just £49.99 a month. Being an Ultimate member is a particularly good idea for those who attend fitness classes twice a week or more. The other benefits include a free 3 month fitness diary and consultation when you join.
• Swimming membership – for £31 a month you can use the pools in any Community Fitness Centre
• Corporate membership
• Sports membership
• Leisure pass – for those residents who are on benefits, and there is also a GP referral scheme which will help save the pennies

To further entice you, there is also the chance to get rewarded for your time at the leisure centre. For the chance to win prizes and vouchers, check out the wedgecard scheme.

So has Kensington Leisure Centre caught your interest? If yes, and you would like to find out more about great money-saving and payment options, check out www.payasugym.com .

Newham Leisure Centre focuses on being inclusive for all

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While London prepares for this year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games, Newham Leisure Centre aims to be inclusive for all its users.

Last year the centre joined the Inclusive London scheme, and brought in a new membership option giving disabled users access to 30 centres across five Olympic and Paralympic boroughs, which gives anyone over the age of 16 to use the centre’s facilities each time they visit.
With access to swimming, gym, fitness induction and group exercise classes, users can get the best of all worlds at the centre, giving them the opportunity to try new activities and improve at the sports they love.

Firm supporters of the Games, Newham Leisure Centre has already had a visit from the USA 2012 Paralympics team for Goalball, who visited Newham as part of the London Prepares test event at the Olympic Park Handball Arena.

Photos of the team were taken with schoolchildren and competing schools won prizes while the Goalball team gave the children demonstrations of the event. Also last year Dervis Konuralp, the four time Paralympic swimmer and 35 international medal winner, with 14 gold medals to his name, visited the centre when it held its County Athlete Assessment Day.

47 disabled youngsters were selected to join in on the day for showing their strong ability in PE and sport, from mainstream and special schools in Newham, Barking & Dagenham, Bexley, Greenwich, Hackney, Havering, Lewisham, Tower Hamlets and Redbridge.

A strong partnership between Interactive, Newham Sports Development and the School Sports Partnership, has meant a significant number of East London school children have been given the chance to be noticed as having the skills and the talent needed to excel in Wheelchair Basketball, Athletics, Table Tennis, Football or Boccia.

Improvement works are currently underway to the Terrance Mcmillan Stadium at Newham Leisure Centre.
This work means that the stadium’s running track will be upgraded and the facilities for long and triple jump, and also the throws facilities will be improved and completed by the end of the year.

Although the stadium will not be open to members of the public during the time of these works, Newham Leisure Centre, and indoor track, which includes sprint track, jump pits, high jump, pole vault and throws area, will all remain open as usual.

The improvements taking place are all fully funded by the Olympic Delivery Authority in preparation for the use of the stadium as Games Time Training Venue meaning it will be used as a training facility for athletes during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

With the focus very much on the Olympics and the Paralympics, the leisure centre is fully committed to being inclusive for everyone and there are is a wide range of activities for disabled people at the centre. The centre also holds classes such as yoga, aerobiking, circuits and core stability.

If you are looking for an alternative to membership at Newham Leisure Centre, you could try a pay as you go option by visiting www.payasugym.com.

Harrow Leisure Centre encourages children to stay fit

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There’s something to be said for starting children exercising young, and so Harrow Leisure Centre is encouraging youngsters to get fit with a number of activities.

As a nation facing an obesity epidemic, acting now and encouraging children to get fit is something that is vital for our long term health and happiness.

Along with a whole host of activities and sporting facilities for the grown ups, including swimming sessions, pilates, body pump, legs, bums & tums, yoga hatha and body attack, Harrow Leisure Centre has got a whole host of fun sports and fitness ideas aimed specifically at children and young adults.

Holding classes weekly on Thursdays, the centre hosts Aspire Aikido London and its Aikido classes for all levels, starting from those aged 14 years old.

Aikido is the Japanese Martial Art that teaches self defence, a positive mindset and can also help improve fitness and confidence levels. Started young, aikido can improve self discipline, self esteem, self respect and respect for others.

For those that haven’t reached 14, and getting in the water has a strong appeal, then Water Walkerz, and Water Peddlerz, will be right up their street. Aiming at the younger children, Water Walkerz targets those from eight years and upwards, and Water Peddlerz is specifically targeted at those aged under 12.

The centre offers these classes every weekend from 12noon – 2pm.
Trial sessions are also available for free on Water Walkerz and Peddlerz and if you decide you love it then a ten minute session will only cost £2.

Harrow Leisure Centre also focuses on children and their wellbeing over the Easter holidays. As any parent will know, keeping children occupied, active and happy over the holidays can be a real challenge, which is why Fit for Sport, the UK’s Leading Healthy Lifestyle Activities Provider, hosts its Healthy Lifestyle Activity Kids Camps during Easter.

Each day children can experience a whole host of fun activities including; a taste of different sports, crafts, arts and games, as well as education on healthy education.

The centre is also running free swimming for all under 16s during the holidays, from Monday to Friday from 10am until 4pm. Other activities available include 30 minute lessons taking place between 10am and midday, and more daring activities include snorkelling and canoeing, with
Water Walkerz and Peddlerz, inflatable sessions and rookie lifesaving all on offer.

The leisure centre also has a children’s play area, a creche on site for those mums and dads that want to do a bit of exercise themselves, and the facility to host birthday parties, where children will be sure to have a great time.

With a climbing wall and trampolining sessions on offer at the leisure centre, there’s something for all children to enjoy, and the opportunity to keep fit and healthy while keeping the focus well and truly on having fun.

If you are looking for a pay as you option to Harrow Leisure Centre, simply visit www.payasugym.com.

Can gym membership equate to better drinking habits?

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More of us are binge eating and filling up on junk food –but then it’s not just junk food addicts that drink to excess. Those of us who deem ourselves fit and healthy, probably with a gym membership card, are still drinking too much alcohol come the weekend.

Most of us will be familiar with the phrase, “just one glass won’t hurt” – but if that happens to be one glass of wine every night then we’re soon drinking to excess without even noticing. Binge drinking isn’t just something that’s restricted to people with a sedentary lifestyle. Those who are active and fit are just as likely to hit the pub with a vengeance on a Friday night, or pack away the alcoholic units after work because it’s a way to “wind down”.

For some, an energetic workout leads to the excuse that they can then allow themselves those extra calories or a few more drinks because they’ve “deserved it” but very often this is the way all that hard work is undone.

The answer is to drink responsibly. Enjoy a drink but without overdoing it – and yes, keep exercising. Generally, fitter people do tend to be more conscious about what they are putting into their bodies, so by working out at the gym you may well be more reluctant to drink three pints of beer at the pub on a week night. You’ll most likely be more reluctant to have a kebab as well.

And just small steps can change your mindset. Maybe set yourself a challenge to go for a walk every day, to run a couple of miles three times a week, or to go to the gym a few times a month. You don’t necessarily have to take out a gym membership, but by doing a few small exercises you’ll soon start to think differently about what you’re eating and drinking on a weekly basis and more likely than not, you’ll begin to taper down your alcohol intake.

If you’re feeling good about yourself, you’re going to try harder to eat healthily and maintain that good feeling. But let’s face it, we’re all human and it’s always hard to resist a few drinks at the weekend – especially if you’re being spurred on by friends.

If that’s the case – a bit of extra exercise and healthy eating isn’t going to do you any harm in the meantime, and you may start to feel you don’t need that one glass of wine on a week night. The key is moderation. You shouldn’t have to give up anything – a hamburger once in a while isn’t going to hurt you and the same goes for a glass of wine or beer.

If you’re looking to stay fit by going to the gym but don’t necessarily want to commit to gym membership, you could consider a pay as you go option by visiting www.payasugym.com.